34-72 QUESTIONS PLENTIFUL; MODOT MEETS WITH RESIDENTS ON ROAD UPGRADE

JACKSON -- Residents armed with plenty of questions about the proposed expansion of Highway 34-72 to five lanes flooded the Jackson Middle School cafeteria Wednesday evening at an open house sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Color-coded MoDOT maps and MoDOT officials were stationed about the room to show residents the 26 houses that would be taken if the corridor is expanded. Parts of other properties also could be taken by the $10 million widening project along the 3 1/2 miles from the highway's intersection with Highway 25 to the 34-72 split west of Jackson.

MoDOT officials said construction would not begin before 2003.

Homeowner Caroline Brown confronted MoDOT project manager Dawnrae Clark at the meeting, worried about losing her property value due to the expansion project and a slowing economy.

Clark told Brown MoDOT can offer her the fair market value only when right-of-way acquisition begins.

"My house won't be worth anything," Brown said. "But maybe you won't have the money to build the highway either."

Clark said that possibility exists.

She says MoDOT chose the Highway 34-72 expansion from among nine options because it "has the best advantages for the money."

Among the advantages are lowest cost; lowest impact to wetlands, streams, forest and flood plains; and shortest length of new construction.

The disadvantages include high residential impact and high impact on traffic during construction. The alternative also does not remove through traffic from 34-72 in Jackson.

Clark knows that some people are going to be distressed in this scenario. "If the state were taking my house I would be upset as well," she said. "I'm here to explain why we have arrived at our conclusion and that we will provide compensation.

"No matter what alternative we choose we are going to have some unhappy people," she said.

The open house was specifically for the residents along the highway, although many more people turned out. A public hearing for those who travel along the roadway will be held later in the year.

The odds are good that MoDOT will pursue this recommendation to its conclusion, Clark said.

Idell Dockins was there to make sure the state intended to buy all her property and not just part of it. She doesn't want to end up living in a house a few yards from a five-lane highway.

She and her husband, Jerry, who have lived in the house since 1952, aren't opposed to widening the highway to five lanes.

"I just don't want them to screw it up," she said.

Another resident along the highway, Jim Martin, said MoDOT intends to take some of his property during the construction and would give it back afterward. But he opposes expansion to five lanes.

"It's already a speedway," he said.

He also doubts whether widening the highway is going to solve the problem of traffic congestion in the city. He favors routing traffic around Jackson rather than through it.

"And what are they going to do with the traffic while they're building that highway?" he asked.

Dave Ludwig, a member of the Jackson Board of Aldermen, attended the meeting. Earlier this week the board passed a resolution opposing the MoDOT project.

Ludwig reiterated the city's preference for giving priority to building an interchange at East Main Street and Interstate 55 as the best way to move traffic through the city.

Dean Heady, pastor of the First Assembly of God was in attendance with some church members. They were there to gather information for the rest of the 200-member congregation.

"I think they're going to be shocked," he said.

The MoDOT proposal would not take the church itself but the church would lose needed parking space. "They said we'd better try to sell and relocate," he said.

He said the church isn't opposed to the plan in principle. "We believe in progress," he said. "There will be a little bit of apprehension until we know what's going on."