Curious Why State Pays For Highway Sound Barriers

WBZ

Some of our viewers think it's a cosmetic fix at a time when our state is flat broke.

We're talking about huge sound barriers being built along our highways.

Joe in Stoneham is curious: "Who is paying for the sound barrier that is being erected on Rt. 128 in Lexington? It doesn't seem a prudent use of funds given our budget."

Ed Loturco has a very noisy neighbor. Standing on his deck you can almost reach out and touch Rt. 128.

"You are getting the vibrations, the high speed trucks, it's just a roar," he says, referring to the non-stop sound of traffic, traffic, traffic.

Ed was a driving force in getting the state to build a new sound barrier in Lexington. It's big and expensive - $8 million.

But noise doesn't hold a lot of water for Joseph Carroll. "I was curious why they'd be funding a project like this," he says.

That hefty price tag in this recession sent Joe to our web site. He complained that people who move in next to a highway should know it's going to be loud.

Joe knows about noise himself. "I actually live in a neighborhood that abuts the I-93/128 interchange. I expect that there's noise, and there's noise," he says.

So why spend the money? We found the state didn't really have a choice.

When they widened Rt. 3, they widened the ramp to 128, next to Ed Loturco's house. The guardrail is a lot closer to his backyard now.

"About eight feet closer now from where it was," says Loturco.

And anytime a highway is widened, like they're doing on 128 in Westwood, the state is mandated by the federal government to do something. It's called a "Type 1" project. The feds pay 80-percent, and the state has to pick up the other 20-percent.

Usually a barrier costs about $4 million per mile. Sounds like you could fix a lot of roads and bridges instead, but state highway commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky says not so much, since the state's budget for that is almost a billion dollars.

"I wouldn't dismiss $4 million, that is a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of our road-bridge repair program it does represent a small proportion of our overall investments," says Paiewonsky.

But sometimes not having a choice, is a choice.

For instance on a stretch of Rt. 93 in Andover the state chooses to allow people to use the breakdown lane north of Dascomb Rd. Because of that, traffic is closer to the homes and the state will have to build a $5 million barrier this fall.

There's also a "Type 2" project where the state listens noise complaints from residents and decides whether it wants to pay to help.

But Commissioner Paiewonsky says the state can't afford to take on any more of those projects at this time.

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