Iowa to seek sponsors for highway rest stops
The Iowa Department of Transportation has approved a plan to seek competitive bids on sponsorship rights for the rest stops, The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday.
The Associated Press
6/14/2012
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa hopes to line up major advertising sponsors for its 40 interstate rest stops, an idea similar to selling corporate naming rights for baseball and football stadiums.
The Iowa Department of Transportation has approved a plan to seek competitive bids on sponsorship rights for the rest stops, The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday.
The agency spends about $3.7 million annually to operate the rest areas, which host 16 million visitors a year.
"This will help defray some of our expenses. Every little bit helps," said department Director Paul Trombino III.
The Iowa Transportation Commission, the DOT's policy-making arm, approved regulations Tuesday to permit the corporate sponsorships.
In March, the Federal Highway Administration issued specific guidelines regarding the use of signs to identify sponsors in exchange for financial contributions or highway-related services.
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Trombino said he doesn't know how much money the sponsorships might generate. He anticipates seeking bids later this year. Potential sponsors could include tourist attractions, truck stops and casinos. The Iowa rules prohibit partisan endorsements, so the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, for example, couldn't sponsor a rest area.
DOT officials also acknowledge there is a potential for problems if divisive sponsors win the bidding.
Other states have enacted similar programs, and have had to deal with sponsoring issues. In Virginia, for example, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals last year offered to sponsor a rest area at Troutville, suggesting the facility's name be changed to the "Fishing Hurts" Rest Area.
Virginia DOT spokeswoman Tamara Rollison said Tuesday that the agency hasn't awarded any advertising rights yet and it is seeking "reputable companies in good standing" that can help provide additional funding to ease a budget crunch on the state's road system.
John Adam, director of the Iowa DOT's highway division, said state officials haven't specifically decided how to handle that type of situation.
"But the way the rules are written, we do have some latitude to decline a sponsorship that we think would be detrimental to the public good," he said.
Several motorists who pulled into a rest stop on Interstate 80 near Des Moines told The Register they had no objections to corporate sponsorships.
"I think it would be a good idea," said Bruce Goddard, a truck driver from Muscatine. He said rest areas provide truckers with good, safe places to pull off the road, and he favors anything that would help maintain or improve them.
Denny Crase, a contractor from Winterset, said he wouldn't want a group like PETA sponsoring a rest area, but would have no complaints about a company like the Hy-Vee grocery chain doing so.
"If it would help the state of Iowa keep them open, so what? I mean, everything else is sponsored by something," he said.
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