Lebanon — State travel and tourism officials announced on Thursday that several New Hampshire rest areas will now be open to year-round traffic, including a facility on Interstate 89 southbound in Lebanon between exits 18 and 19.

Rest areas in Littleton, N.H., and Colebrook, N.H., also will be operating on a year-round basis, officials said during a news conference at the Route 3 stop in Colebrook.

The three rest stops will join the state’s existing year-round facilities in Sutton, Springfield, Canterbury, Hooksett, Salem, Seabrook, North Conway and Sanbornton.

“New Hampshire’s 12 safety rest areas are valuable resources to the traveling public,” said Victoria Cimino, director of the state’s Division of Travel and Tourism Development, in a news release after Thursday’s event.

“The extended service will allow for consistent hours of operation across the state’s system of rest area facilities,” she said.

All three stops have been open seasonally from Memorial Day to Columbus Day since 2011. That’s when budget cuts forced the state’s Department of Transportation to close four facilities and pull back the operation of three.

Since then, local officials have argued the stops should be reopened, saying the state should invest more in welcoming visitors to the Granite State. All three are located along major roadways near the Vermont state line.

In 2016 and 2017, state officials said, the three facilities saw a combined foot traffic total of 600,000 people.