New Hampshire’s rest stops are open for parking, vending and bathroom facilities, according to a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Transportation.
Clarifying news reports that could have been interpreted as signaling the Granite State had closed its rest stops, Eileen Meany said employees who work the rest stops, who are employees of the state’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs, have been pulled from the stops.
Beyond that, Meaney said, “the rest stops are still open.” Bathroom facilities remain available at the stops, as well as vending machines. Parking remains unaffected.
“If you’re a trucker and need to stop and go to the bathroom, you can still do that,” she said.
The latest order by New Hampshire Governor Christopher Sununu, handed down Monday, April 6, restricted new offerings of lodging such as hotels and motels. But it did allow renting lodging to essential workers. In an earlier order, Sununu had identified essential workers as those who were “supporting or enabling transportation functions, including truck stop and rest area workers.”
A pair of matching north/south full-service rest stops on interstate 93 remains open, Meaney said.
Although an early move by Pennsylvania to close its rest stops resulted in concern that there would be further restriction of the facilities nationwide, that step by Pennsylvania–since partially retracted–remains the only known restriction. A closure of some Nebraska facilities proved short-lived and Arizona recently reopened some rest stops that had been closed for more than 10 years. Beyond the Pennsylvania facilities that remained closed even after the state dialed back its initial decision, there are no other known rest stop closures in the country.