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World’s largest truck stop in Illinois?
Owner of Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott doubts that
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Will the world’s largest truck stop soon be in suburban Chicago? The current titleholder doesn’t think so.
“They haven’t built it yet, so you could say anything you want to,” said a skeptical Delia Meier, an executive with the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott that claims the world’s largest title.
When Outpost, a Texas-based company, announced plans last week for a 30-acre facility off Interstate 90 in West Dundee, Ill., with spaces for 1,000 semi-trailer trucks, some media outlets decided it would be the new “world’s largest truck stop.”
“They say it’s a 30-acre site, and they’re going to put 1,000 truck parking spots on it,” said Meier, senior vice president of the Iowa 80 Group Inc. “You’re not going to be able to put that on 30 acres.”
The Iowa 80 Truckstop, celebrating its 60th year in business this year, boasts parking for 900 semis on 220 acres, along with amenities the Illinois facility won’t have.
“We have nine restaurants, 24 private showers,” Meier said. “There’s a chiropractor, there’s a barbershop, a dentist — everything we could think of is here, and we’ve got some more ideas.”
The West Dundee site, being built on a former landfill, won’t be a traditional truck stop open to the motoring public. Instead, it will be a place for truckers to drop trailers and await outbound loads.
It won’t have the fueling center, shops or restaurants found at Iowa 80, which draws more than 5,000 visitors daily.
“It’s not a truck stop,” Meier said. “It’s a trailer lot. I think they’ve got a good model, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the world’s largest truck stop.”
Meier’s father, Bill Moon, a regional manager for Standard Oil, bought land and opened the Iowa 80 Truckstop in 1964, three years before Interstate 80 bridged the Mississippi River at LeClaire. He purchased the operation in 1984, continuing to add services and amenities.
The Iowa 80 also has a truck museum and hosts an annual truckers’ jamboree.
Moon died in 1992, and family members continued in company leadership positions. The business still is family-owned, with other truck stops in Joplin, Mo., and Kenly, N.C.
“Trucking is going through a very tough time right now,” Meier said. “Right now, rates are terrible, and we can only do as well as our customers.”
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