Operating and maintaining highway rest areas across the United States has long posed a costly challenge for state transportation departments, especially amid tightening budgets and rising demand. In a new study, Dr. Kishor Shrestha, associate professor at Washington State University finds that one outsourcing method known as method-based contracting is significantly more cost-effective than its two main alternatives. The results offer transport officials a clearer path forward for running rest areas more efficiently, and could help to preventing costly, potentially dangerous closures in the future.