Thursday, June 17, 1999
Florence says farewell to truck stop
BY MOLLY HARPER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE — When J.B. Hunt driver John Conkrite pulled into the Burns Brothers truck stop, his favorite local spot to lunch and refuel, all he found was an empty lot.
“It was surprising and a little aggravating,” he said, sitting at the counter of the Waffle House next door. “It just disappeared. It would have been nice if they had let the carriers know what was going on.”
The 33-year-old truck stop at Interstate 75 and Ky. 18, which was bought by Travel Centers of America, was demolished last week to make way for a new facility. The destruction of what many consider a Florence landmark was met with mixed feelings.
Mr. Conkrite said it is part of an alarming trend across the country. Large companies like Travel Centers of America, Flying J and Pilot are buying out “mom and pop” truck stops and replacing personal service and good food with higher prices and impersonal treatment.
“You can go to an exit and see a (Travel Center) on the side of the road and another one on the right,” he said. “It's becoming too commercial. There's no personality like at the family-owned places.”
Lee Gregory, a JV Trucking driver from Williamsburg, Ky., said he would trade personality for cleaner, up-to-date facilities and is unsentimental about the stop's demise.
“If there was a place that needed to be torn down, that was it,” he said.
Mr. Gregory said when truckers talked over radios, they would direct each other to other truck stops and warn out-of-town truckers to stay away from Burns Brothers.
“Maybe if they put a newer, nicer facility there, people will start going there again,” he said.
Robert Kinlaw, who owns and operates UB Truck Line Inc., in Florence, said building a new facility won't bring in more truckers. He won't let his drivers stop there because of the danger the traffic in the area presents and said most drivers have abandoned it.
“Burns Brothers was nice in its day, but that day's over,” he said. “It's history.”
Boone County Planning Commission spokesman Mark Jordan said construction on the new truck stop is scheduled to begin July 1. The tentative opening date is in November.
Florence Mayor Diane Whalen said she's sad to see a piece of history go. But she said it's time for a change.
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