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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
Sprawl and Crawl
()
Date: March 31, 2014 12:00PM
Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
http://www.insidenova.com/news/fairfax/barriers-going-up-to-block-i--noise/article_75629b48-b8e2-11e3-9d6b-001a4bcf887a.html
Alicia Izman can see – and hear – the traffic on Interstate 95 from her Prince William Estates home in Dumfries.
“It has its annoying days,” Izman said. “One night we heard a crash. You can hear the ambulances, the 18-wheelers blowing their horns, cars screeching. It’s too much sometimes.”
She and her neighbors have signed several petitions asking the Virginia Department of Transportation to build noise barriers.
“We’ve been fighting to get them for years,” she said. “Other people got wall before us. We should have been first.”
But VDOT doesn’t build noise barriers just because residents complain about traffic and want one. Barriers are only built as part of a new road or a construction project to an existing road.
Now, thanks to the ongoing I-95 Express Lanes project, Prince William Estates residents are among the roughly 950 people in Prince William, Stafford and Fairfax counties who will benefit from nine new barriers and modifications or extensions to five existing barriers under construction.
“I’m happy. With the sound barrier, people can be more at peace,” Izman said.
The barriers will account for about $29.3 million of the near $1 billion total cost of the project.
The I-95 Express Lanes project runs 29 miles, from Alexandria to Stafford, using existing High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in Fairfax and Prince William counties along with the creation of nine additional miles of lanes to Garrisonville Road in Stafford County. Drivers will be able to use them – for a price. HOV commuters will still be able to use them for free, but anyone driving the lanes will need an EZPass transponder.
Figuring out who gets barriers
When a highway project is being planned, noise is one of the environmental issues that must be considered, according to federal guidelines.
“Three things need to happen for noise walls to be built and it’s very simple,” said Paul Kohler, noise abatement program manager for VDOT.
Is a noise barrier warranted, feasible and reasonable?
To answer the warranted question, VDOT tests to see if highway noise at peak travel times reaches 66 decibels or more for residential areas nearby.
To determine feasibility, VDOT studies to see if a noise barrier would work acoustically to achieve a reduction of noise for at least half of the areas monitored. It also considers if a sound wall could realistically be built in an area considering drainages, utilities and other issues.
If the answers continue to be yes, VDOT then looks at the reasonableness criteria.
This criterion includes: At least a seven-decibel noise reduction, cost effectiveness and benefit to area residents.
At least 50 percent of the people in an impacted area must be in favor of a noise wall for VDOT to construct one.
Community participation
Residents are informed of the process by VDOT through certified letters.
“For communities directly impacted, or having expressed an interest, we will go out and meet with them and explain to them our analysis and the voting process,” said Michelle Holland, Virginia Megaprojects communications manager. “We want to make sure the residents understand what is being offered so they can make an informed decision.”
Dumfries Mayor Jerry Foreman said he and town staff met with VDOT about the noise barriers. As a result of that meeting and those with citizens, a continuous barrier will be constructed the entire length of the town’s border along the highway, from Grayson Village at Va. 234 south to the Knolls of Dumfries.
“This is good news for the citizens of Dumfries,” Foreman said. “The barriers will allow for the quality of life some of these residents have never had. It benefits the entire town.”
Beneficiaries
Prince William County in particular benefits from the construction project. While no additional highway lanes are being built, several areas aside from Dumfries are getting barriers.
“In the section of the project in Prince William County, we are not expanding capacity,” Holland said. “We are rehabbing the existing two lanes.”
“We are looking at the addition of three lanes in the northern section, the construction of nine new miles in the southern section and rehab in the middle,” he said. But as far as noise, “we looked at everything.”
No noise barriers going up will be built on residents’ land.
“All noise barriers are being constructed within the state right-of-way,” Holland said.
Construction is complete on some of the sound barriers in Stafford County and around Edsall Road, the rest are in the works.
“It progresses at different rates,” Holland said. “It is all based on the other work on the road that is going around there. There are a lot of factors that play to how they can schedule that work.
“We try to get them in as quickly as possible,” she said. “We realize people want that sound abatement.”
All the barriers will be complete when the Express Lanes open in early 2015.
Attachments:
http://www.insidenova.com/news/fairfax/barriers-going-up-to-block-i--noise/article_75629b48-b8e2-11e3-9d6b-001a4bcf887a.html
Alicia Izman can see – and hear – the traffic on Interstate 95 from her Prince William Estates home in Dumfries.
“It has its annoying days,” Izman said. “One night we heard a crash. You can hear the ambulances, the 18-wheelers blowing their horns, cars screeching. It’s too much sometimes.”
She and her neighbors have signed several petitions asking the Virginia Department of Transportation to build noise barriers.
“We’ve been fighting to get them for years,” she said. “Other people got wall before us. We should have been first.”
But VDOT doesn’t build noise barriers just because residents complain about traffic and want one. Barriers are only built as part of a new road or a construction project to an existing road.
