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Making Interstate 44 easier to travel is becoming a very expensive proposition.
The highway is undergoing a major expansion that's been years in the making. For the first time, we're learning how much it's going to take to clear the way.
Construction is still two years away and 16-million dollars has already been spent to move businesses along the stretch from Yale to Riverside.
It will hopefully be a very nice stretch of highway when it's done. It will certainly be one of the most expensive.
Location, location, location is the real estate mantra that's ringing truer than ever for businesses along I-44. Gas may well be $3.64 at the Shell at 51st and Harvard, but the owners of the land will get 1-point-2 million dollars to pay for those long drives.
Neither Marie Callendar nor Lone Star Steakhouse will have to sell or move, but they will lose some space in the back. Lone Star will receive almost 20-thousand dollars while Marie's land owners settled for just $105.
Wooden stakes mark ODOT's presence at Colonial Manor nursing home. They will lose most of their front lawn and be paid $215,000 not to worry about cutting the grass.
Meanwhile at Jamil's they'll keep smoking meat in the magic pit throughout the summer, before taking $1.5 million to find a new home.
Jennifer Alcott's grandfather was Jamil and she says even with the money, the move is more trouble than it's worth.
"I wish it didn't have to turn out this way, but we've got to make the most of it."
The business making the most of it? Beeline Furniture, making a bee-line to the bank with a buyout package of 3-point-3 million dollars.
In total, over 26-million dollars has been spent on business compensation, that includes nearly a dozen businesses at Highway 75 and 11th Street in Jenks.
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