Iowa 80 is the world's largest
truck stop
A truck stop, known as a service station in the United Kingdom, and a travel center by major chains in the United States, is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made food and other services to motori ...
, located along
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
off exit 284 in
Walcott,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
. It sits on a plot of land, three times larger than an average truckstop, and it receives 5,000 visitors daily. Iowa 80 features a main building,
parking
Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...
for 900
truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
s, 15 diesel fuel pumps, and also has a dedicated pump for dispensing bulk
diesel exhaust fluid
Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF; also known as AUS 32 and marketed as AdBlue) is a liquid used to reduce the amount of air pollution created by a diesel engine. Specifically, DEF is an aqueous urea solution made with 32.5% urea and 67.5% deionized w ...
. Four-hundred and fifty employees staff the megaplex.
[''Modern Marvels: Truck Stops''. The History Channel.]
Iowa 80 is currently affiliated with the
TravelCenters of America
TravelCenters of America LLC is the largest publicly traded full-service truck stop and travel center company in the United States. The company operates full service centers, convenience stores, and restaurants under the TravelCenters of America, ...
chain.
History
Bill Moon, a regional manager for
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
, purchased the land and built the original truckstop in 1964 along the emerging I-80, the highway that would directly connect San Francisco with New York. "As they were building I-80, my father was responsible for finding land and building truck stops for Standard," says his daughter Delia Meier.
Initially a small white enamel building surrounded by cornfields, it housed a modest truckers' store, one lube bay and a restaurant. Bill Moon took direct control in September 1965 and eventually purchased the site from the corporation in 1984. In 1992, the year of Moon's death, it became a
Travelcenter of America
TravelCenters of America LLC is the largest publicly traded full-service truck stop and travel center company in the United States. The company operates full service centers, convenience stores, and restaurants under the TravelCenters of America, ...
franchise, though the facility is still owned and operated by the Moon family. In addition, the Iowa 80 Group also owns the Joplin Petro on
Interstate 44
Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Fal ...
, Oak Grove 70 Petro off
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 in ...
just outside Kansas City, and Kenly 95 off of
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
.
Facilities
Exterior
Iowa 80 has a large truck parking lot, truck scales, and fueling stations as is customary for a truck stop.
There are fifteen fuel stations. The stations have nozzles on each side, so tanks on both sides of the truck can be filled simultaneously. Since the introduction of trucks requiring
diesel exhaust fluid
Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF; also known as AUS 32 and marketed as AdBlue) is a liquid used to reduce the amount of air pollution created by a diesel engine. Specifically, DEF is an aqueous urea solution made with 32.5% urea and 67.5% deionized w ...
, the fuel island at Iowa 80 has been renovated to include pumps for bulk DEF dispensing. Iowa 80 has a service center where vehicle diagnostics, minor repairs, oil changes or tire rotations can be done. A small convenience store is located on the fuel island. Iowa 80 also has a truck washing facility, and even the engine can be washed.
CAT scales
CAT (Certified Automated Truck) scale was founded by Iowa 80 owner Bill Moon. With over 2,000 locations in the United States and Canada, CAT is now touted as the largest scale company network in the world. An innovative app (weigh my truck) allows those weighing to not only get the information on a device in their vehicle but also pay for it.
Interior
Trucker's Warehouse Store
The Iowa 80 facility also has a two-story, showroom, which is the largest trucker's store in the country. Here customers may purchase chrome accessories, books, DVDs, CDs, cell phone accessories,
CB radio
Citizens band radio (also known as CB radio), used in many countries, is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance person-to-many persons bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two way radios operating on ...
equipment, apparel and cleaners, chrome stacks, and bumpers. There are custom built show trucks, one on a rotating platform. A wall displays 500 illuminated truck lights. Also located in the store are a vinyl graphics shop, a custom T-shirt shop, and an embroidery center.
Food services
A number of food services are located at the stop. These include
Blimpie
Blimpie International, Inc., doing business as Blimpie (stylized as BLiMPiE), is an American submarine sandwich chain based in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was founded in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1964, by three friends, and has since endured three ow ...
,
Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the ...
,
Caribou Coffee
Caribou Coffee Company is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain. It was founded in Edina, Minnesota, Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. As of May 2015, the company operates 603 locations worldwide. It is headquartered in Brooklyn Center, Minne ...
,
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc. (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 1998) which also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and G ...
,
Orange Julius
Orange Julius is an American chain of fruit drink beverage stores. It has been in business since the late 1920s and is noted for a particular drink, also called an Orange Julius. The beverage is a mixture of ice, orange juice, sweetener, milk, p ...
,
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, includi ...
,
Einstein Bros. Bagels
Einstein Bros. Bagels is an American chain that specializes in bagels and coffee. In 1996, Berkeley-based Noah's Bagels was bought out by Einstein Bros. Manhattan-based New World Coffee, which bought out Manhattan Bagel in 1998, bought out Einste ...
, and
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
.
[http://iowa80truckstop.com] The Iowa 80 Kitchen has an extensive salad bar and provides 'home-cooked' meals. The Iowa 80 Kitchen serves 1 million cups of coffee and 90 tons of meat annually.
The restaurant seats 350 patrons, and a banquet room expands the total capacity by 60.
Other facilities
There are twenty-four private shower and toilet rooms (which may be requested at the fuel pump), a game room, and a Driver's Den Lounge. The lounge provides leather chairs and a fireplace for relaxing. Iowa 80 also features a business center with fax machines, logbooks & trip report forms and working stations, along with a small free gym. A 60-seat movie theater and an on-site barbershop are available.
The most unexpected facilities, though, may be the
dentist
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...
's office and the
chiropractic
Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...
clinic. The dentist usually arrives at around 9am; some of his patrons are local residents rather than truckers.
WALCOTT: Iowa-80 Truck stop a city in itself - A Q-C Century - Progress 99
In the ''Modern Marvels
''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's f ...
'' episode "Truck Stops" on the History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
, the dentist states that he is sometimes the "truckers best friend" because he is providing treatment that is usually aimed at "taking them (the drivers) out of pain". According to the dentist interviewed for the episode, the dentist office in Iowa 80 is very beneficial because it provides a service to patients that might not otherwise get to visit a dentist due to the nomadic lifestyle that over-the-road truck drivers lead. The dentist's office in Iowa 80 accepts both private pay and most all of the major dental insurance plans offered to drivers by companies, making its services accessible to a much wider range of clients.
Across the hall from the dentist is a recently added chiropractic clinic. Services include chiropractic adjustments and Department of Transportation physicals.
Gallery
image:Iowa80exterior wide.png, A wide shot of the exterior captures the scope of the building's size.
image:Iowa80sign.png, The exit-ramp sign boasts this is the "World's Largest Truckstop".
References
External links
*
{{Trucking industry in the United States
Buildings and structures in Scott County, Iowa
Transportation in Iowa
Landmarks in Iowa
Restaurants in Iowa
Standard Oil
Tourist attractions in Scott County, Iowa
American companies established in 1964
Retail companies established in 1964
Restaurants established in 1964
Truck stop chains
Gas stations in the United States
1964 establishments in Iowa