FLORENCE — When Virginia Halbauer and her two daughters have their next family meeting, the first order of business may be a sad one.

        Mrs. Halbauer of Bellevue and her daughters, Janet Pipes of Sycamore Township and Bonnie Delaney of Fairfield Township, were three of about 200 people who went to a Kentucky Department of Transportation (KDOT) meeting Wednesday at Ockerman Middle School.

        The subject: the proposed 4.75-mile widening and reconstruction of Boone County's Ky. 237 from Ky. 18 south to U.S. 42.

        The three alternative routes generally parallel the current Camp Ernst and Pleasant Valley roads — and through the middle of some 20 acres on Camp Ernst that Mrs. Halbauer said her family has owned for 60 years.

        “It's got everything — magnolia, maple, a lot of oak (trees), and they're old,” Mrs. Halbauer said. “We know we don't have a chance (to save the land). We hate to think about price.”

        The bulldozers, backhoes and blacktop are years away.

        Mike Bezold, district planning engineer at the KDOT office in Fort Mitchell, said the state won't begin buying land for the nearly $22 million project until 2005, and construction will not start until 2011.

        When it's finished, the revamped Ky. 237 will have two lanes in each direction and a center turn lane from Ky. 18 along Camp Ernst Road to Pleasant Valley Road.

        There's not much difference in the three alternatives. All would take 175 parcels, relocate 15-17 residences and one or two businesses.

        The new road nonetheless caused a brief but loud disagreement between Dick Ammon, owner of Ammon's Nursery at Ky. 237 and Ky. 18, and Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore.

        “They're taking a lot more land than they need to take,” Mr. Ammon said. “They're taking two lakes we pump water out of. There aren't many places you can build a lake; I don't know how we'll operate.”

        Mr. Moore said several state roads — including Camp Ernst, Pleasant Valley and Frogtown — are long overdue for redesign.

        “Many of these roads should have been widened and straightened 10 years ago,” Mr. Moore said.

        Not everybody dislikes the proposed new road.

        “I think we need to have road improvements,” said Norman Smith, 72, of Burlington. “The county's growing. That means more cars; you can't fight it, I can't fight it.”

        According to state estimates, by 2030 between 18,600 and 28,400 vehicles will be using Ky. 237 daily.

        Mr. Bezold said the next step is to present the winning alternative, which he said should be done within the next two months.

        John Churchill of Burlington said he will be happy when the new road is finished.

        “I hate to have my kids drive on it,” Mr. Churchill said. “It's curvy, it's narrow, and the traffic the last two years has doubled.”

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