WEST GARDINER – The new service plaza just off Exit 102 on the Maine Turnpike has plenty to entice drivers to stop. It has Starbucks, Quizno’s, Burger King, Hershey’s Ice Cream, a convenience store, even a retail outlet with products from Maine craftsmen and artists.

Maybe most importantly, it also has restrooms.

But its location might make drivers wary of stopping.

Turnpike travelers have to leave the highway to stop at the service station – and pass through a toll plaza to return.

“We knew this was kind of a sticky situation,” said Dan Paradee, spokesman for the Maine Turnpike Authority. “But the alternative would have been to build separate ramps to that plaza, which would have cost like $2 million and would have been right over the top of all kinds of wetlands.”

The MTA decided to provide vouchers to travelers stopping at the West Gardiner plaza that would waive the re-entry toll, making it free to pee.

Signs reminding drivers to pick up the vouchers are displayed prominently outside and inside the service station. The vouchers are unnecessary for EZ-Pass drivers because the electronic system has been adjusted so that they are not charged.

Paradee said a kiosk to dispense the vouchers was scheduled to arrive just days before the plaza opened earlier this month. Unfortunately, it never arrived.

“It was on the way here in a tractor-trailer and got caught in an accident and burned in a fire,” he said. “So, since then, we have actually been staffing that facility. It’s probably a loss in revenue to have people there, but they are there 24 hours a day, sitting right by the door.”

Sheila Baucom was the MTA worker staffing the voucher table on Friday. She said the MTA had to ask toll operators to sign up for shifts in the service plaza after the kiosk went up in flames.

“I’ve seen no negative reaction from people,” Baucom said. “I think people like having a real person here, instead of a machine.”

Baucom asks drivers seeking toll waivers where they are coming from and where they are headed to, before signing and handing over each voucher.

“If they are coming up 295 North, they get no voucher,” she said. “This voucher is only good for people getting off at Exit 102 and getting back on the turnpike at 103.”

Colleen DeCastro of Massachusetts had no problem getting her voucher on Friday.

“Is this how it’s going to be from now on?” she asked Baucom.

“Until the machines come in,” Baucom replied.

The MTA workers keep records of how many vouchers they hand out each shift; Baucom estimated that about 150 get handed out per day.