By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Virginia Department of Transportation continues to register concern about the potential traffic impacts of the Buc-ee’s travel center that has been proposed in the Courthouse Road area of Stafford.

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In its fourth and most recent round of comments on the traffic impact analysis conducted by Kimley-Horne for Buc-ee’s, VDOT wrote that there are “several movements and approaches that experience significant delay degradation in the Build scenario and have no identified mitigations.”

“The TIA should identify and summarize these affected movements/approaches and identified mitigation measures,” VDOT wrote.

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VDOT on March 17, 2026, submitted 25 pages worth of comments on the latest version of the traffic impact analysis, which is dated February 2026. In a cover letter, Carolyn Oster, assistant resident engineer with VDOT’s Fredericksburg Residency, wrote that Buc-ee’s had “elected to defer several comments to a later phase of the project,” meaning that it did not address raised by VDOT reviewers, and that “there are a number of remaining items that will require the County to determine how it wishes to proceed.”

These items include a request from VDOT to provide auto turn simulation exhibits at entrances and other “critical paths” to show that large fueling vehicles can maneuver the site without impacting the road network; provide an intersection site distance plan to ensure that no additional land acquisition is required; provide a preliminary utility plan showing whether any utilities will be within VDOT’s right-of-way; and label all turn lane taper and storage lengths.

VDOT also asked for more information to be provided on a proposed roundabout in order for the organization to be able to determine “if it will function properly.”

To all of these comments, the applicant responded “Kimley-Horn has performed a cursory review and we are comfortable with the concept presented. We understand that detailed design will require refinements that can be further vetted during the site plan review process.”

The final site plan review process would occur within the county’s planning and zoning department and after the rezoning and conditional use permit required for the project are considered by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

VDOT in its most recent comments also raised concerns about multiple intersections within the site that it said will degrade to a service level of F by 2032 without mitigation. These include Austin Ridge Drive and Courthouse Road westbound and southbound, which could experience traffic queues of up to 1,900 feet in the afternoon and on Sunday “extending through multiple upstream intersections;” and Austin Ridge and Sunflower Drive, where the queue length could reach more than 1,000 feet in length, “extending through Miracle Drive intersection.”

Kimley-Horne responded, “It should be noted that it is expected that delay at minor street approaches at an unsignalized intersection increase when the intersection becomes signalized. However, the volumes along those approaches are minimal; therefore the increase in delay is not anticipated to negatively affect the overall intersection operations.”

VDOT recommended in a previous round of comments that Kimley-Horne use microsimulation for portions of the study area “particularly Austin Ridge Drive and Sunflower Drive.” Kimley-Horne did and reported the delay results in appendices to the revised traffic impact analysis, but she noted that the results “are provided as a reference and were not used to determine the improvements recommended to mitigate expected project traffic.”

In response to this, VDOT highlighted that the microsimulations “show movements operating at failing conditions, with delays reaching into the hundreds or even thousands of seconds” and stressed that “the microsimulation outputs should be considered in long-term planning for the roadway system.”

VDOT also pointed out in its most recent comments that the traffic impact analysis assumes that just half of the Embrey Mill commercial area has been built out, “yet current conditions indicate that more than half of the development is open,” and should be considered as part of the “No Build” traffic scenarios.

Finally, VDOT noted that the traffic impact analysis assumes Buc-ee’s will be built in 2026. “However, it is already 2026. What would be a realistic build year and where would that fall relative to the 2026 and 2032 scenarios, particularly since the 2032 analysis shows failing movements?” the organization questioned.

The Stafford Planning Commission will consider Buc-ee’s request for a rezoning and conditional use permit at its meeting this Wednesday.

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