The proposed Pilot/Flying J truck stop that will serve the Interstate 5 corridor at Roth Road has cleared its final major hurdle.
Last week the San Joaquin County Local Agency Formation Commission voted unanimously to allow Lathrop to annex a portion of the county that includes the land where the project itself will be constructed as well as existing businesses along Roth Road – including the Pape Kenworth Truck Sales and Service facility.
After the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors voted last month to approve a tax sharing agreement with the city – allowing the county to retain all sales tax from the Pape facility while the city will receive all the sales tax revenue from the proposed truck stop – the Knoxville, Tennessee company now only has to build the travel complex to cater to the growing number of trucks that operate in and around Lathrop as well as the massive number that pass the city daily.
Thanks to its proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area and its position on the major North-South interstate that connects Canada with Mexico, Lathrop has emerged as a major hotbed of distribution in the Northern San Joaquin Valley – securing a Kraft Heinz distribution facility that is expected to open in this year as well as a UPS shipping hub that is now up and running.
But the road to bring the world’s largest travel stop company to the city wasn’t a smooth one.
After sailing through the Planning Commission, a group of residents – spearheaded by eventual mayoral candidate Steven Macias – spoke out in opposition to the project during a packed city council meeting last year.
When the council ultimately voted to approve the proposal – unanimously – some members of that group organized a well-funded petition drive to force the council to either repeal the action or put it before voters. That effort, despite having the assistance of a well-connected San Joaquin County political consultant and a lawyer specializing in such matters, ultimately failed – not long after Macias stepped up to challenge two-term Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal, who had been vocal in his support for the project.
Once completed, the truck stop – which is located away from residential areas on the city’s new northern boundary – will bring a tremendous amount of sales tax revenue to the city, and is expected to be a major boost to the one-cent sales tax initiative that was overwhelmingly approved by votes in 2012 to help fund police, fire and other essential city services.
While Macias and other opponents argued that the complex will become a haven for pollution and crime, Lathrop Police Services Chief James Hood compared the calls for service to Lathrop’s existing truck stop – Joe’s Travel Plaza – and compared them to the calls for service at other truck stops in San Joaquin County, including the Flying J at Flag City in Lodi and along Highway 99 in Lathrop. The numbers showed that the number of calls are nearly equal across the board.
Joe’s Travel Plaza is located right behind existing Lathrop homes, and near two elementary schools.
Flying J will lease the parcel that the facility will operate on from its current owner.
A spokesperson for the company, who was present at the meeting where the council approved the proposal that would bring it to town, informed the city’s elected officials that the company intended to build it in that location regardless of whether the city petitioned for annexation or not – simply taking the project to San Joaquin County for its approval if it were to be denied.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.