What will $13,000 buy you these days? A compact car? Maybe a year's tuition at a state college?

How about a place for 28 tired truckers to pull off a busy interstate for a few hours of rest?

That's what truckers will find now at a former weigh station site along I-70 just west of Odessa, MO.

With the assistance of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Missouri Department of Transportation has opened the two former weigh stations and turned them into a truckers' rest area.

When new weigh stations were completed east of Odessa last year, MoDOT made plans to level the old buildings and cover the facilities with dirt and grass seed. That's when OOIDA stepped in.

Prompted by a suggestion from its staff, the association, which has advocated additional rest areas for professional drivers, asked MoDOT whether the old weigh stations could be converted into a park-and-rest area for truckers.

OOIDA President Jim Johnston said 90 percent of the association's members had reported weekly difficulties finding parking spaces in public rest areas.

"The government cannot continue to make meaningful progress on the issue of highway safety without addressing the critical shortage of available facilities for weary truckers to pull over and rest," he said.

"We were pleased with the willingness of MoDOT to work with us on converting these weigh stations to something that will be appreciated by truckers," Johnston added. "We are also grateful to the initiative of our own staff in identifying this opportunity and pushing for its acceptance."

OOIDA is paying to light the facilities, is funding trash pickup and plans to control litter at the rest area through MoDOT's Adopt-A-Highway program.

The new facilities, which opened just before Thanksgiving, provide 14 spaces each on the eastbound and westbound sides of the highway. MoDOT repaired and resurfaced the pavement and striped the parking spots at a cost to the department of $13,000.

The layout of the stops is simple - an exit and a long parking area with a number of white lines designating individual truck parking spaces. Signs a mile away let truckers know the parking area is ahead. The sides of the stop are lined with streetlights, and toward the back, there are a few trash cans.

Abram Edgington was among the drivers who stopped to rest at the parking area Dec. 5. The Springfield, IL, trucker passes through the area three times a week during his regular 3,800-mile routine, and the stop, he says, was a lifesaver.

"It was nice to have last night," Edgington, a former company driver who has been an owner-operator for eight months, said, "I was about ready to sleep when I got here."

Edgington, who was deadheading back to his base at Brisk Transportation in Champaign, IL, had a few options when he was looking for a place to rest - there are several truckstops in the area. But he chose the parking area for a number of reasons.

"I do like the idea of a truck-only place," he said. "Most of the time I see it, it's a car-only place. It's nice to see it the other way around."

His stop at the new parking area won't be his last.

"I'm sure I'll have to use it again before it's all over."