Filing shows QuikTrip planned
Travel center to be built at I-35 and Hefner Road
QuikTrip, a Tulsa-based chain that for years has passed by Oklahoma City as a market for expansion, is asking for a sign variance for a new travel center at Interstate 35 and Hefner Road.
QuikTrip told The Oklahoman in September it was looking at expansion into Oklahoma City, but would not detail any locations. A filing with the Oklahoma City Board of Adjustment seeking a variance for signage shows plans for a travel center at the southwest corner of I-35 and Hefner.
That section of I-35 carries about 82,000 vehicles a day.
Aisha Jefferson-Smith, QuikTrip’s corporate communications manager, said if a store were to open along one of the metro area’s highway interchanges, it would be the chain’s larger store model meant to accommodate heavier traffic. She said the company has no intention of introducing other, smaller stores into the Oklahoma City metro area.
The chain has 900 locations across the country with 81 in Oklahoma, but dating back to the company’s origins has never opened a store in central Oklahoma.
Staff writer Steve Lackmeyer is a 31year reporter, columnist and author who covers downtown Oklahoma City, related urban development and economics for The Oklahoman. Contact him at slackmeyer@oklahoman.com. Please support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a subscription at subscribe.oklahoman.com.