by Malcolm Butler
Beaver Believers got a shot in the arm Monday.
Almost three years after the initial announcement that Buc-ee’s would be building a franchise in Ruston, the contractor hired by the national travel center corporation began dirt work on the site along Tarbutton Road.
Although road work by City of Ruston contractors has been underway for the past months in preparation for the increase in traffic flow around the 80-acre footprint, Monday’s dozer sighting is just confirmation for many Lincoln Parish residents who have been skeptical of if Buc-ee’s would become a reality.
“This is the first sign of Buc-ee’s contractors working on the site,” said Mayor Ronny Walker, who has never wavered on the fact the travel center would eventually call Ruston home.
City contractors have been working on a number of components of the Tarbutton interchange for months, including building the beginning of the drive into Buc-ees, up to the point where the property line purchased by the corporation begins.
Walker said the majority of work by Buc-ee’s contractors initially will be dirt work.
“There is about a 20 foot drop where the property line begins,” said Walker. “They have to come in and put in culverts and build the dirt up before anything else can really happen on the property.”
It’s a definitive sign that residents can quit questioning whether the franchise is truly coming to Lincoln Parish.
“Everything is going in the right direction,” said Walker. “I’m not worried about it at all, and I have never been worried about it.”
Walker admitted that now the questions shift to when will Buc-ee’s be open and operational.
“They are saying December of 2026, maybe the first quarter of 2027,” said Walker. “Probably more like February of 2027. Is that a delay (from what was initially thought)? Sure. But we have been working on (this project) for two and a half years so the delay doesn’t mean anything to me. Buc-ee’s is going to be built.”
When the announcement was first made in January of 2023, the thought was it would be the first in Louisiana. However, due to an onslaught of DOTD delays and an announcement from the franchise that it would also be building in Lafayette, the question around the state has turned to which one would open first.
It’s a topic Walker said doesn’t concern him.
“Everybody wants to make it a race,” said Walker. “Everybody being everybody who calls me for an interview. It’s not a race. I don’t care whether we are first or second. We just want it to be built and open so we can begin to see the positive impact it will have on our area in so many ways.”
The completed travel center will be approximately 75,000 square feet, more than 20,000 square feet bigger than the Buc-ee’s located in Terrell, Texas. It will include 700 parking spots.
“The Terrell model is the old model,” said Walker. “This is the new model.”
