DRIVEN TO FRUSTRATION * Canada - 401 service stations 'a mess'

Gas stations, washrooms few and far between as repairs move at a snail's pace

Queen's Park,ONT,CAN -The Toronto Star, by Rob Ferguson -Sep 24, 2009: -- The Ontario government is asleep at the wheel when it comes to keeping service centres up and running along busy Highway 401, the Progressive Conservatives and motoring groups charge... Bladders are bursting, drivers are getting dangerously drowsy and truckers, well, sometimes they just have to keep on truckin'... As travellers who have driven stretches of southern Ontario's major thoroughfare know by now, many centres that have closed in the past year or so remain that way trip after trip after trip... That leaves long stretches of highway virtually devoid of places to fill up with gas, wait out a storm, rest, eat and use the washroom, said Progressive Conservative MPP Bob Runciman from the Brockville-area riding of Leeds-Grenville in eastern Ontario... Signs frequently warn drivers they will not be able to buy fuel on the highway for 150 kilometres or more – a far cry from the situation in the U.S., for example, where a motorist travelling from Boston to Toronto will find well-equipped service centres almost every half-hour along major toll highways... (Photo from THE TORONTO STAR, by CRAIG GLOVER. Sept. 23, 2009 - Progressive Conservatives are blasting the province for its slow movement on repairs to service centres, including one near Dutton, above, along Highway 401. Drivers rely on the rest stops for washrooms, food and fuel)