THE LONG and winding road towards choosing an operator for the first motorway service stations is nearing an end.

More than two years after advertising the tender, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has given the green light to the Superstop consortium – comprising Tedcastle Oil, which operates the Top brand; Petrogas, which runs the Applegreen chain of petrol stations; and Pierse Contracting – as the preferred bidder.

Four of the service stations will be located on the M1 motorway linking Dublin and Belfast, with two on the M4, which links the capital to the west of Ireland.

Superstop will be responsible for the design, construction, operation and financing of the service stations under a public-private partnership with the NRA.

“We anticipate that the contract will be awarded and signed in six to eights weeks’ time,” the NRA told me.

The stations will comprise petrol forecourts, restaurants, shops and HGV parking.

Superstop won the race for the NRA contract ahead of four other groups. These included Irish-owned Topaz, troubled west of Ireland fuel operator John Sweeney, and Welcome Break Holdings, which runs motorway services stations in Britain.