The expressway service area is an important showcase to present the local economy and characteristics. The integration of transportation and tourism requires the transformation and upgrading of service area. In order to solve the location problem of expressway tourism characteristic service area under the background of traffic and tourism integration development, based on the in-depth analysis of the definition of traffic and tourism integration development and the connotation of expressway tourism characteristic service area, a set of comprehensive and multi-level service area location model was established from three aspects: highway selection, pre selection point location and optimization of location. Firstly, the research area was classified by K-means cluster analysis, and the highway in the areas with rich tourism and developed economy was selected. Then, the spatial difference of key points along the expressway and the demand for service area were analyzed by using the traffic economic coupling coordination model, and the pre-selected point of service area was determined. Finally, based on the optimization model aiming at maximizing the passenger flow, the tourism attraction factor was integrated to construct the maximum model of total service volume. Taking Hubei Province as an example, combining with the regional scenic spots and folk culture characteristics, the location and layout of tourism characteristic service areas were carried out, and the theme design of each service area was carried out. These verify the rationality and effectiveness of the model.