New York State Thruway Opens New Service Area Near Buffalo

The New York State Thruway has been the common route for many New Yorkers to take over the last several decades. It's the quickest way to go from one end of the state to the other.

Unfortunately, the NYS Thruway has garnered the reputation over the years for some poor road conditions in certain spots and out-of-date service areas.

Those days are over as the state has done road work to help sections of the thruway, as well as a major $450 million investment in remodeling numerous service areas across the state.

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These new service areas will bring in more restaurants, space and better structures for motorists traveling down the I-90.

A few of the brand new service areas have already opened up, including Iroquois and Clifton Springs, which both opened to customers in March.

Now, the first new service area in Western New York has opened its doors.

The NYS Thruway Authority announced today that the Clarence service area (exit 48B) has opened its doors. It's a level 2A service area (over 14,000 square feet in space and three restaurants).

The three fast food restaurants are Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts and Popeyes.

The rest stop also has an Applegreen C-Store and Taste NY Food and Drink products.

What sets this new service area apart from the old one is space and amenities. The inside is much larger than the previous service area in Clarence, with outdoor seating, a dog walking area and a farm market area. There are also level 3 high speed EV chargers.

Trucker amenities that will be coming soon are lockers, showers, restrooms and a washer/dryer.

The Angola service area is phase 2 of the project, so that new service area should reopen some time in the next several years. There's no set date yet, but the Angola service area will include a Shake Shack, which will be the first Shake Shack in Western New York.