LEE COUNTY, NC -- Crews with the North Carolina Department of Transportation are in the process of widening Highway 42 in Lee County.

• Officials said they're expanding the highway from two to four lanes
• The pastor at Shallow Well Church in Sanford said more than 200 graves will have to be moved to make way for the added lanes
• Homeowners along Broadway Street were also told they'd lose their homes due to construction

But the construction is making some residents upset. Officials said they're expanding the highway from two to four lanes.

The pastor at Shallow Well Church in Sanford said more than 200 graves will have to be moved to make way for the added lanes.

Homeowners along Broadway Street were also told they'd lose their homes due to construction.

D.O.T. is spending $52 million on the expansion project as they expect area traffic to double by 2040. 

"Traffic here on Broadway Road from Sanford to Broadway in the morning, in the afternoons, when school lets out and when businesses let out down here, there's some traffic," Pastor Donald Thompson at Shallow Well Church said. "Most of the rest of the day, the only time you see a back up is where there's a piece of farm machinery coming up the road."

More than 3,000 people have signed an online petition hoping the road won't widen. Construction is expected to begin in 2021.