Business & Tech

'Bluesmobile' Replica to Sit Atop Pole Outside New Travel Center

The owners of the under-construction Route 66 Food & Fuel development see the monument to Joliet's iconic Blues Brothers as an amenity to lure visitors.

As planners consider ways to transform the Illinois 53 corridor into a mecca for tourists interested in sites along Historic Route 66, one business is not only embracing the idea but capitalizing on it.

The owners of the Route 66 Food N Fun Travel Center, being built at Route 53 and Laraway Road, have won permission from Joliet planners to place a replica of the car driven by Elwood and Joliet Jake Blues in "The Blues Brothers" film atop a 25-foot pole outside its service station/store/restaurant complex.

READ MORE: Gas/Travel Center Wins Big City Tax Break

Ferhat Zerin, a principal planner for Ginkgo Planning & Design, cited the project as a great example of the "photo op" attractions that will lure people to the Joliet area because they want to see something unique and quirky.

Zerin's firm has been hired by Will County to develop a plan to market the amenities area between Joliet and Braidwood to people seeking a day-trip or weekend destination. She made a presentation to the Joliet City Council's land use committee on Wednesday.

READ MORE: 'Mother Road' Visitors Key to Putting Joliet on Tourist Map

Kendall Jackson, the city's director of planning and economic development, said city officials have approved the "Bluesmobile" installation as part of the travel center's development plans. The center is under construction and will include a gas station, a Dunkin' Donuts, Pop's Italian Beef, convenience store and liquor store.

Jackson is also a member of the community steering committee working with Zerin's firm on the Route 53 corridor project. A key component is to establish at least one photo op destination in each of the six areas that make up the corridor, similar to the Gemini Giant that sits outside the now-closed Launching Pad Drive-in in Wilmington.

According to plans submitted to the city, the replica Bluesmobile will be nothing but a shell, lacking a fuel tank, engine or drive train. It will be placed on an angle on top of a steel pipe embedded in concrete and anchored six feet below ground level. It will have an electrical conduit to allow for illumination.
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