Highway neighbors long for the sounds of silence

Sito Negron

Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

The drone of nonstop traffic is steady background noise in William R. Moore's living room. If he opens the sliding glass door to his back yard -- filled with fruit trees and grapevines -- the highway roars to life.

"We don't notice it so much because we've heard it so long," Moore said of the sound inside his home, in the 3400 block of Ruth Drive, just east of U.S. 95 before the Boulder Highway exit. But in the back yard, he said, "it's like the speedway."

Moore and his neighbors whose homes are within throwing distance of U.S. 95 say they hope the sound walls going up on the northbound side of the highway between Flamingo Road and Desert Inn dampen the noise.

The state and county are splitting the $1.7 million cost for the nearly two-mile stretch of sound wall, which is scheduled for completion in mid-May.

"The volumes we basically measure ... (the sound level) is kind of like a lawn mower running in a yard," said Clark County Public Works spokesman Bobby Shelton. "When you multiply that throughout the day, it's the roar of traffic."

Sound walls have become a larger issue for the state in the past several years, as the valley's rapid growth often places homes near highways or highways near existing homes. The walls are expensive, costing about $2 million a mile for both sides of the highway.

The sound has been a problem "ever since they put the freeway in," said Moore, an 83-year-old retiree who said he bought his home new in 1969. Moore also said in the last few years, some of his and his neighbors' trees have died. Although he said he has no proof, "everyone (neighbors) blames" the traffic.

Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Bob McKenzie said the Flamingo to Desert Inn stretch of sound wall was the only one planned for the near future between Henderson and the Spaghetti Bowl.

"This is it," he said, explaining that "the people who live in the adjacent areas had gone to their local officials, who came to NDOT."

McKenzie said that sound walls are part of new construction -- for example, along the U.S. 95 widening between Craig Road and the Spaghetti Bowl -- but it's harder for existing roads.

"You've got the slopes and the viaducts ... the weight bearing on bridges. There are a number of variables that engineers look at," McKenzie said. He said that sound walls weren't part of the original projects because there were fewer people around the highways and less traffic.

Shelton echoed McKenzie's comments about sound walls.

"You have to remember back in 1982 or so, when that portion (Henderson to the Spaghetti Bowl) of U.S. 95 initially went under construction there weren't that many people there, the traffic volumes weren't what they are today, so you didn't have the noise (problem)," Shelton said.

McKenzie said the state is looking at U.S. 95 between Henderson and the Spaghetti Bowl for future improvements, which could include sound barriers.

Public meetings are scheduled for 4 p.m. April 27, at the Henderson Convention Center, 200 Water Street, 4 p.m. April 28, at the Las Vegas Senior Center, 451 East Bonanza, and 4 p.m. April 29, at the George E. Harris Elementary School 3620 South Sandhill.

"It (sound walls from Flamingo to Desert Inn) is not a Band-Aid by any means ... but again, there may be other methods and means designed and developed in the future depending what they decide to do with the highway," Shelton said.

Information on that planning process -- called the I-515 Corridor Study, because the stretch between Henderson and the Spaghetti Bowl is Interstate 515, as well as U.S. 93 and U.S. 95 -- and other NDOT projects also can be found at nvroads.com.

A few houses down from Moore, Elena Salvo, a 52-year-old booth cashier, said she too is looking forward to the sound walls.

"It was nice and quiet" when she moved to the neighborhood in 1978, she said. "I'm happy they're doing it (putting in sound barriers). We've been fighting for it for a long time.

"Hopefully, it will make enough of a difference so we can sit outside again and enjoy it and open our windows. We can't even sit in the living room with the windows open and watch television."