Truck driver John Ferrell doesn’t think much of VDOT closing the rest areas on Interstate 64 in Goochland.

“I don’t think it’s too good,” said Ferrell, who lives in Powhatan County.

Ferrell, who has been driving for 35 years, said small truck stops have been closing around the country, and it’s getting harder to find a place to pull over and rest.

VDOT closed 18 rest areas July 21.

Orange barrels and cones blocked entry into the once busy parking areas for truckers and motorists. Some drivers likely turned off at the next nearest exits: Oilville if heading west, Rockville Manakin if driving east.

Ferrell said he would miss the two rest stops that closed in Goochland. Ferrell said he used them often during his trips back and forth on I-64 through Virginia to Illinois.

VDOT said earlier this month that closing the two Goochland rest areas, which were opened in 1972, would save VDOT about $740,000 per year.

Cecil Wise, owner of the Wise Choice station at the Rockville Manakin exit, said he looks at the closings as a way to increase his business.

“I’m looking at it as a positive,” said Wise, who opened his station in 1987. He said business has been down during the current recession.

“If I can get them in here and they have a good experience they’ll come back,” said Wise, who is planning to reopen his station on Sundays to take advantage of the rest area closings.

Just down the road from Wise Choice, Rockville Manakin Fas Mart manager Gloria Joseph said pretty much the same thing.

“Any retailer would be thrilled to get the extra business,” she said.

Joseph said she has already noticed a pickup in traffic since the rest areas closed, and she is ready to take advantage of it.

“We’re open 24 hours a day and we have room for six or seven rigs at a time in here,” she said.

But Wendy Madison, who manages the Oilville Convenience Group at the Oilville I-64 exit, was more ambivalent about the rest stop closings.

“We welcome the business, but it’s bad for the travelers,” she said.

“We had a lady yesterday with an elderly father making a regular trip,” said Madison. The pair, who normally use the rest area, stopped at her station instead.

“I’m glad we could offer our services to them,” said Madison.

Wise, who said the rest areas were needed when the interstates were first built and the area was undeveloped, said he thinks the state should get out of the rest area business altogether.

“It’s time for them to turn them over to the private sector,” he said.