All Cactus City rest areas on the 10 Freeway will be closed for repairs the next several weeks, officials announced Friday.
Crews from the California Department of Transportation will investigate needed repairs and then begin work from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. on the rest areas over the next several weeks, Shane Massoud of Caltrans said. Officials do not know the extent of the needed repairs at the time, so do not have an exact time frame for the closures.
The rest areas will be open during the day for motorists, Massoud said.
Drowsy driving is estimated to cause about 6,000 fatal crashes every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
“The official purpose of a rest area is for safety and convenience, as stipulated in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created the national interstate system,” said an Agust 2015 story in Slate magazine..”The act recognized that in some rural parts of the interstate opportunities to exit the highway would be few and far between. Since shoulders were meant only for emergencies and vehicle breakdowns, occasional rest areas were necessary.”
Usually rest stops are allotted for every half-hour of driving time, Sthe late story said.
Rest areas will be available for drivers in Whitewater and Wiley’s Well, Massoud said.