Interstate 49 worst road for bathroom breaks

An online U.K. bathroom warehouse looked at U.S. highways to see which ones are the worst when it comes to bathroom access.

According to numbers crunched by QS Supplies, the worst road for bathroom breaks in the U.S. is Interstate 49, which runs from Lafayette, La., to Kansas City, Mo., with rest areas at an average distance of 264 miles.

The top 10 average gaps between rest stops and bathroom breaks are Interstates:

1. I-49 – 264 average miles per rest area
2. I-22 – 202.2 miles (no rest areas)
3. I-72 – 179.3 miles
4. I-16 – 166.8 miles
5. I-78 – 146.3 miles
6. I-37 – 143 miles
7. I-45 – 142.5 miles
8. I-88 (Illinois) – 140.6 miles
9. I-27 – 124.1 miles
10. I-73 – 99.4 miles (no rest areas)

Trucker Bathroom Access Act

QS Supplies’ bathroom chart highlights the realities that many truckers face while out on the road.

Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., reintroduced a bipartisan bill that would ensure that truck drivers have a place to use the restroom when they are waiting to deliver or pick up freight.

The Trucker Bathroom Access Act, which was originally introduced in the past congressional session, was formally resubmitted on June 6.

The bill does not require businesses to construct new restrooms. Instead, it would only mandate that truck drivers be granted access if a business has a restroom available to their customers or employees. It also would require the operators of ports and terminals to provide restroom access to drayage drivers.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association worked with lawmakers to craft the bill.

“Over 70% of America’s freight is exclusively carried by trucks, yet every single day men and women truck drivers are forced to ‘hold it’ because they aren’t allowed access to the restroom when picking up or delivering freight,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “OOIDA and our 150,000 members thank Reps. Nehls and Houlahan for showing tremendous leadership on this issue, and we look forward to working with them and our coalition partners to get this commonsense, bipartisan legislation signed into law.” LL

Land Line Senior Editor Mark Schremmer contributed to this report.