NAMPA, Idaho — The City of Nampa is closing a stretch of Middleton Road starting Monday for a widening project that will last through late summer, bringing long-term impacts to local homeowners and businesses.
The project will widen Middleton Road to five lanes between Flamingo Avenue and Karcher Road. The city says the project is necessary to keep up with growth and will include improved pedestrian facilities and street lighting.
For residents Ryan and Michelle DeGrange, the construction means losing essentially an acre of property where they live and operate their flooring business.
WATCH: One Nampa family says a Middleton Road widening project will take part of their property — and bring traffic even closer to their home and business
"And it was literally a door knock of, hey, by the way, we're going to be starting this project," Michelle DeGrange said. "And it was, I mean, it was highly emotional, and it was not something we had anticipated. And had I known that that project was in place, we would not have bought this home."
The City of Nampa told me the project has been under consideration since 2019, but Michelle DeGrange said they had no idea when they purchased the home in 2021.
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The family's biggest concern is losing the buffer between their home and the road, where they have already experienced close calls with traffic.
"Come through the fence at 2 a.m. doing about 50 miles an hour, drove right through the center of the yard, and then jumped the driveway completely and hit my truck on the other side," Ryan DeGrange said.
"The property line coming into where this pink stake is. So, you know, trajectory-wise, the dude that drove through the fence would have ended up in my wife's office, probably," Ryan DeGrange said.
Because the property also serves as the base for their full-time flooring business, daily access during the construction is a major concern.
"So we're probably in and out 20 times a day just between me, my guys, and my project manager," Ryan DeGrange said.
Michelle DeGrange also worries about her children coming and going from a house that will soon sit much closer to the street.
"Even just getting off the bus to the front door, all of this 50 mile an hour, 40 mile an hour traffic is going to be right there," Michelle DeGrange said.
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