First established in the sixties, within the US interstate road system, rest areas are currently managed by the department of transportation of each state. This explains the various designs, approaches, and conditions. 

They mostly sit abandoned and unused in varying states of decay, slowly being replaced by commercial gas stations and food chains, or by new single buildings (mostly just restrooms).

Having lost their function they become all about form, the empty symmetries attempting to control nature, as per a bygone ideology seeking to conquer the terrain.

Symmetry, emptiness, and beauty confront their own meaninglessness in relation to the landscape.