Not again.

Judy Jackson already has moved her home once, and now that federal highway officials say a new U.S. Highway 59 should be built through her 20 acres of land in Franklin County, she figures she’ll be packing again.

The order to move may not come for another five years, but Jackson isn’t wasting any time looking for the bright side of site surveys, land condemnation and right-of-way acquisition.

“I should have left the place on roller skates,” said Jackson, who moved a house out of Nieder Acres to make way for construction of SuperTarget. “It’ll be easier now. At least we know what to expect.”

Jackson’s place is among 33 residences and eight businesses in the path of a proposed $210.3 million, four-lane highway to be built alongside the east side of U.S. 59 between Lawrence and Ottawa.

The Federal Highway Administration, working with the Kansas Department of Transportation, released its final environmental impact statement for the project Tuesday.

The three-volume document outlines the government’s case for backing plans for a freeway running about 300 feet east of the existing highway. KDOT previously had supported building the new highway about a mile to the east, a road that would have cost an estimated $199.4 million and displaced 11 residences and two businesses.

Betty Taul said she was surprised that officials shifted gears and decided to stay closer to the existing road, especially with the state struggling with budget shortfalls.

And then there’s another problem: Her husband, C.T. Taul, and friends drink coffee in the morning at Baldwin Junction, a service station and gathering place on the east side of the current highway.

If the highway cuts through the place, of course, the coffee klatch will be hunting for a new home.

“They say they’ll fix up our garage if I’ll serve them coffee,” said Betty Taul, who lives near the junction of U.S. 59 and U.S. Highway 56. “They’d better think again.”

State officials intend to start surveying the route this spring, begin right-of-way acquisition in 2005 and start construction in 2007. The freeway would open to traffic in 2009.

Whether Jackson and her husband, Kenneth, still will be in the area remains unclear. Their shop, Jackson Welding, also is in the path of the planned freeway.

They’re hoping that there’s enough room on their 20 acres to keep their business of 11 years on site. And that’s also conditional upon receiving approval to use some of the land for business purposes.

But that’s weeks, months or years away. For Judy Jackson, there’s no sense worrying about the negative effects of a project that she calls sorely needed.

State and federal officials say the new freeway will be expected to cut the rate of fatality accidents by 80 percent and cut the rate of injury accidents by 60 percent. The 18-mile stretch of U.S. 59 has an accident rate that is 25 percent higher than those on similar highways elsewhere in Kansas.

From 1995 to 1999, the stretch had 376 accidents that left 193 people injured and another 11 dead, according to KDOT.

“I think this is something that’s long past due,” Judy Jackson said. “They’ve gotten a lot of people killed out here. I’ve been close to getting it two or three times, just coming out of the driveway.”

But is helping prevent accidents worth losing a home and possibly a business?

“You learn to live with things,” she said. “Things happen. We’re not the only ones, and there will be a lot of others to be affected. It could be a lot worse. You just have to look at the bright side.”