By Malcolm Butler
Ruston mayor Ronny Walker said he expects the City of Ruston and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to sign a memorandum of understanding next week that will clear the way for the start of the construction of Buc-ee’s.
This comes on the heels of a couple of meetings over the past 10 days that included officials from the city, the DOTD and Buc-ee’s as well as Neel-Schaffer, the engineering firm that has done the traffic studies around the future construction site around Tarbutton.
Walker said the meeting was to finalize the plans, outlining what is required to make Buc-ee’s a reality.
“The MOU basically says that the city will do A, B and C and if that is done, then everything is fine,” said Walker. “So this is basically the go-ahead. It’s basically the state saying, ‘We are going to allow you to do this, but you must do A, B and C. “
Walker said part of those obligations include the roads that will service the footprint that will include Buc-ee’s and any additional businesses that follow it.
“It means that something that we have been working on now for two years, we can finally start turning some dirt,” said Walker. “The next question will be when will that start? That’s Buc-ee’s decision, but I know they are sitting on go.”
Walker also said that the City already has $5 million from the state, $6 million from the federal government, and during Monday night’s city council meeting, they approved $15 million set aside for whatever is needed within the project.
“We may not need but $2 million of that $15 million,” said Walker. “We won’t know until we have an idea of who is coming with Buc-ee’s. We asked for $15 million. In reality, if we spend $10 million I think that will be a lot.”
Walker said that next year the city of Ruston and Grambling officials would go to the legislature together to ask for additional funds to finish the road from the start of the Grambling city limits to the I-20 bridge in Grambling.
“If you modify anything on the interstate, you have to have an Interstate Modification Report,” said Walker. “That will be done over the next few weeks.”
So bottom line, when will Buc-ee’s be operational?
“I think we are right on schedule for opening in 2025,” said Walker.
