ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Retail groups celebrated yesterday after the U.S. Senate rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have allowed the sale of food, fuel and other products at interstate rest areas.
The Partnership to Save Highway Communities, which includes NACS and NATSO, said the action would have jeopardized thousands of jobs and businesses.
“This marks a major victory for the 97,000 highway-based businesses across America and the 2 million people they employ,” said Lisa Mullings, president and CEO of NATSO.
The Senate voted 86 to 12 against Amendment 1742 of the highway bill proposed by Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to uphold the longstanding federal law prohibiting the sale of food, fuel and other convenience items from Interstate rest areas, as reported in a Morgan Keegan/CSP Daily News Flash.
“This veto sends a clear message that state DOTs [Department of Transportation] cannot fix their state budget problems on the backs of small businesses or at the expense of American jobs and local communities,” said Corey Fitze, NACS director of government affairs.
The Partnership thanked Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, Ranking Member Senator James Inhofe, Senator Max Baucus and Senator David Vitter, along with Senate Leadership and all the Senators who voted against the amendment, “for supporting America’s small businesses.”
More than 60 organizations opposed Amendment 1742, which would have granted state governments the ability to set up shop directly along the interstate right-of-way, giving states a major advantage over the travel plazas, truckstops, gas stations, convenience stores and restaurants at the exit interchanges. Allowing commercial rest areas would have transferred sales away from the current competitive environment at highway exits to such a degree that many exit-based businesses would not have been able to survive, opponents contended.
The Partnership to Save Highway Communities, Alexandria, Va., is a coalition of associations, corporations, small businesses and other stakeholders that share a common goal: preserving the valuable relationships between interstate highway motorists and community businesses serving their needs.
The coalition is dedicated to ensuring that interstate highway rights-of-way remain free of commercial development.
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