Truckers: Michigan Rest Areas Are Way Behind Neighboring States in Quality

When you take a trip anywhere along America's highways, there is without a doubt an eventual need for you to take a rest stop. It's nature and it happens. But what condition will that rest area be in when you stop?

The question came up on a section of Reddit devoted to truck drivers asking where are the best rest areas in the country? 

It's important to note that the rest stops being surveyed here are rest areas maintained by governmental agencies like a Department of Transportation rather than a private chain of truck stops/convenience stores like Pilot, Flying J or Buc-ee's.

One other caveat: not all governmental rest areas are the same either. In general, rest areas along non-toll roads are standard with restroom facilities, a picnic area and vending machines. Toll roads, whether termed a turnpike, thruway or tollway, feature more glorified rest stops that may include a food court with chain fast food restaurants.

On the truckers' Reddit thread the top comment calls out Indiana and Ohio for having the best rest areas in the nation. In both of those states, there have been investments in rebuilding the rest stops.

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The image shown above is a recently remodeled rest area in Indiana on Interstate 69 southbound between the Michigan state line and Fort Wayne and is built by the Indiana Department of Transportation. The image below is also in Indiana but is along the Indiana Toll Road, so these remolded rest areas are not under the jurisdiction of the state's DOT.

In Ohio, along the Turnpike which connects the Indiana Toll Road to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, those rest areas feature food courts and have been largely remolded in the last decade or two. The image below is from the Ohio Turnpike east of Toledo.

It's so funny. I agree with you. Ohios are unbelievably clean and nice.

Other rest areas in Ohio are the more standard toilets and vending machines like the one below along US 30 near Mansfield.

Another Michigan neighbor, Wisconsin, also gets a nod from truckers when it comes to quality rest areas like this one below on I-90/94/39 north of Madison.

Wisconsin is up there as well. Generally plenty of parking combined with being legal on every state route and a large portion of county routes.

There are 77 rest areas across the state of Michigan, disproportionally 67 of them in the Lower Peninsula. The state's rest areas get no mention from the truckers when it comes to the discussion of best stops in the nation.