Virginia’s Buc-ee’s expansion has taken another unexpected turn. The newest development in Virginia’s three-store Buc-ee’s story is a revised county agreement for the planned New Kent travel center—and conflicting signals about whether it could open in 2029, 2031 or even 2032.
The project is planned near Interstate 64 at Exit 211, east of Richmond. It has been in the works for years, but major highway improvements have repeatedly complicated the construction schedule. Now county officials and the company have agreed to give the project more time.
The county approved a new deadline
On September 14, the New Kent County Board of Supervisors approved an amendment to its economic development incentives agreement with Buc-ee’s. The change moves the performance deadline from December 31, 2026, to December 31, 2029.
It also allows a possible extension of up to 18 months if transportation improvements are delayed and the company requests more time in good faith. That is a contractual deadline, however—not a promise that customers will be buying brisket sandwiches by New Year’s Eve 2029.
That distinction matters because the opening estimates have become unusually confusing. On September 15, Richmond television station 12 On Your Side reported that Buc-ee’s officials had confirmed a shift from 2031 to 2032.
But two days later, Virginia Business reported that Buc-ee’s real estate director Stan Beard described late 2029 as a possible best-case opening, while emphasizing that the company could not yet provide a firm date. Those accounts do not establish one reliable grand-opening day—or even a settled year.
Why the interstate project matters so much
The main obstacle is the interchange. The Virginia Department of Transportation’s project page says Exit 211 will be rebuilt as a diverging diamond interchange, a design intended to improve traffic flow and safety.
VDOT currently lists the $84 million interchange project as being in design, with construction estimated to begin in spring 2027 and finish in fall 2029. That schedule is separate from Buc-ee’s store construction, which does not yet have a confirmed start date.
The original New Kent plans described a roughly 74,000-square-foot travel center with 120 fueling positions. The company has not announced a new store design or canceled the project.
Virginia still has two other Buc-ee’s locations to watch
Virginia’s first Buc-ee’s opened in Mount Crawford, near Harrisonburg, in June 2025. Another proposed store in Stafford County won local land-use approval in May 2026, but it still faces development, engineering and transportation reviews before construction.
For New Kent, the latest county vote is real progress because it keeps the development agreement aligned with a much longer road-building schedule. The unresolved part is timing: until Buc-ee’s issues a consistent, firm opening announcement, 2029, 2031 and 2032 should not be treated as guaranteed dates.
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