Two turnpike service plazas open in Springfield Township

Two turnpike service plazas open in Springfield Township

After a lengthy delay and millions spent to replace facilities that had been there since the Ohio Turnpike’s opening in 1955, the new Mahoning Valley and Glacier Hills service plazas at mile post 237 in New Springfield officially opened at noon today.

A formal ribbon-cutting will be hosted at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the plaza, a gateway for Ohio-bound traffic coming from the east.

The new plazas will fill a 121.6 mile void westbound between the New Stanton, Pa., Service Plaza, and the Portage Service Plaza in Mantua, Ohio, and a 93.3 mile eastbound void between the Brady’s Leap Service Plaza in Mantua and the Oakmont Plum Service Plaza in Pennsylvania.

When the project was first announced in January 2011, construction was supposed to be complete by last summer, but the original contract was terminated by the Ohio Turnpike Commission when the company hired to do the work was not fulfilling its obligations.

Covelli Enterprises opened two new Panera Bread cafes on both sides of the highway today, where it will provide food service. The company also will open two Dairy Queen Grill and Chill locations there on June 5. Sunoco, which supplies fuel at all Ohio Turnpike service plazas, will be the fuel supplier.