Nationally, Buc-ee’s has continued pushing beyond Texas with large-format travel centers along major interstate corridors. In Virginia, that expansion has moved from one open store in the Shenandoah Valley to additional projects in Stafford County and New Kent County.
Virginia has one open Buc-ee’s, and a second site just won local approval
Virginia’s first Buc-ee’s opened on June 30, 2025, in Mount Crawford in Rockingham County, according to the chain’s location listings and reporting on the opening. The store at 6500 Buc-ee’s Boulevard measures about 74,000 square feet, includes 120 fueling positions, and marked the company’s first operating site in the Commonwealth.
That opening gave Virginia a confirmed foothold in Buc-ee’s broader East Coast buildout. Reporting on the Mount Crawford launch said the site brought more than 200 jobs to the area, with starting pay advertised in the $18 to $24 per hour range. Its location off Interstate 81 at Exit 240 also placed the store on one of the state’s busiest long-distance travel corridors.
The next major step came in Stafford County. The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted 5-2 just before 1 a.m. on May 20, 2026, to approve a proposed Buc-ee’s near Interstate 95 Exit 140 at Courthouse Road and Austin Ridge Drive, according to local coverage of the meeting and county proceedings.
The approved Stafford project is planned as another 74,000-square-foot travel center with 120 fuel pumps and more than 700 parking spaces on roughly 36 acres. Local reports on the vote said the approval followed years of review and a lengthy public hearing process focused heavily on traffic, land use, and the scale of the proposed development.
Stafford is the clearest next step, while New Kent remains unresolved
For Virginia residents, the immediate map is straightforward: one Buc-ee’s is open in Mount Crawford, one is locally approved in Stafford, and one more remains planned in New Kent County. What is confirmed is that Stafford has cleared a major local vote. What is not yet known is a firm construction start date or opening date for that location.
Stafford’s significance is geographic as much as procedural. The proposed site would put Buc-ee’s on Interstate 95, serving drivers from Northern Virginia, the Fredericksburg area, Washington, and Maryland. WTOP reported that this would be Virginia’s second Buc-ee’s and place the chain much closer to the Washington region than the existing Mount Crawford store.
Even with the county vote, Stafford is not close to opening. Coverage of the approval said the site still requires extensive transportation review because of its proximity to the I-95 interchange, and local officials have said the federal traffic study alone could take 18 to 24 months. Stafford Board Chairman Deuntay Diggs has said the store may still be three to four years away.
New Kent County is farther behind. New Kent County materials confirm Buc-ee’s intends to expand at the Exit 211 interchange along Interstate 64, and the county’s current capital planning documents reference an incentives agreement dated April 10, 2023. But the county has not publicly confirmed a final opening date, and published estimates have ranged from 2027 to 2029, with some reports pushing the timeline out further.
Traffic, interstate access, and local tax expectations are shaping the rollout
The reason Virginia’s Buc-ee’s rollout is moving at different speeds appears to be tied less to brand demand than to site-specific development hurdles. In Stafford, the central issue has been transportation capacity. Local reporting on the board vote said planners and residents raised repeated concerns about congestion around the I-95 interchange and nearby neighborhoods.
Those concerns were backed by project estimates discussed during the review. Potomac Local reported that the Stafford proposal projected roughly 20,940 daily vehicle trips, a number that became a focal point for opposition. The same coverage said Stafford’s commissioner of the revenue projected at least $1.9 million in annual local tax revenue tied to sales, fuel, meals, property, utility, and merchants’ capital taxes.
In New Kent, the context is different. County documents show the planned Buc-ee’s is tied to the Exit 211 interchange area on I-64, where transportation improvements already figure into local capital planning. That suggests the pace there is being shaped by broader infrastructure work and development sequencing, rather than by a completed public opening schedule.
For customers and residents, the practical takeaway is that Mount Crawford remains the only operating Buc-ee’s in Virginia today. Stafford has local approval but still faces years of transportation review before any opening, while New Kent remains an active but less-defined project. If both future stores are eventually built, Virginia would have Buc-ee’s locations on I-81, I-95, and I-64, giving the chain a presence on three of the state’s biggest travel corridors.