Hundreds of jobs available if 'super' truck stop approved

Truck stop, restaurant, motel planned for massive highway development

DEVELOPERS have taken the next step in a 'mega truck stop' potentially worth tens of millions of dollars and creating hundreds of jobs on the Warrego Hwy.

Plans have been in place for close to 20 years for an empty patch of dirt beside the highway at Haigslea to be transformed into a massive truck stop, service centre and hotel.

This month planners RPS submitted fresh development applications to Ipswich City Council on behalf of land holders and developers EMAAAS.

The development application for the Haigslea highway service station site includes a 50-bed motel, service station, shop, cafe, four fast food shops, car and truck wash, truck depot and park and a restaurant.

RPS planning consultant Craig Harte said the site had the potential to be among the biggest of its kind in the area.

"It has been a long process to get to this point and there have been a few false starts but it is still very early days," Mr Harte said. "It has been a labour of love but they are keen to start moving forward. (The developers) are not fly by night, they had the patience to work this one through. It has the potential to be a real shot in the arm for this corridor.

"It has the potential to be the biggest in its ultimate form and given what we are looking at, it has all the elements and then some. "There is the potential for some serious coin to be spent."

The developers applied to the Planning and Environment Court in 2005 for the land to be included in the Special Uses Zone (Rural Areas) under the Ipswich Planning Scheme 2004 for the development to go ahead.

Ipswich Councillor David Pahlke said the huge complex, if approved, would resemble a 'mini village' and rival some of the biggest service stations in southeast Queensland.

"It's the sign of the future, these highway stops are becoming mini villages, they are like food and drink mega stops," Cr Pahlke said.