MOSES LAKE — A couple of major commercial construction projects in Moses Lake are proceeding through the dirt-pushing stages and making early progress.

The structure for the 11,000-square-foot building at the Colville Fuels Half Sun Travel Plaza is expected to be up by the end of August and the store interior wrapped up by December, maybe January, Granite Petroleum project manager Mark Lundt said.

The Half Sun Travel Plaza at the southwest corner of South Wanapum Drive and West Lakeshore Drive is where the Confederated Tribes of the Colville tribe will build a truck stop, with a convenience store and gas station on a 9.25-acre parcel of land.

“We’re in the pushing dirt phase. Foundations are in the process. Generally, there’s an effort to build the structure first and then pave the site,” Lundt said. “We haven’t set a firm completion date or any grand opening date yet. But as we get closer, I’m sure the tribe have something they’ll want to do.”

The project includes: separate covered fuel dispensing islands for tractor trailers and standard vehicles, underground fuel storage and product delivery systems, a truck scale, an automated car wash, asphalt parking, driveways and road surfaces, signage, safety lighting and connection to local utilities.

It also includes a 11,000-square-foot building with two different fueling locations, one for retail customers and one for commercial trucks.

On the other side of town, construction on the new WinCo Foods store located between Stratford Road and Central Drive, adjacent to Moses Lake Town Center, is well underway. Like the travel plaza, construction crews are preparing the 16-acre lot for the next phase.

Unlike the travel plaza, it took a t judge’s decision to get to this point. Grant County Superior Court Judge John Knodell dismissed the case challenging plans to build the WinCo Foods store in Moses Lake on April 14, paving the way for the employee-owned grocery to move forward on construction, which will be located between Stratford Road and Central Drive, adjacent to Moses Lake Town Center.

“WinCo’s excited and ready to invest in Moses Lake and bring the services and jobs to the city,” WinCo attorney Jon Sitkin said following the superior court decision.