Applegreen to Invest $70M to Build Four New Highway Service Areas in Colorado
Applegreen is to invest $70 million (€61 million) in the construction of four new service plazas along the E-470 highway in Denver, Colorado.
Applegreen is responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of the service plazas and will operate the facilities under a 50-year agreement with the E-470 Public Highway Authority.
Each service plaza will include three branded food and beverage outlets, an Applegreen convenience store, fueling infrastructure and Applegreen Electric EV chargers, as well as seating areas, and restrooms.
“We are delighted to be partnering with E-470 on this exciting new project, which extends our footprint in the United States, and will bring world-class roadside hospitality facilities to travellers in Colorado,” said Applegreen Chief Executive Joe Barrett.
“We are investing $70 million to deliver four new state-of-the-art service plazas in Colorado and will begin construction in the coming days. The first new plaza is expected to be operational by the last quarter of 2026, while the other three will come onstream shortly afterwards.”
The E-470 is a 47-mile long fully tolled public highway around the eastern side of the Denver Metropolitan area. The new service areas will be located at former toll plaza sites that were decommissioned after the E-470 moved fully to cashless electronic tolling.
“This project has been years in the making and represents a bold new chapter for E-470 and our region,” said Joe Donahue, Executive Director of the E-470 Public Highway Authority. “We are transforming underutilised infrastructure into something that will directly benefit our customers and communities – by providing services they need today and building in flexibility for the future of travel. And we are proud to be making it a reality without relying on any toll revenue or tax dollars.”
Historically, there were no services available directly on the highway, so drivers had to exit the E-470 if they wished to stop for coffee, a meal, to refuel, or to charge their vehicle.
Mr Barrett said that the E-470 project demonstrates Applegreen’s continued commitment to providing world-class facilities to customers in the United States and to working in partnership with highway and State authorities there.
Applegreen currently operates 113 highway service plazas in the United States. It is investing $750 million to rebuild, remodel and operate 18 highway service plazas in Massachusetts following a recent contract award, and will shortly complete a $450 million investment programme to upgrade and modernise all 27 service plazas on the New York State Thruway.
Applegreen has invested more than €1 billion in the US since it bought its first two sites in New York’s Long Island in 2014, and it is now one of the largest Irish employers in the United States.
Applegreen is also continuing to grow its business in Ireland and in the UK, as part of a €1 billion expansion programme over the next five years. The company’s expansion plans are focused on acquiring and developing new sites in the markets in which it already operates, as well as upgrading its existing locations.
In the UK, Applegreen is expanding its Welcome Break business, which operates 60 sites – including 36 motorway service areas – and 31 hotels.
The Applegreen business currently employs about 16,000 people, including more than 7,000 people in the United States. It had a turnover of almost €4 billion last year and serves about 180 million customers annually.
Applegreen is one of Ireland’s leading retail hospitality brands. It opened its first service station in Ballyfermot in Dublin in 1992 and now operates almost 200 locations in the Irish market. It also has also has a significant business overseas, with operations in Britain and the United States, and a total of more than 430 locations and more than 700 branded food offers across its global network.
