By T. Scott Boatright
The clock is now running to officially start the Buc-ee’s Project after Ruston’s Board of Aldermen approved a contract for approximately $8 million with Amethyst Construction for work on Tarbutton Road and the Tarbutton/Interstate-20 bridge overpass during Monday’s February meeting.
Passing that resolution approving the contract was the last step for the city to start construction for the infrastructure for the Buc-ee’s Travel Center that will sit west of Tarbutton Road in the area across from Ruston Junior High School.
Amethyst submitted the lowest of four bids received by the city at a cost of $7,921,430.25M.
The resolution passed unanimously by a vote of 4-0. Councilman John Denny was not in attendance at Monday’s meeting.
Mayor Ronny Walker said Amethyst Construction is expected to begin work sometime in the next month or two.
The project is the start of a two-phase plan to improve the interchange and create access to Buc-ee’s from the frontage road that will be built west of the overpass bridge.
Construction will create a fifth traffic lane on the Tarbutton overpass and part of Tarbutton Road, upgrade the exit and entrance ramps to I-20, and create a new frontage road from Ruston to Grambling that will provide access to Buc-ee’s.
That new, two-way traffic frontage road will be constructed on the westbound side of the interstate.
The road will be built in two phases: the first phase from Buc-ee’s to the frontage road, and the second phase from the Ruston city limits to Grambling.
Last week the approximately 80- to 85-acre tract of land that the travel center will be situated on was purchased by Buc-ee’s Ruston, LLC from two separate entities — Graham Properties, LLC and members of the Robbins family (Donald L. Robbins, Sr., Ramona Robbins Miller, Olimbia Rodakis Robbins, Nicole Robbins Harris, and Audrey Grace Miller).
Walker said work on the road project and the actual landwork and construction of the travel center will run concurrently, beginning around the same time in March.
“We believe — hope — it will all be finished in July or August of 2026,” Walker said. “Our part (the road work) is 10 months and theirs is 12 to 15 months. They (Buc-ee’s Ruston, LCC) think that they will start about the same time we start the road work, which is in 30-60 days.”
Walker said to be able to start a proverbial clock marking the beginning, and more importantly, the eventual end of the Buc-cee’s project was a huge moment for all of North Louisiana.
“After 24 months of thinking and wondering, we can finally feel like we’ve got a real clock running,” Walker said. “I just appreciate Gov. (Jeff) Landry and (Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD)) Terrence “Joe”Donahue (Jr.) for all of their help and assistance in making all of this happen.
“This is going to be a huge thing for our entire region.”
Walker said at least some of the work to build a new Cooktown Road (Tech Drive) overpass will likely be done at the same time that the Buc-ee’s work will be happening.
“That (Cooktown Road/Tech Drive) is a state project, but I’ve been told it should let (be awarded to a contractor) in May of this year, so there will be a lot going on in that part of the city in the near future.,” said Walker.
