Rest areas should have farmers’ markets

Why don’t all rest areas have farmers’ markets?

Farmers’ markets (or farmstands) provide fresh local produce and farm products for travelers and cash income for local farmers, while advertising the virtues of the host state and the local countryside.

So, why don’t all rest areas have farmers’ markets?

Mainly because of institutional barriers.  (Which, by the way, is no excuse for the poor traffic design and inadequate traveler information at typical rest areas.)

(See below – Jersey tomatoes on the Atlantic City Expressway!  Thanks to South Jersey Transportation Authority.)

UK “drives forward” with EV infrastructure

You may have heard that the UK plans to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2040 (story here).  You may even have heard that they are experimenting with air quality barriers and canopies to clean the air along highways (story here).

Perhaps less sexy – but I think just as important – is the fact that they are committed to providing electric vehicle charging stations along all major highways (see their new plan here).

“Highways England,” the agency that operates motorways and trunk roads (roughly equivalent to the US Interstate and National Highway Systems) is committed to building a “comprehensive national network” of rapid charging stations, with a goal of placing charging stations at 20-mile intervals on 95 percent of their system.  These will be rapid (30-minute) chargers where feasible.

We need to catch up in this country!