BENNETT — Tiny Bennett is growing up, so much so that the Colorado Department of Transportation is destroying the town’s rest area.
CDOT says the rest area, built in 1970, is too expensive to maintain and is a constant target for vandals.
Besides, Bennett has acquired a King Soopers, a truck stop and a sandwich shop just right off its I-70 exit, say CDOT officials. All those new amenities for travelers have made the old rest stop obsolete.
“It’s not like it was back when it was built in 1970, when the rest area was one of the last stops before you drove into Kansas,” said CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson.
CDOT estimates it would cost about $1 million for necessary upgrades to the facility including connecting its wastewater line to the town’s sewer system.
“That’s money we don’t have right now for a rest area that requires a lot of maintenance and only sees about 109,000 people a year compared to more than 700,000 people who visit the Vail Pass Rest Area each year,” said CDOT Regional Transportation Director Tony DeVito.
“In addition, it gets hit with a lot of vandalism,” he said. “Now that there are other options for travelers in the area, it made the most sense to close it.”
Bennett Town Board member Charles Bayley is not surprised by CDOT’s move.
“Clearly, the I-70 corridor has changed over the years, not just for Bennett for other towns in the area,” Bayley said. “Everything has developed as time goes by.”
Operating costs also claimed the Larkspur rest stop a few years ago, Wilson said.
The Bennett rest stop costs about $138,000 each year to operate or an average of $1.26 per customer, CDOT said.
If the agency wanted to keep it open, CDOT would have been required to make those expensive water and sewer improvement to meet State Health Department standards, DeVito said.
“So we’re going to demolish it, save a substantial amount of money and, as a bonus, return one full-time employee to the field, enhancing our area maintenance operations.”
Demolition will likely take place in late August and the area will be returned to its natural setting, Wilson said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or
