By Sarah Light, staff writer

Interstate 35&8217;s Exit 11 is putting Albert Lea on the maps of travelers.

With two major truck stops already in place and one on the way, the exit provides services for tourists, truck drivers and even Albert Lea&8217;s own residents. And it brings people off of the freeway and into the heart of what makes Albert Lea shine.

From first glance for tourists, the two truck stops provide five restaurants &8212; Pizza Hut Express, McDonald&8217;s, Cold Stone Creamery, Trail&8217;s Restaurant, and Wendy&8217;s &8212; along with a gift shop and other amenities.

For truck drivers, there are lounge areas, showering facilities and even a clinic designed to provide speedy care for common illnesses.

And with the new Flying J Travel Plaza on the way, Exit 11 will have even more selections.

&8220;We&8217;ve been planning that exit really since we first heard about the possibility of a truck stop in the area where Trail&8217;s is,&8221; City Planner Bob Graham said. &8220;The idea was that the exit would serve as a retail and service campus separated by four quadrants.&8221;

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, about 28,000 automobiles drive daily on the stretch of Interstate 35 near Albert Lea.

Because of this, the city has been working to build up the areas along the freeway that could potentially bring these motorists into Albert Lea.

Graham said the goal for Exit 11 is to bring in a mixture of establishments to the area, including restaurants, retail &8212; some big and some small &8212; and

even possibly some housing.

&8220;Typically, if there&8217;s only one service in a city, people don&8217;t tend to stop there,&8221; he said. &8220;But if there&8217;s a cluster of services in one area, more people tend to stop.&8221;

And while people are stopped, he said, he&8217;s hoping to be able to market the community more to tell people about Albert Lea&8217;s downtown, lakes and other highlights that can&8217;t be seen from the freeway.

&8220;I see it as a marketing tool for the rest of the community,&8221; Graham said.

Rocky Trail, owner of Trail&8217;s Travel Center, agreed.

&8220;I think with all the travelers stopping that otherwise would have probably just gone on by, the city has the potential to use us to market Albert Lea,&8221; Trail said. &8220;I&8217;d like to see more of that happen.&8221;

He said he&8217;s already seen an increase in the truck traffic since the opening of Love&8217;s Travel Stop and Wendy&8217;s across from his own establishment. And the Trail&8217;s management is always working to upgrade their facility to bring in even more people.

Kevin Freese, general manager of Love&8217;s, said while the completion of Flying J will create more competition for his business and for Trail&8217;s, it will ultimately draw more people off of the interstate to all three truck stops.

At first it will be for simple services that their businesses can provide, he said, but eventually people who stop will start to look to Albert Lea for other things as well.

&8220;Whatever we can do to increase traffic coming up our way is what we try to do,&8221; Freese said. &8220;Any kind of city growth or city planning will be huge for everybody.&8221;

Much of this planning will come during the preparation of the city&8217;s new comprehensive plan, which is currently under way. Albert Lea&8217;s last comprehensive plan was created in the &8217;70s.