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| The
owners of the new Eau Claire Travel Center plan to take advantage of increased
traffic created by the expansion of Highway 29 through Chippewa Falls. Rendering courtesy of SEH inc. |
Chippewa Falls will welcome more passers-through now that the expansion of Highway 29 is complete.
The project, ongoing since 1992, connects Green Bay with Interstate 94 in Elk Mound and runs straight through Chippewa Falls. The final segment, from Chippewa Falls to the interstate, was opened to traffic Aug. 16.
The $570 million transportation project is one of many opening Chippewa Falls to more traffic.
River Country Cooperative of Chippewa Falls recognized the potential of the new highway and is building a $10 million hotel and travel center at the intersection of Highway 29 and Highway T.
“The property was identified by the owner four or five years ago,” said Bob Sworski, principal at the Chippewa Falls office of SEH Inc., project designer for the travel center. “It has really come to fruition with the new highway. About 80 percent of the market share will come from the new highway.”
Gundlach Champion Inc., Houghton, Mich., has already broken ground on the Eau Claire Travel Center and has sunk fuel tanks for the gas station/convenience center. Several retail shops, likely to include a hair salon, tanning facility, arcade and trucker’s lounge, will also be built on the 10-acre parcel, Sworski said.
A restaurant will connect the travel center to the Sleep Inn & Suites, a 72-room hotel being built in a separate but simultaneous phase of the project.
SEH took great care to design the 24,000-square-foot travel center in an energy-efficient manner. The large number of coolers that will be part of the center allowed the HVAC, plumbing and cooler manufacturers to collaboratively build a system that allows the heat generated by the coolers to be channeled back into heating the building, Sworski said.
Although not a unique concept, it is a technique that only works in certain situations.
“It really only pays in projects like this with a lot of coolers,” he said. “You have to have more area to heat or cool, so the numbers are real effective.”
It cost an extra $3,000 to $4,000 to install the system, but SEH anticipates the system will have paid for itself in three years.
The travel center also will take maximum advantage of natural lighting. Rather than facing the highway it hopes to draw traffic from, it will face opposite.
A southern front face is best for using natural light, Sworski said, adding that the building will feature a prominent skylight for added benefit.
“That natural light we’re bringing in ... the electricity savings should be quite high,” he said.
The view of the building from the roadway was still an important consideration, especially because the building is lower than the highway.
“The prime consideration was visibility from the road,” Sworski said. “The roof is very clean looking, no mechanical units.”