Plans for a DeForest Buc-ee’s have not been abandoned, but it will no longer be Wisconsin’s first location of the massive travel plaza, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. The City Council in Milwaukee suburb Oak Creek on Tuesday approved plans that will see the state’s first Buc-ee’s built there.
Oak Creek’s 74,000-square-foot store will feature scores of fuel pumps and be constructed on almost 30 acres at I-94 and Elm Road. It could reportedly open as soon as 2027.
DeForest officials, who had planned a similar project in early 2023, meanwhile said they will require state assistance for millions of dollars in highway improvements due to the expected traffic increase at the intersection of Highway V and Interstate 39/90/94. The state Legislature is considering bills for the funds currently.
The DeForest project has long been hindered by ongoing negotiations over costs for the $15 million in necessary road improvements to accommodate high-volume traffic. The planned Buc-ee’s there would include 600 parking spaces, 120 fuel pumps and 20 electric vehicle charging stations.
