Construction starts on Love's truck stop in Pamelia

Craig Fox, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·2 min read

Oct. 11—PAMELIA — About three years after it was first proposed, work is finally underway on a Love's Travel Stop on outer Bradley Street, just outside the Watertown city line.

Site work for the 12,750-square-foot truck stop began a little more than a month ago. It is unclear when the store will open.

With delays for more than a year, Bohler, the Albany engineering firm working on the project, had to get final approval from the state Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on entrance way issues and water and sewer arrangements before work could begin.

In April 2021, the Pamelia Town Planning Board approved the site plans for the $12 million to $15 million project before work was delayed. Construction was supposed to start that construction season and take a year to complete.

The project first surfaced in 2019.

"It's been going on for three years," Pamelia Supervisor Scott J. Allen said last week. "It's been a long process."

He's glad to see the project get off the ground.

"It's going good," he said. "Construction is going good."

Tim Freitag, Bohler's project engineer for the site, said last week that he doesn't know when the store is scheduled to open, although he's encouraged by the progress of the site work.

The truck stop will include a restaurant, gift shop and showers, as well as 12 gas pumps in front and six diesel pumps in back. The site is expected to employ about 40 people.

The truck stop includes parking to accommodate 97 trucks and 75 cars. The town planning board required a left-hand turning lane.

To see what the Pamelia truck stop will be like, Mr. Allen said he planned on visiting a Love's Travel Stop in Seneca County, near Rochester, that opened last spring when he drives through the area for work this week.

"I haven't been there," he said. "I plan to see what it looks like."

The town will provide water for the project through a major water project.

The town is completing a $22.5 million water project that will add more than 300 customers along Route 12 and several roads on that side of the town, as well as providing water for the truck stop.

Love's Travel Stops is the nation's leading travel stop network with more than 430 locations in 41 states. Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company remains family owned and operated and employs more than 35,000 people.