The City of Newton and some communities around the Des Moines area are attempting to lure a Buc-ee’s Travel Center to their towns, but Mayor Randy Ervin acknowledges it’s an uphill battle. The Mayor says development officials with Buc-ee’s would really like to build their travel center in the Des Moines metro. But that isn’t stopping the city from promoting two locations off Interstate 80 at exit 168, near Iowa Speedway, as potential Buc-ee’s sites.
“We are still pitching that as hard as we can. Obviously, Buc-ee’s would prefer to be in a metro area, preferably between the two mix-masters in Des Moines, which I understand, that’s a lot of traffic. But we are doing everything we can to at least get them to look at Newton as an option.”
Buc-ee’s was looking at a site in Urbandale. But earlier this month, the Urbandale City Council narrowly voted against the project due to traffic, noise, and some small pollution concerns…