PUBLIC SEES DEPARTMENT PLAN TO WIDEN HIGHWAY; LAST OF THREE HIGHWAY 34 MEETINGS HELD

JACKSON, Mo. -- Widening Highway 34 could cost Charles "Pink" Hutson his farm house.

Hutson, who is in his 80s, doesn't want to leave the home two miles east of Burfordville, that he and his wife, Lela, have shared for 43 years.

But the Missouri Department of Transportation wants to improve Highway 34, widening the highway to four lanes in some places and constructing shoulders along 85 miles of the road from west of Jackson to U.S. 60 east of Van Buren.

The entire project could cost $200 million, MoDOT officials say. The project would be done in phases.

Specific costs and plans still must be worked out. The state is spending $1.8 million to plan the Highway 34 improvements.

Under the current plan, the stretch of highway in front of Hutson's home would be widened to four lanes. The right of way could go through the home he built from logs cut on his property.

"I guess it needs a wider highway," said Hutson as he looked over a map of the proposed improvements at a public meeting Monday evening.

About 70 people turned out for the MoDOT meeting held at the Jackson Middle School.

Hutson grew up along Highway 34 in Cape Girardeau County. He has spent his life farming. Over the years, he has seen traffic increase on the highway, which dips, bends and winds its way through the hills and valleys of Southeast Missouri.

"When I was a kid we used to drive our cattle across the road there," he said pointing to an area on an aerial map showing property along the state highway.

"Now, you don't want to walk across it yourself," he said.

Super two' route

Many parts along the 85 miles of the route would be improved to a "super two," providing for a straighter and flatter route. Most of the route from Highway 72 near Jackson west to near the Cape Girardeau County line would be widened to four lanes.

MoDOT officials say they don't know how many homes the state would have to buy as part of acquiring right of way for the project.

Hutson's son, Cape Girardeau County Circuit Clerk Charles P. Hutson Jr., doesn't want the state to take his father's home and those of others who have spent their lives in the shadow of the highway.

But he understands that probably will happen. "Change is inevitable, but sometimes you hate to see it coming," he said.

MoDOT's Scott Perry said it could be eight to 10 years before any construction work takes place in Cape Girardeau County.

Donald McCarty has lived on Highway 34 east of Burfordville for 18 years. After studying a detailed map of the route at Monday's meeting, McCarty said it appeared the widening project would move traffic closer to his home.

McCarty said MoDOT needs to plan the improvements around existing homes as much as possible.

McCarty said there's plenty of traffic noise along the busy highway. Widening the highway will only add to the noise, he said.

"It is bad now. You start widening it and getting more people out there, it is going to be worse," said McCarty.

Still, he acknowledges the highway needs to be improved for safety reasons. "We need a different road out there. It is dangerous."

Monday's meeting was the last of three public meetings. The other two were held in Piedmont and Marble Hill last week. More than 400 people turned out for the first two meetings.