Flying J next year plans to build a new travel plaza at the intersection of Interstate 270 and Illinois Route 111 outside of St. Louis.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ground will be broken in the spring for the $8 million facility located in Pontoon Beach, Ill., which offered business incentives for Flying J to locate there.
The 18,000-square-foot building will use 20 of the 37 acres that Flying J bought in Gateway Commerce Center business park. The rest could be used for a hotel in a second phase of development, according to Flying J officials.
The plaza will be larger than the average Flying J facility. It will have a 24-hour restaurant, store, fuel pumps, showers, two fast-food restaurants, a computer room and laundry, with parking spaces for nearly 200 trucks.
The plaza is expected to open sometime in the fall of 2002.