A new 5-mile stretch of highway 13 opened Tuesday morning at 9:45 am, re-routing drivers from a road that's been a part of the Missouri Highway system for nearly a century.

"This old house is old," says Carl Kindred of his home on Old Highway 13.

The house has been around since the road was made of gravel. Once it was paved, highway traffic got dangerous.

"When this was traffic both ways they had a lot of wrecks out here - they always have," says Kindred.

Locals have given Highway 13 a fitting nickname, considering its unlucky number, "bloody 13."

"I don't like to see that kind of stuff," says Kindred.

Tuesday the Kindreds got their wish. Any accidents on Highway 13 will no longer be out their front door.

The section of 13 they live on moved a block away - next to the southbound lanes put in in the 70s.

"The amount of traffic has outgrown that road," says Bob Edwards, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The next step for contractors out here on what used to be northbound Highway 13 is to take down the "one-way" and "do not enter" signs. What was a 2-lane road through the 1970s is once again, but this time it's called Old State Highway 13.

Edwards says the road will be renamed as a state route, but, for now, it will be referred to as "Old State Highway 13."

"It seems real good, I tell ya. Real good," says Kindred.

Now he can enjoy his front porch with his wife, Lou.

"We can enjoy sitting out here, we can hear each other talk," says Kindred.

Missouri drivers will enjoy a straighter route.

"This is a major change in traffic patterns - not only are these new northbound lanes open to high-speed traffic, 65 MPH, but the old road is now a 2-lane road. One lane in each direction, and people who live off the road need to get used to that," says Edwards.

Contact: dmagditch@kspr.com