After three years of debate and a seven-hour public meeting, Stafford County’s Board of Supervisors has voted 5-2 to approve the Buc-ee’s Travel Center project. Virginia’s second Buc-ee’s will be built near the intersection of Courthouse Road and Austin Ridge Drive, just off Interstate 95 at Exit 140. Buc-ee’s of Stafford will be a 74,000-square-foot travel center with 120 gas pumps and 800 parking spaces. Today, the 38-acre property consists of trees, bushes and stormwater basins, across Austin Ridge Drive from the new Embrey Mill Town Center. The project has been controversial. Supporters have pointed to almost $2 million in annual tax revenue and jobs that will be generated in Stafford County, while opponents have concerns about how increased traffic will affect daily life. The first Buc-ee’s opened in 1982 in Clute, Texas, and there are now just over 50 locations in the U.S. The first location in Virginia opened in June 2025, in Rockingham County, just south of Harrisonburg.

What about the extra traffic?

A traffic impact analysis concluded Buc-ee’s would generate almost 21,000 daily vehicle trips. The project that was approved by the board included several traffic improvements, in an attempt to facilitate interstate travelers to stop for a brisket sandwich or sausage on a stick, use a clean restroom, pick up snacks for the road, and buy Buc-ee’s beaver merchandise. Improvements offered by Buc-ee’s include building a median-separated slip lane from the I-95 southbound exit, which will allow I-95 travelers to enter the parking lot without having to travel on Courthouse Road. Opponents have feared that extra traffic could slow emergency services. The new project will include exclusive turn lanes and an extra through lane on Courthouse Road, to avoid impeding local travelers. In an attempt to minimize the visual impact on the nearby Embrey Mills neighborhood, two rows of tall evergreen trees will be planted. A Buc-ee’s sign visible from the highway was originally planned to be 60 feet tall — after residents’ input, the sign will now be 45 feet tall, approximately the same height as the travel center building. To assuage neighbors’ concerns about light pollution, since fuel stations typically are lit brightly, in a last-minute offer, the company agreed to use dark-sky compliant canopy lighting.

Why yes it is! Buc-ee’s just got the approval from the board of supervisors to build in #StaffordVa! https://t.co/CIMGbbt3g7

— NickZ (@nickz) May 20, 2026

Approvals still needed before construction

Before construction can begin, the project still requires an Operational and Safety Analysis Report, looking into how Buc-ee’s would affect the Exit 140 interchange. The OSAR report involves Federal Highway Administration and Virginia Department of Transportation review, which supervisors heard could take 18 months. Before the vote to approve the project, the attorney for Buc-ee’s promised the supervisors and the room full of spectators that the company would pay for any additional road improvements required to receive the OSAR approval.