Love's in 120 Days North Platte location sets building record; 25 more travel stops planned for 2010
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NORTH PLATTE, Neb. -- Construction superintendent Steve Swink claims to have set a new record in building Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores' new location at the east I-80 interchange in North Platte, Neb. The travel center opened last Thursday. It was built in just 120 days, Swink told The North Platte Bulletin, beating the old record of 128 days.
The McDonald's restaurant inside is scheduled to open on December 18, but the travel stop is now open 24/7, cashier Tara Thompson told the newspaper.
The stop offers convenience store items, meals from either McDonald's or Subway and shelves of trucking supplies. In the front, multiple fuel pumps provide lots of room for four-wheeled vehicles. In the back, there is room to fuel and park 150 semi-trucks at a time.
Tom Nearman is assistant manager, said the report.
According to the Bulletin, Oklahoma City-based Love's plans to build 25 more travel stops in the United States during 2010, locating as many as possible a six-hour-or-so drive apart.
"They've got it right," Swink told the paper. "Build while labor is less, while materials are less. I've seen the costs cut from $5 million to 6 million to $3.5 million."
Love's has more than 200 locations in 34 states, with annual sales exceeding $7 billion, according to its website.
In North Platte, Love's Travel Stop will compete with the Flying J Travel Center directly across the street, the report said.
The new travel stop has 13,000 yards of concrete covering a 1,000-foot-long parking lot. The lot slopes gradually toward a water-retaining pond at the front of the travel stop, which should trap oil and fuel before the water edges into the Fremont Slough and eventually the Platte River. Catch basins under truck fueling bays carry spillage through replaceable filters before the water leaves the parking lot, Swink said.
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According to the Bulletin, Oklahoma City-based Love's plans to build 25 more travel stops in the United States during 2010, locating as many as possible a six-hour-or-so drive apart.