Makeover for Conn. highway rest areas

Milford (WTNH) - The state's travel plazas are getting makeovers, giving motorists more options when making a pit stop on Connecticut's highways.

The 23 service plazas along I-95, the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways and I-395 will be renovated. Under the deal announced Thursday the areas will each have a Subway, Dunkin' Donuts and a convenience store.

Eight of the locations will continue to have a McDonald's restaurant.

The agreement with the state and Project Service LLC, which includes the parent company of Subway, will last 35 years. Alliance Energy will now run gas stations at the plazas instead of ExxonMobil.

In a statement Gov. Jodi Rell called it "an unprecedented commitment to economic development, jobs and meeting the needs of the traveling public."

The developers said the state should see approximately $500 million in economic benefit from the redevelopment.

State Senator Andrew McDonald (D-Stamford) wants the legislature's and non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis to look at the deal.

"This new agreement could turn out to be a good deal for the state and its taxpayers, and there are certainly parts of it that are commendable, but there is also much that is not yet known," Sen. McDonald said.