David Patton/Democrat-Herald Peggy and Irvin Derkatch of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada, and their dogs visit the Santiam Rest Area on Interstate 5 Wednesday afternoon.

Oregon wants to know what it can do to make its rest areas more interesting, comfortable and inviting.

To find out, Cheryl Gribskov, the executive director of the Travel Information Council in Salem, is asking people to bring comments to a forum scheduled from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14, at the Phoenix Inn, 3410 Spicer Drive S.E. in Albany.

“We don’t have as interesting rest areas as other states,” she said. “We want to provide things that make visitors or anyone else glad they are in Oregon and glad they stopped at our rest areas.”

People attending previous forums elsewhere have suggested offering up-to-date travel information on television-like screens, improving landscaping, creating better sidewalks, and having pet-friendly areas.

Others said they do not feel safe stopping at rest areas that do not have staffed visitors’ centers, Gribskov said.

“If there is no vibrant activity at a rest area, then people believe their safety is compromised or it is perceived to be compromised,” she said. “People feel safer when a lot of people are around.”

Statewide between 1997 and 2007, 1,111 crimes were reported in rest areas across the state, Gribskov said. Those statistics include the recovery of stolen vehicles.

“Crimes at rest areas are really very low, and there are not that many crimes against people,” she said. “What we will talk about in Albany are what crime is anecdotal, what’s perception and what is real,” Gribskov said.

There is some panhandling, she said, but most of that occurs in rest areas north of Albany.

Other town halls are scheduled for Salem, Wilsonville and in cities in southern and eastern Oregon.

“I hope to finish up the first week in June and have a report done by the end of June to submit to the Governor’s Task Force on Transportation and Tourism,” she said.

It would be up to the legislature to decide what improvements to fund and how much money to spend on them, Gribskov said.

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