Buc-ee’s is set to soon break ground on its first Wisconsin location in Oak Creek, while officials seek more legislation to fund interchange upgrades for a second potential location in DeForest.
The nearest Buc-ee’s is currently located in Kentucky, as the massive travel center chain continues to move north.
“People in the beginning, you know more change, more growth, they say ‘Oh my gosh, it’s ruining the community,'” Smith Grove, Kentucky, Mayor David Stiffey told WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “It has been a great help to us as far as revenue because we get employment tax off the employees.”
Jeff Lenard, vice president of communications for the National Association of Convenience Stores, says the company is strategic in choosing where to develop.
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“That Milwaukee to Chicago corridor fits really perfectly with their strategies,” Lenard said. “Anybody you get a competitor like Buc-ee’s, or fill in the blank, for a brand that draws people in just because of who they are, it forces everybody else to look at how they attract customers.”
A second Buc-ee’s is being considered in DeForest.
The state budget allocated $4 million to improve the I-94-County Trunk Highway V interchange to accommodate increased traffic, but several million dollars more is needed. A separate piece of legislation would expand a TIF district to help fund the improvements, and Buc-ee’s has committed to paying about half of the costs of the improvements.
“I do know one of the things, because of the traffic they get, they want to have accessibility from both sides,” Lenard said. “It’s not like when you’re driving on a typical highway stop, highway signs say gas, food, lodging, exit, fill in the blank, and you can only do it from one side. They want to have that capability from both sides, so that does take more time.”
Tom Nelson, the Outagamie Co. executive and author of the new book “Wrecked,” details what he calls the political and economic consequences of the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking 50 years ago.
“The goal was to explain how the Fitzgerald was a vehicle that literally and figuratively carried the U.S. economy in the 1960s and 1970s,” Nelson told “UpFront.” “I came at it with an open mind, and it was very clear to me, based on the people I talked to, the evidence I was able to dig up, that the reason why the ship sank is that it was not seaworthy. It was not maintained well. The Coast Guard regulatory agencies looked the other way. There were some design problems at the beginning.”
Nelson, a former Democratic state lawmaker and U.S. Senate candidate, will hold a book talk and signing Thursday at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee.
“I’ve actually got a lot of great feedback from Republicans,” Nelson said. “I look at both parties, how both parties are guilty of following neoliberal politics and economics, which meant that we are not making appropriate investments in the industry, and I think a lot of people will look at that and be able to relate with those examples.”
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