By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

GOVE -- Economic stimulus or economic calamity?

That is indeed the question being asked today, what with the announcement that Kansas Highway 23 south of Gove -- one of the highways being rebuilt under the federal stimulus program -- will be closed for five months next spring.

Residents in this county-seat community of fewer than 90 people, and far fewer businesses, are split on what effect the highway closing will have, considering that it sometimes is a struggle just to keep afloat.

But Gove is a community with a strong heart, working almost daily to keep the community-owned grocery and cafe running. When the Farm Service Agency proposed shutting down its office, for example, the community rallied and beat back the effort.

The Kansas Department of Transportation has championed the rebuilding, noting that at least part of K-23 was first constructed during the Depression.

But when Venture Corp. of Great Bend offered to do the 16-mile project for $7.8 million, Gove residents learned that traffic would be routed away from the community. Each day, KDOT records indicate, more than 400 vehicles -- a third of that tractor-trailers -- pass over the highway.

Once the road-closed signs are put up, traffic will be sent along Kansas Highway 4 to U.S. Highway 83, which carries four times the daily traffic, and eventually up to Interstate 70.

Most residents don't think the truck traffic contributes much to the Gove economy, except during harvest when custom cutters stop at either the community-owned cafe or grocery store.

What effect the loss of the rest of that traffic will have is anybody's guess, however.

Wayne Cook at Cook's Feed and Seed thinks only good can come of the project, both in terms of economy for the community and safety of its citizens.

When Venture Corp. rebuilds the highway, the 10-foot lanes will be widened to 12 feet, with shoulders 2 feet wide, complete with rumble strips.

What won't be touched are the ditches, now deep and dangerous when coupled with the narrow road.

"It's not going to help anyone," said Betty Lou McDonald, who owns Gove City Yarns.

Still, she doesn't see much business from motorists on K-23, instead getting most of her drop-in business from people driving along I-70.

The cafe and grocery store are perhaps the two businesses that stand to lose the most.

"I'm sure it will hurt," said Norma Charles, manager of the community-owned cafe for just over a year now. "I'm sure the business will slow down."

But, she said, most of the customers today are local people who drop in for either lunch or dinner.

"We have a few people from out in the county," she said.

She's hopeful that construction workers might drop in as they are working on the new highway.

"That's going to hurt," she said. "Being closed for five months, I think it's going to be hard on farmers. People aren't going to want to come to town if they have to go clear around."

Despite that, she's confident the cafe can weather the closing, and perhaps business will pick up after the highway reopens.

The manager of the grocery store next door holds a similar outlook.

"It's probably going to have some effect," said store manager Val Branham. "But hopefully some of the crew will come here."

And that they might, according to Bob Holt, Venture's secretary and estimator.

"They're going to have to go someplace to eat and buy their pop and sandwiches," he said.

Holt said he understands the difficulties that will come with the highway closing. And he also recognizes that the project, while it might not actually create jobs, will certainly be saving jobs.

"Our outlook for next year is a bigger concern," he said. "It's kinda grim."

Not having the work to keep its three crews busy could mean layoffs for the Great Bend company.

While it's still not known exactly how many people will be on the K-23 reconstruction crew, Holt said there could be as many as 100 at any given time. Venture will also hire several subcontractors for the job.

He thinks at least some will patronize both the grocery store and cafe.

"In my mind, I can't believe there isn't going to be a trade-off there," he said.

What the highway closing might affect, Branham said, is the southern route in the grocery store's distribution system, providing other small-town grocers with supplies.

Currently, GCIA Grocery provides supplies to Healy to the south.

"We're going to do back roads," Branham said.

In addition, the store supplies stores in Grinnell, Selden, Hoxie and Palco. Those deliveries are made on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Larry Boan, a member of the all write-in city council, is convinced the highway closure will hurt -- at least while the road-closed signs are in place.

In the long run, he said, it will probably help the community through increased traffic.

"It's going to help up in the long run," he said. "In the short run, it's going to hurt."

What he was most concerned about, however, was that the state was fixing the highway and leaving a battered four-block-long ribbon of highway in downtown Gove untouched.

There, he said, reinforcing wire from the concrete is exposed.

The two projects are connected, said KDOT regional engineer Jeff Stewart, but just barely.

The downtown repair work had been scheduled for this year, but was put off once the stimulus money became available.

Instead, that work will be put out for bid either this fall or in the spring.

That project was put off because KDOT didn't want to hurt a new roadway bringing in all the aggregate needed for the K-23 project, and it also hopes that costs can be held down, what with construction equipment already in the area.

"It needs to be fixed," Boan said.

While Cook said his seed business won't be hurt, he's hopeful that the effect on the cafe and grocery will be minimal.

He's also hoping construction crews eat at the cafe.

"If there's a good place to eat," I'd rather have a hot meal than a cold sandwich," he said.