Rest area usage prohibitions

Rest areas are designed to offer travelers a place to refresh, relieve and obtain tourist information. However, some are being used for other, less appealing purposes.

As part of his Feb. 25 presentation on HF570, Rep. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL-Mpls) showed a series of rest area pictures to the House Transportation and Transit Policy and Oversight Division.

They showed overflowing dumpsters filled with obvious household waste and construction debris, including residential doors, and trash scattered around a smaller rest area.

“These pictures really capture the challenges (the Department of Transportation) faces on a daily basis when it comes to rest stop areas and the dumping of things that aren’t supposed to be there,” he said.

Based upon a request from the department, Champion said his bill would require disposal of travel-related trash in a designated receptacle. It would also prohibit:

• dumping household or commercial trash;

• draining or dumping refuse, except for trash intended for waste receptacles;

• consuming alcohol or possessing open containers of alcohol; and

• using the rest area for a purpose besides rest, refreshment or obtaining tourist information, unless specifically authorized.

“This would allow law enforcement officers to cite individuals at rest areas if they were littering, dumping commercial or household garbage, dumping sanitary waste, consuming alcohol or using the rest areas for purposes other than what they were intended,” said Robert Williams, MnDOT’s rest area program manager.

Violation of any dumping prohibition would be a petty misdemeanor, but alcohol consumption or possession would be a misdemeanor.

Williams said many activities are prohibited on state roadways, but current laws aren’t clear if it is illegal at a rest area. He said a survey showed that 69 on-site custodians had witnessed people dumping household or commercial garbage at their rest area.

Approved by the division, the bill heads to the House Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee. A companion, SF556, sponsored by Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary Committee.