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A long gravel driveway leads to a front porch cooled by breezes blowing across rows of corn. Childhood memories, like learning how to drive a tractor at 7 or 8 years old, rest in each direction.

State Highway 79 is the only smudge in the idyllic canvas.

“Of course, it’s much busier than when I was a kid,� said Vehige, 69.

Like many others interviewed last week, he and his wife said they’ve been run off the busy two-lane highway. At home, they also have a glimpse of the traffic as it crosses the Cuivre River Bridge. On June 23, they heard a loud boom coming from there that could have been mistaken for late Friday afternoon fireworks — if only it wasn’t followed by squealing tires.

Soon, emergency responders did their work and traffic in both directions was rerouted for four hours.

“We knew it had to be something drastic,� Vehige said.

The boom was the sound of a 2002 F-250 pickup truck pulling a trailer full of tree debris colliding with a 2018 Honda Civic. According to a preliminary investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, a front tire blew on the northbound truck, causing it to plow into oncoming traffic.

Jessica M. Hecht, 31, of Old Monroe, was in the Honda. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A more thorough crash reconstruction is underway, but at this point officials said they don’t anticipate filing charges. There were no obvious signs of impairment involved.

“He’s pretty upset,� Chris Blevins, chief of the Old Monroe Fire Protection District, said of the 36-year-old pickup driver from Elsberry who walked away from the crash. “He took a young kid’s life. No fault of his own. It was just an accident.�

There have been an alarming number of accidents on Highway 79, particularly near Old Monroe. According to a Post-Dispatch analysis, nine people were killed within the same half-mile stretch of the highway between the Cuivre River Bridge and the Highway C interchange to town since September 2017. Five of the six fatal crashes were head-on collisions; three happened on the bridge. Four of the nine dead were teenage girls; one victim was an elderly man.

In addition to the latest crash, these are the other fatal incidents within the half-mile area:

• Approaching midnight on April 29, a 2016 Chevrolet Impala full of teenagers struck an oncoming 2022 Hyundai Elantra while trying to pass another vehicle. The southbound Impala caught fire. Its 16-year-old driver, of Wright City, and two of her three passengers, 15- and 16-year-old girls from O’Fallon, Missouri, died at the scene. Their names have not been released because they are juveniles. The driver of the Hyundai, Racheal G. Neldon, 23, of Elsberry, also died.

Officials said the teenagers were coming home from a party. Lincoln County Coroner Dan Heavin said Wednesday that the case isn’t finalized but that toxicology reports found elevated levels of alcohol in the three teens, not in Neldon.

Today, a roadside memorial, including a large pink cross and a photo of one of the girls, marks the location of the crash along a curve near the Highway C interchange.

• On June 29, 2021, Francis R. Biron, 83, of Troy, was northbound on a Harley-Davidson near the same spot when he veered off the right side of the highway around 11:20 a.m., then crossed back to the left and overturned. He was wearing a helmet.

• On Feb. 18, 2021, Roger M. Flerlage, 44, of Old Monroe, drove a 1998 Mazda Protege into an oncoming vehicle at 7:20 a.m. after losing control on the ice-covered road. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt, according to the patrol. Nor was the other driver, who was flown by medical helicopter to the hospital with serious injuries.

• On Jan. 15, 2019, Zola A. Rodey, of Winfield, was caught up in a three-vehicle crash on the bridge on her 60th birthday. She was hit by an oncoming vehicle driven by Alonzo J. Cannon, who faced previous DWIs. He pleaded guilty to charges stemming from her death and is currently in prison.

• On Sept. 16, 2017, Zoe Marie Gratton, 17, was northbound in a 2005 Ford Focus around 2:50 a.m. when she crossed the center line. The driver of an oncoming 2016 Volkswagen Jetta tried to veer out of the way, the patrol said, but struck the front-left section of the Focus. Gratton died at the scene; the other driver survived.

Gratton was a high school senior from Farmington, coming back to the area where she’d grown up to visit friends after work. Today, a pink envelope in a clear plastic bag to protect it from rain is tacked to a roadside cross in her name. The cross is planted near the south entrance of the Cuivre River Bridge, at the St. Charles County-Lincoln County line.

“I feel like you never get over that loss,� said Gratton’s mother, Virginia Hepperman, 45. “She was such an intricate part of our family.�

Thursday would have been her 23rd birthday.

“She had a whole future ahead of her, like all of these kids did,� she said.

