David Hulsey owns two businesses and a residence in Valley Grande. He says he’s all for the planned 6.2-mile widening of Highway 22 to five lanes north of Selma.

“It (the project) will be great for Valley Grande. It’s got to come. We’ve got to have it,” he said. “Everybody is pretty well for it.”

Hulsey is a long-time resident of Valley Grande and has a lot at stake in increasing economic development in the area, and believes that the highway project will help out in the long term.

It’s the short term that’s troubling.

“It’s going to be very inconvenient all the way around,” he said. ” I’m not looking forward to the pain. I will take a significant hit on the bottom line in the year of moving my two businesses. I plan to relocate both.”

Another reason Hulsey and others support the plan is that it will improve safety. There is a very dangerous stretch of road that passes by Overlook Motors, at the intersection of Highway 22 and County Road 81 – especially during rush hour. It’s very difficult to get onto Highway 22 at that point.

Hulsey said that there’s about one accident a month along that stretch and that two years ago a young woman was killed in an accident.

Hulsey’s business will be affected in such a significant way that he has already planned to purchase a new piece of property in the area. As for his house – set well back from the highway – “We’ll only lose part of my front yard,” he said.

Hulsey explained that he expected a fair price for the land and that the state gives people who have to move moving expenses.

But these don’t take account of the loss of business due to down time, during the move, he said. “In my case, I think it will take a minimum of two to three weeks to move – maybe longer.”

Hulsey is hoping that the land transaction can take place this fall and that he can get on with moving his business.