By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The City of Great Bend is centrally located. There are three major highways that pass through or converge into town. This all leads to a high number of semi-trucks making their way through the city.
All of those drivers
eventually need a place to stop to eat or sleep. Although not designed for this
purpose, the Walmart parking lot on 10th Street is one of very few
locations the trucks can park.
Great Bend City Attorney Bob Suelter says talks of the town needing a proper
truck stop have been circulating since he started working for the city. While
many investors have eyed the east end of town on 10th Street, or
U.S. Highway 56, Suelter says there are few concerns with that area.
"There is a high-pressure main gas line that comes in out there," said Suelter. "Everyone's concern is they do not want to build across that and they do not want to put it in a position where someone could run into it and do some damage."
The most recent public talks of a truck stop in Great Bend came at
the end of 2018 when Love’s Country Store announced an expansion of their
existing property to include diesel pumps and semi-truck parking. Love's $1.5
to $2 million project was squashed after finding out the Kansas Department of
Transportation’s parameters for the opening and turning into Love’s. Love’s was
unable to widen the entrance large enough for the semi-trucks.
Suelter says other investors have looked at Doonan’s Corner, east of town, but
no one has moved on the idea.