Clocking 107 mph

The city of Old Monroe only has about 250 residents. Other people live in nearby Winfield, Foley and unincorporated Lincoln County. They often use Highway 79 as a main thoroughfare to jobs in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. Apart from commuters and trucking, some just want to have a good time.

“Everybody loves the life out here,� said Justin Garver, 29, a native. “Here’s the thing: The road is long and boring. Everybody has a lot of attitude with it.�

Highway 79 used to be much slower when it came through the middle of Old Monroe. In 1987, a bypass was built to accommodate regional population growth. It killed much of downtown but provided a much bigger bridge over the Cuivre River and a higher speed limit.

Old Monroe police Chief Chuck Marsonette said the highway is unsafe partly because long straightaways from each direction feed into curves that drivers often don’t slow down for. He said the department does the best it can with five part-time officers.

“We lack the resources to be able to enforce these speed limits, which would increase safety and reduce injuries and deaths,� Marsonette said.

In the past 18 months, he said, they’ve written citations against two drivers going 107 and 103 mph in the 60 mph zone of the highway; 36 citations for driving in the 90s; and 63 in the 80s.

In addition to the nine people who died in the half-mile stretch of Highway 79 since 2017, many others perished down the roadway in both directions. Within 2 miles north, three crosses stand in the ditch; nothing marks the spot where one woman fatally struck a telephone pole beside a curve in the highway. To the south, four people have been killed on the highway since 2016 in the St. Paul area.

Every random person around Old Monroe seems to know somebody who has died on the highway.

“My nephew was one of three,� said Rick Schulte, 58, taking a break from loading trucks at a downtown feed store, recalling Justin Tidwell. “The same exact spot that the girl (Hecht) got killed.�

On Sept. 19, 2002, Tidwell, 20, was southbound in a Chevrolet S-10 pickup when he crossed the center line about 6:40 a.m. and collided with a 1993 Ford Taurus. Both vehicles were traveling close to the speed limit of 60 mph.

“When they hit, their momentum equaled out, and they just stopped,� a Highway Patrol spokesman told the Post-Dispatch at the time. “It would have been like hitting a brick wall at 120 miles per hour.�

In addition to Tidwell, of Old Monroe, both occupants of the Taurus died: William Harris, 45, of St. Peters, and Timothy Oster, 44, of St. Charles. None of them were wearing seat belts but officials said it likely wouldn’t have mattered.

Last week, the Highway Patrol said it is aware of the dangers on Highway 79 near Old Monroe.

“We do have that on our radar, as far as doing enforcement there,� said Cpl. Dallas Thompson, a spokesman. “There have been several crashes that resulted in fatalities.�

Apart from the devastating toll on family and friends, some emergency responders are dealing with post-traumatic stress from the April 29 crash that killed three teenage girls and a young woman.

“It still lingers with them and they are working their way through it,� said Ray Antonacci, chief administrator of Lincoln County Ambulance District.

Not prioritized for funding

Blevins, the fire chief, said he’s asked the Missouri Department of Transportation for lane improvements on Highway 79.

“Their reply is they are always looking at it,� he said. “What are you looking at?�

If it can’t be turned into a four-lane highway, he said there should at least be center lanes and lighting for the Highway C overpass.

“You wouldn’t even know it’s there at 1 in the morning,� he said.

Taylor Brune, a spokeswoman for MoDOT, said dividing Highway 79 and making it a four-lane isn’t going to happen soon.

“Although it was built to support additional lanes if needed, such a project has not been identified as a need by the area’s regional planning commission and therefore not prioritized for funding,� Brune said by email.

She said most of the highway by Highway C interchange — though not all — is striped no-passing because there are on-off ramps to Old Monroe. She said the agency also added center line rumbles in 2013 to provide additional warning to motorists.

That doesn’t appear to be working well. Several people said they’ve been run off the road by on-coming drivers.

Vehige and his wife, Jeanine, recalled narrowly missing a collision. An on-coming car passed in a straightaway. Another right behind it didn’t get over in time and barreled right at them. Vehige steered for the shoulder in a 1991 Ford pickup. So did the other driver.

“I went down into the ditch,� said Joe Vehige, glad there was mud in the bottom to help slow them down.

Steve Gnade, 56, an insurance agent, said he’s had to hit the shoulder at least four times in the past three years between Old Monroe and St. Paul.

“They drive like it’s a four-lane highway,� he said.

Jessica Hawkins, 44, town clerk, said defensive driving keeps her alive.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve saved myself from a head-on collision,� she said. “They are passing on a double line.�

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