Oak Grove’s long-talked-about Buc-ee’s is not pulling off the interstate anytime soon. The planned travel center is now listed for a 2029 opening, a multiyear slide that has city leaders wrestling with a hefty list of road and utility upgrades before the beaver-branded stop can open its doors. The site, proposed off Interstate 24 at Exit 89 near the Kentucky-Tennessee line, was announced in 2024 but still has not broken ground while officials sort out bridge, roadway, and water-system work. That delay also pushes back the roughly 200 jobs and local tax revenue residents were told to expect when the deal was first unveiled.
Official timeline now shows 2029
Buc-ee’s own openings list now places the Oak Grove location in the "2029 and beyond" category on its public timeline. According to Buc-ee’s, those projected dates are only estimates and are explicitly listed as "subject to change," so the schedule could still shift again.
Why is the project stalled?
City documents and local reporting say the site needs major off-site work before it can open, including re-routing and widening nearby roads, adding roundabouts, expanding a nearby bridge, and building new water infrastructure. The city is also planning stormwater basins to help mitigate flooding in the corridor, a complication that adds time to engineering and permitting, according to Christian County Now.
Officials have pointed to the road, bridge, and utility work as the immediate reason construction has not yet started, according to WKDZ.
Officials say approvals are still pending
The local push to land Buc-ee’s started with planning talks in 2022 and turned into a formal economic agreement in 2024. Even with that deal in place, city officials say the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and other agencies still have to sign off on revised road and interchange designs before a full-scale groundbreaking can happen.
Local coverage notes that Buc-ee’s has already finalized its property plans with the city, and company representatives have cited strong backing from Oak Grove leadership when explaining why the site was chosen. As reported by MySA, city officials have described water-line expansion and a new water tower as prerequisites for the development.
Local impact: jobs and flood work
Planners estimate the Oak Grove Buc-ee’s would bring roughly 200 jobs and spark new commercial activity around Exit 89, but those benefits will sit in the waiting room while the infrastructure work moves through design and review. Engineers and public works staff say that designing and permitting stormwater basins and larger mains to meet current flood standards takes months of study and regulatory review, which stretches the overall schedule.
Those tradeoffs and timelines are outlined in planning summaries and development trackers that follow the project, including Road Trip Beaver.
What to watch next
The next signposts to watch are Kentucky Transportation Cabinet approvals for the interchange and roundabout designs, public notices tied to stormwater permits, and any bids or contracts for bridge and water-system construction. Those pieces will largely determine when Buc-ee’s can actually put shovels in the ground.
For now, the company’s openings list remains the clearest public timeline, and city council minutes show the project continuing through local approvals, with both Buc-ee’s and Oak Grove stressing that all dates are tentative. The most recent public information is available on Buc-ee’s site and in the Oak Grove city council minutes.
