Virginia’s Buc-ee’s era is officially expanding — but the chain’s map across the commonwealth is getting more complicated.
The Texas-based travel center chain opened its first Virginia location in Mount Crawford, in Rockingham County, on June 30, 2025. The store sits off Interstate 81 at Exit 240, near Harrisonburg, and includes the familiar Buc-ee’s formula: a 74,000-square-foot convenience store, barbecue, Beaver Nuggets, branded merchandise, famously clean restrooms, and 120 fueling positions. According to Virginia Business, the Mount Crawford store was expected to create more than 200 jobs.
That opening made Virginia part of Buc-ee’s national expansion push — and gave the Shenandoah Valley one of the most talked-about roadside stops on the East Coast.
But the next phase of Buc-ee’s growth in Virginia is not as simple as “one open, two coming soon.”
Stafford clears a major hurdle
In a 5–2 vote in the early hours of May 20, 2026, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors approved plans for a Buc-ee’s travel center near I-95 at Exit 140, at the intersection of Austin Ridge Drive and Courthouse Road, according to reporting by NBC Washington. The vote followed a roughly five-hour public hearing that stretched past midnight and capped years of debate, including a 4–3 recommendation from the county planning commission in March.
The 74,000-square-foot project has drawn strong local opposition, especially from residents of the nearby Austin Ridge and Embrey Mill neighborhoods, over traffic and neighborhood-impact concerns. Even with approval, construction is not expected to begin immediately because the project still needs state and federal transportation review. NBC Washington reported that the required traffic study will take about a year and a half, and Board of Supervisors Chairman Deuntay Diggs said the store could still be three to four years from opening.
New Kent pushed to 2031
Meanwhile, a planned New Kent County Buc-ee’s, once expected to open in 2027, has been delayed until December 2031, Virginia Business reported in late December 2025. The project is planned at Exit 211 off Interstate 64, east of Richmond. According to the original 2023 site plan, the New Kent location would also be a 74,000-square-foot travel center with 120 fueling positions and parking for more than 650 vehicles.
New Kent County Administrator Rodney Hathaway has tied the delay to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s $84 million Exit 211 Interchange Improvement Project, which is not scheduled for completion until September 2029. Buc-ee’s confirmed to Virginia Business that it is aligning its opening with the road project’s completion.
The current Virginia Buc-ee’s map
- Open now: Mount Crawford / Rockingham County, off I-81 near Harrisonburg.
- Approved but still years away: Stafford County, near I-95 at Exit 140.
- Planned but delayed: New Kent County, off I-64 at Exit 211, now pushed to December 2031.
For Buc-ee’s fans, the takeaway is that Virginia is clearly part of the chain’s long-term East Coast strategy. The company is targeting major interstate corridors — I-81, I-64, and I-95 — which would give it access to tourists, commuters, and road-trippers moving through some of the state’s busiest travel routes. Notably, Buc-ee’s does not allow 18-wheelers to park at its locations, so the travel centers are designed around passenger cars and RVs rather than commercial trucking.
For local communities, the calculation is more complicated. Buc-ee’s brings jobs, tax revenue, travelers, and national attention. But it also brings traffic, land-use fights, infrastructure questions, and crowds that can turn a highway exit into a regional destination — concerns that were front and center in the Stafford debate.
The first store is already open. The next ones are still coming — but not all of them are coming quickly.
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