Steve Winn and Edith Winn v. United States

The United States brought this action to take certain property belonging to appellants, invoking jurisdiction under the Act of August 1, 1888, 25 Stat. 357 , 40 U.S.C.A. § 257 ; the Act of February 26, 1931, 46 Stat. 1421 , 40 U.S.C.A. § 258a-258e; and the “Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956,” 70 Stat. 374 , which authorizes the acquisition of land or interests in land, including the control of access thereto from adjoining land, required for the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of any section of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

Appellant Winn owns a 67-acre tract of desert land about eight miles from Mountain Home and 40 miles from Boise, Idaho. As shown on the diagram below, the land is in the shape of a rectangle. Viewed from above, taking the top as north, the present highway, U. S. Highway 30, diagonally bisects the land, running generally from the upper left hand to lower right hand corner. The government took a triangular plot of about 2.3 acres from the upper right hand corner of the land for construction and improve- merit of Idaho Highway Project 1-3022 (7), a section of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. The new…