Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Fwd: Next to the highway

[Joel Woodhull (jwoodhull]

No, soundwalls aren't pleasant to drive next to, but the point is
to protect the people impacted by the freeway.  Since it is the
people on the freeway that are causing the problem, they should
absorb all the costs.
 
Trees have little effect as a sound barrier.  This is illustrated
by the site in question.  If I recall correctly there are many
trees between the freeway and the area where the dwellings would
be located, and the sound remains a problem.
 
If trees could be planted so as to hide the soundwall it would be
fine, or berms would be fine.  But the continual additions of
lanes to the highway system has in almost all areas chewed away
any excess right-of-way, so nothing with significant width can be
added without additional right-of-way.  How about taking away
lanes to put in the kinds of sound barriers we would all prefer?
 
>if it was my house going up next to a road, I'd resign myself to
>putting up with the noise for the few years it would take, and
>save the motorists from the blight of another soundwall.
 
Evan, perhaps you would be a good customer for the "sound barrier
dwellings" that are planned for the site.
 
Joel Woodhull
Pasadena