Mroe travelers will soon be lured off of Highway 99 at the Jack Tone Road interchange thanks to plans by Burger King and Popeye’s Chicken to build locations on the west side of the freeway.

 A Project Review meeting was held earlier this week at Ripon City Hall to review plans for the construction of both fast-food restaurants at the Jack Tone Crossing, 744 N. Jack Tone Road, in the area near Les Schwab Tires and Tractor Supply Co.

According to the City of Ripon’s Department of Planning and Economic Development, the request to bring in Burger King and Popeye’s would be on a 48,601 square foot parcel in an area zoned for Mixed Use.

Both would offer drive-thru service.

One building is the proposed 2,600-square-foot Burger King. The other is the 2,300-square-foot Popeye’s.

“The applicant intends to have a shared trash enclosure and shared parking of 42 spaces, of which two will be ADA compliant spaces for each building and seven spaces identified as compact throughout the lot,” according to the project description.

This area of Jack Tone Road, just south of the Highway 99 interchange, continues to sprout new development.

A gas station/convenience store with a Tommy’s Express Car Wash was approved during the summer just south of where the two fast food places are being proposed.

It will feature a 4,500 square-foot convenience store with a drive-through, a 5,000 square-foot fueling facility consisting of eight pumps/16 fueling stations, and 12 electric vehicle charging stations.

The Shell gas facility will also include a fast food operation in the same structure as the convenience store. Possible tenants mentioned previously include Baja Fresh and Starbucks.

The car wash will feature eight vacuum stations.

Construction is continuing nearby for the Alpine Climbing Adventure Fitness, a large indoor rock-climbing facility with a gym and fitness center.

The Ripon Planning Commission could be next in line to review plans for the Burger King / Popeye’s restaurants. Commissioners are scheduled to meet on Feb. 16.

The east side of the interchange is already home to several fast food places such as McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Arby’s and Sonic Drive In.

Ripon has also approved the building of a Dutch Bros Coffee on Colony Road off of Jack Tone Road. There is already a Starbucks nearby.
The east side of the interchange has three truck/travel plazas including Flying J that includes a Denny’s restaurant, Love’s, and Jimco that is now undergoing a major renovation.
When the Jack Tone replacement interchange was built in the 1990s to allow the elimination of the at-grade crossing of the railroad tracks, it was done so to allow for a high volume of truck and travel traffic to access highway services.

Ripon’s aim was to capitalize on taxes assessed on prepared food and fuel sales paid for by non-local travelers and truckers to help bolster the municipal general fund to help pay for day-to-day services such as police, parks, and general government.