Neighbors Upset About Route 2 Expansion Project
BOSTON (CBS) --- Route 2 is in the midst of a major overhaul to make it less of a traffic nightmare. But some neighbors say they are the ones paying the price.
Vince Valentine's home used to be tucked away in the woods of Lincoln.
"Everyone is saying it is so much louder now."
But since the state began its long overdue $50 million Route 2 expansion project, acres and acres of trees have been cut down, and the highway traffic noise is now closer and louder.
Valentine says "no one expected our beautiful forest to be taken away."
"The fact of the matter is that it is destroying this neighborhood without any protection from the high-speed traffic."
Residents we spoke with knew what they got into. They knew the road was going to be expanded. They just didn't know it was going to be so loud. Now they want something done.
Jackie Drummond says her home, which now almost sits right on Route 2, is losing value every day.
"The quality of our life will continue to go down," Drummond says. "We want protection from the visual, from the sound, from the horns, from anything that is out there."
State engineers admit there are no plans for sound barriers which cost millions of dollars.
One reason is in sparsely populated Lincoln, there just are not enough homes impacted by the elevated noise levels.
Frank DePaola is the Massachusetts Highway Commissioner.
"We just felt in this case, it would be a huge cost and very little benefit derived," he says.
Brooks Road residents are not giving up though, and they have started a Facebook page complete with photos of missing trees in their once quiet neighborhood.
MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON
