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Correction
Because of a reporter’s error, the location of a New Haven truck plaza under construction was incorrect in a story in Saturday's edition. The new Pilot Travel Centers truck stop is at the intersection of Doyle Road and U.S. 30. |
Pilot Travel Centers LLC broke ground this week on a new truck plaza at the intersection of Doyle Road and U.S. 30 in New Haven.
The Tennessee company has obtained a $5 million building permit for the project, but Pilot officials declined to release details to The Journal Gazette.
A spokeswoman said the company, which operates the Flying J brand, doesn’t discuss the amenities in its new plazas until they are ready to open.
The travel center is being built three years after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled the project could continue despite claims it violated a local zoning ordinance.
Brian Yoh, New Haven’s planning and economic development director, said plans filed with the city indicate the main building will include a driver’s lounge, a convenience store, private showers and laundry facilities.
The travel center will also include two restaurants: a Subway sandwich shop and a Huddle House restaurant. Huddle House sells breakfast, lunch and dinner platters, similar to a Bob Evans restaurant.
The truck plaza will have two sides: one designated for tractor-trailer rigs and one for cars and RVs, Yoh said.
He expects 18 fuel pumps.
Pilot is following an aggressive construction schedule that could see the project completed by December, he said.
New Haven sits on a stretch of U.S. 30 that connects Fort Wayne to Interstate 75 near Lima, Ohio.
“It’s really a needed facility,” Yoh said of the travel plaza.
But relations between New Haven officials and Pilot weren’t always so cordial.
City officials changed zoning rules to limit service stations to 2 acres after Pilot bought the 53-acre property.
Officials, including Mayor Terry McDonald, argued that the new zoning rules applied to everyone and should keep the company from opening a truck stop there.
Some residents had worried the proposed project was too close to their homes.
But the state’s highest court disagreed, ending the dispute in 2009.
Yoh on Friday brushed aside questions about the legal wrangling.
“The issues of the past have been resolved and settled,” he said. “No hard feelings. The past is the past.”
