(WTNH) — Starting on Monday, the state of Connecticut is reopening all state-run rest stops for 24 hours a day.

Governor Ned Lamont promised the 24-hour reopening of rest stops in his campaign in 2018, and now he has followed through just as many Americans are hitting the road for this holiday week.

About three years ago, the state decided to save about a million dollars a year by closing the rest areas along Interstate 91, 84, and one on 95 all but seven hours of the day.

We’re talking about the smaller rest areas here- They don’t have fast food joints and you can’t get coffee. What they offer mainly is a bathroom.

For the past three years, they’ve only offered those bathrooms from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 pm. The other seventeen hours of the day, there were porta potties that drivers tell News 8 were not pleasant. All of that changes Monday

All of the mini rest stops in Danbury, Southington, and Willington on I-84, North Stonington on I-95, and the Middletown and Wallingford rest areas on I-91 will all be open 24 hours a day.

One thought is that if we do get dozens of toll gantries on all those highways, at least we can now have a comfortable place to do our business whenever nature calls.

Governor Ned Lamont held a news conference at the CT DOT rest area on Interstate 84 in Danbury to highlight the reopening of rest areas for 24/7 operations.

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