But it was supposed to reopen Tuesday, allowing for the renovation of another local rest area.

The Bridgeport rest stop, just north of the Meadowbrook Mall exit on I-79, was supposed to close this week, but can't until the Burnsville Rest stop near exit 91 reopens.

The DOH says that may take two to four weeks because the fire marshal's office found a code violation: the rest stop's ramps don't have handrails.

The DOH says it's an easy thing to fix, but it will have to wait for the materials to come in.

For now, the Exit 122 Rest Area is waiting for its turn for a makeover.

Yes, the stop will be closed for quite a while, but West Virginia is one of the few states that are refurbishing their public restrooms instead of tearing them down.

Steve and Elenor Drasik live near Steubenville, Ohio. They travel between there and Florida, and say they frequent rest areas along the way.

"At our age, it's at least every hundred miles," said Steve.

They've been to this rest area before and say it would be in pretty good shape if the plumbing was fixed.

"I was trying to wash my hands and I had to try 3 basins before I found one that worked."

The Division of Highways says this rest area at Exit 122 has been open for at least 40 years and is long due for an overhaul.

"Now, 'course when 79 was built was in the 60s, and that's when the rest areas were built," explained Greg Phillips, District Manager for the DOT. "As you can see it's a long time between revamping them. They do cost a lot of money, but they fulfill a need that we have to have."

Tough economic times are leveling a lot of these public stops across the United States. For example, the Virginia Department of Transportation plans to close 19 rest areas, saving the state $9 million. But thanks to recent budget surplus, West Virginia is able to renovate its aging rest stops to better serve the growing number of travelers on its roads.

"Rest areas do cost an astronomical amount of funding to keep up, and some states don't have the money to do so," said Phillips, "But we've been really lucky through the administration that we have here, the Governor and the Secretary of Transportation, we have been able to watch our nickels and dimes."

Stay tuned to 12 News for updates on when the new Burnsville rest area will reopen and when the old Bridgeport stop will close for renovations.