Residents to get relief from traffic noise
As construction continues in Cy-Fair on two major transportation projects—the Grand Parkway and Hwy. 290—noise abatement measures are being considered to lessen the effect of highway noise on nearby residents and businesses.
Sound walls are proposed for the Fairfield area off the Grand Parkway and in the city of Jersey Village as work continues on the Hwy. 290 expansion project.
"We are hoping the noise won't get any worse," Jersey Village Mayor Rod Erskine said. "If you go and stand on the homes along Rio Grande, you can hear a tremendous amount of road noise. We want to see it get a little better."
Grand Parkway
Because of the Grand Parkway's close proximity to the master-planned community of Fairfield, sound walls will be constructed along Segment F1 from Cypresswood Drive to Cumberland Ridge, which is about one mile in length. The project is expected to open to traffic in late 2015.
"These have been approved, and they are part of the construction project," said David Gornet, executive director for the Grand Parkway Association. "Typically, they are built later in the process and something that goes in when a project is three-quarters of the way through."
When a project is being constructed in a new location or an existing highway is being reconstructed to increase the lanes, the Texas Department of Transportation determines if there will be traffic noise impacts. There are several types of noise mitigation—sound walls, dense vegetation, earth berm, longitudinal tining—that can be implemented in an area.
The need for noise mitigation in the area surrounding a new highway such as the Grand Parkway was determined by a modeling system that takes into account forecasted traffic counts that generate a noise profile relative to receivers, which could be homes or businesses.
"If the road is 200 or 250 feet away, the model will predict what the average noise level is for a given amount of traffic," Gornet said. "If the noise level generated by the highway is higher than the noise threshold, they'll look at types of mitigation that can be used to reduce that noise level."
Residents living close to the Grand Parkway will be able to hear traffic noise in the background when it opens, Gornet said, but noise mitigation will not be necessary for every home in the community.
"It won't be the same as living with a pasture where the highway is now, but just because you hear cars won't mean there is an impact," he said. "It won't affect you having a conversation in your front yard with a neighbor by making you raise your voice or go inside."
Hwy. 290
In August, TxDOT proposed building a 16-foot-tall sound wall in Jersey Village near Senate Avenue and Hwy. 290 to alleviate some highway noise. The wall will be built on a piece of undeveloped land along the backyards of the homes on Seattle Street and snake around to City Hall, said Mayor Rod Erskine.
"It will definitely benefit the residents who live within a street or two of that area, but it's questionable the impact it will have beyond that," he said.
Two years ago, the city hired environmental law firm Blackburn and Carter in an attempt to pursue some form of noise mitigation from TxDOT. Although TxDOT completed noise modeling in the city, the Jersey Village City Council voted Oct. 21 to measure sound levels at three sites in the city.
"We wanted to establish a pre-construction baseline of noise at a few locations in Jersey Village," Erskine said. "We will have this done in the same matter [TxDOT] does it so you can't argue about the scientific method or credibility of data. This will be an apples- to-apples model of comparison. If you don't collect it now, once they start construction all the data will be invalid."
Longitudinal tining—a type of pavement covering—will also be installed along portions of Hwy. 290 in Jersey Village, which is expected to reduce noise by five to six decibels.
"Our consultant tells us it appears to be slightly less effective than the porous course treatment they did on the [Sam Houston Toll Road]," Erskine said.
Financial costs
The decision to build a sound wall can hinge on the cost factor, as the walls cannot cost more than $25,000 per receiver—a home or business—to be deemed necessary, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
In Fairfield, where the lots may be 70 feet by 120 feet, a 1,000-foot sound wall may benefit 30 receivers, Gornet said.
"If the wall costs half a million, you divide that by 30 and it's $17,000 per receiver," he said. "In some areas where we are building next to a large lot subdivision where people have homes on an acre, the same 1,000-square-foot wall might benefit only five or six homes. They won't qualify for a [sound] wall because they don't meet the federal standard."
The final Hwy. 290 environmental impact study discussed the possibility of constructing a series of sound walls up and down Hwy. 290, Erskine said.
"They evaluated how many people it would impact versus the cost of the wall, and there were a lot of walls they chose not to build," he said. "They put ours in the plan, and as far as cost per person, it appears to be marginal."
TxDOT will pay for the costs to construct the wall, but the city of Jersey Village will need to acquire the right of use for the land, or it will not be constructed.
