Most of Michigan’s 85 roadside parks are reopening for the season next week.

Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson Dan Weingarten tells us the state-maintained roadside parks are off the beaten path, usually along M or US routes. They’re small parks that give travelers a place to pull off the road and stretch their legs.

“These are rustic facilities, so they typically don’t have an insulated building, which means that they’re impossible to operate in the winter because of the cold weather,” Weingarten said, “We can’t keep the water on. Most of them have pit toilets, which freeze up during the winter.”

With the warm weather returning, Weingarten says MDOT can reopen most of the parks on April 28, although the water may not be on yet at some of them. Also, about a dozen of the roadside parks will remain closed until May, most of them up north. We wondered if that’s due to ice storm cleanup, but Weingarten says crews have cleared most of the roads by now.

“Surprisingly, and a great testament to the work that our crews have been doing down there to get things ready.”

The roadside parks that will remain closed are in areas still experiencing cold weather or are under construction.

Southwest Michigan’s lone roadside park, the Artesian Flow park at 2031 M-140 near Watervliet, is already open because it’s one of two that never close. The other one is in Tuscola County.

You can learn about all of the state’s roadside parks right here.