Joliet rejects QuikTrip truck stop

The Joliet City Council this week rejected plans for a truck stop on land annexed into the city eight years ago for eventual development of a truck stop.

The council on Tuesday voted, 8-0, against plans for a QuikTrip at Route 53 and Laraway Road with little discussion and no questions for a representative from the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company.

QuikTrip would have been the third truck stop at the intersection, which is the busiest corner for semitrailer traffic in the city.

“I have deep concerns about that intersection not being able to handle a third gas station,” Council member Larry Hug said in the only comment on the matter before the council turned down QuikTrip.

There was no public opposition to the QuikTrip plan, a sharp contrast to the Love’s Travel Center that the council approved in 2018 amid intense residential opposition. The Love’s Travel Center planned for the Interstate 80 interchange at Briggs Street has yet to be built and is tied up in a lawsuit filed by residents against it.

The QuikTrip plan was recommended for approval unanimously by the Zoning Board of Appeals last month.

Andrew Smith, who represented QuikTrip, appeared baffled by the council vote. After the meeting, he approached City Manager Jim Capparelli with questions but would not comment to The Herald-News.

Smith appeared before the council at its workshop meeting on Monday and invited questions about the project. There was no response.

The council in recent months has approved two other plans for truck stops along Houbolt/Hollywood Road on the pathway of a future Houbolt Road Bridge to the Interstate 80 interchange. One plan in 2019 for a Speedway gas station with pumps for trucks on West Jefferson Street across from Joliet Regional Airport was dropped by Speedway after the Plan Commission voted against it.

QuikTrip wanted to build on the northeast corner of the intersection on property that is part of the Glasscock Farm and was annexed into Joliet in 2013 with the understanding that it would be developed as a truck stop.

But Hug said after the council meeting that congestion at the intersection and the number of truck stops already in the area pose problems.

“It’s an extremely tight intersection with the current occupancy,” Hug said. “Three truck stops would short-circuit that intersection. It would be a nightmare.”

Hug also pointed to plans to build a Speedway truck stop north on Rt. 53 intersection at the intersection with Emerald Drive. Cadence Premier Logistics also has a truck fuel center along Route 53 just north of Laraway.

Also at the Laraway Road intersection are Pilot and Route 66 Food N Fuel truck stops.