Inside, Outside, Near Lane, Far Lane, whatever...

[Carol]

Geoff:
> > 
> > They have grade-separated interchanges, hard shoulders for
emergencies and dedicated service areas.
> > 
> > Carol:
> > "Dedicated service areas"???? I'm getting a headache: UK
government jargon is as bad as ours in the U.S.
> > 
> 
> Annemehr:
> 
> Must be a rest stop.  Some are very basic -- just restrooms and
maybe pay phones.  Most include a gas station, restaurant(s),
restrooms, and a place to walk you dog.
> 
> Around where I live, we only have those on toll roads such as the 
Pennsylvania Turnpike.  They have them every so often along the road
so that you can get gas, eat, etc., without having to exit the
highway, pay toll, do your stuff, and then get a new toll ticket
getting back on.  Freeways tend not to have them -- you just exit and
hit a regular gas station or Burger King.

Carolagain:

Thanks. That makes sense, but I still hate the jargon term! Why such
vague, euphemistic language? Then again, "rest area" is a euphemism,
too, but at least it's plain English.

We don't have many fancy rest areas in Arizona. Most have just
restrooms, drinking fountains, and pay phones. A few have picnic
tables and scenic overlooks (Sunset Point, for example). I know of
exactly one with a gas station, or maybe it's a diesel station for
trucks. I was always more interested in the, erm, "facilities," rather
like Dumbledore with his chamber pots in the RoR! It's a long drive
from Phoenix to Tucson (120 miles) and twice that from Flagstaff to
Tucson, with lots of wide-open spaces with only desert or farmland, so
the rest stops are very necessary. There are, of course, a few towns
in between the major cities, but they're off the freeway a little
distance. 

As for toll roads, I'd never even seen one until I went back East at
age twenty. It might have been the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Does that
loop around Washington, D.C.?

Carol, who would never make the drive to the more northern parts of
the state if the state had the nerve to charge her for it!