Now, thanks to the ongoing I-95 Express Lanes project, Prince William Estates residents are among the roughly 950 people in Prince William, Stafford and Fairfax counties who will benefit from nine new barriers and modifications or extensions to five existing barriers under construction.
“I’m happy. With the sound barrier, people can be more at peace,” Izman said.
The barriers will account for about $29.3 million of the near $1 billion total cost of the project.
The I-95 Express Lanes project runs 29 miles, from Alexandria to Stafford, using existing High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in Fairfax and Prince William counties along with the creation of nine additional miles of lanes to Garrisonville Road in Stafford County. Drivers will be able to use them – for a price. HOV commuters will still be able to use them for free, but anyone driving the lanes will need an EZPass transponder.
Figuring out who gets barriers
When a highway project is being planned, noise is one of the environmental issues that must be considered, according to federal guidelines.
“Three things need to happen for noise walls to be built and it’s very simple,” said Paul Kohler, noise abatement program manager for VDOT.
Is a noise barrier warranted, feasible and reasonable?
To answer the warranted question, VDOT tests to see if highway noise at peak travel times reaches 66 decibels or more for residential areas nearby.
To determine feasibility, VDOT studies to see if a noise barrier would work acoustically to achieve a reduction of noise for at least half of the areas monitored. It also considers if a sound wall could realistically be built in an area considering drainages, utilities and other issues.
If the answers continue to be yes, VDOT then looks at the reasonableness criteria.
This criterion includes: At least a seven-decibel noise reduction, cost effectiveness and benefit to area residents.
At least 50 percent of the people in an impacted area must be in favor of a noise wall for VDOT to construct one.
Community participation
Residents are informed of the process by VDOT through certified letters.
“For communities directly impacted, or having expressed an interest, we will go out and meet with them and explain to them our analysis and the voting process,” said Michelle Holland, Virginia Megaprojects communications manager. “We want to make sure the residents understand what is being offered so they can make an informed decision.”
Dumfries Mayor Jerry Foreman said he and town staff met with VDOT about the noise barriers. As a result of that meeting and those with citizens, a continuous barrier will be constructed the entire length of the town’s border along the highway, from Grayson Village at Va. 234 south to the Knolls of Dumfries.
“This is good news for the citizens of Dumfries,” Foreman said. “The barriers will allow for the quality of life some of these residents have never had. It benefits the entire town.”
Beneficiaries
Prince William County in particular benefits from the construction project. While no additional highway lanes are being built, several areas aside from Dumfries are getting barriers.
“In the section of the project in Prince William County, we are not expanding capacity,” Holland said. “We are rehabbing the existing two lanes.”
“We are looking at the addition of three lanes in the northern section, the construction of nine new miles in the southern section and rehab in the middle,” he said. But as far as noise, “we looked at everything.”
No noise barriers going up will be built on residents’ land.
“All noise barriers are being constructed within the state right-of-way,” Holland said.
Construction is complete on some of the sound barriers in Stafford County and around Edsall Road, the rest are in the works.
“It progresses at different rates,” Holland said. “It is all based on the other work on the road that is going around there. There are a lot of factors that play to how they can schedule that work.
“We try to get them in as quickly as possible,” she said. “We realize people want that sound abatement.”
All the barriers will be complete when the Express Lanes open in early 2015.
Attachments:
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
EKxdy
()
Date: April 01, 2014 05:52PM
probably the truth is. those were paid for due to lawsuits back when. i remember
HOWEVER. if you theiving gov ass develops on land that had no homes, got it cheap, and is now demanding taxes (meanining my ass) owes you money ...
fuck you
HOWEVER. if you theiving gov ass develops on land that had no homes, got it cheap, and is now demanding taxes (meanining my ass) owes you money ...
fuck you
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
WX9tw
()
Date: April 01, 2014 05:56PM
Guess what bitch, you bought a house next to the biggest interstate in the country. You bought it cause it was cheap. You live in Prince William Estates which means you probably live in some shitty new townhouse development built by third-world laborers and you probably are new to the area which means youre a contractor sucking off the local economy and you probably think Prince William Estates is part of Northern Virginia.
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
Whining Whiners
()
Date: April 02, 2014 12:28AM
I-95 was there long before these fucktard whiners. Don't like the noise? Then don't buy a place overlooking the interstate. Dumbasses!
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
TMjGb
()
Date: April 02, 2014 12:34AM
EKxdy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> probably the truth is. those were paid for due to
> lawsuits back when. i remember
>
> HOWEVER. if you theiving gov ass develops on land
> that had no homes, got it cheap, and is now
> demanding taxes (meanining my ass) owes you money
> ...
>
> fuck you
No, fuck you svenestle. Your posts are so irritating to read. Every time I open a thread on here, there's a silver of hope that I won't see one of your fucktarded comments. I get let down a lot. Stop being so crazy/stupid/incoherent/annoying. Thank you.
-------------------------------------------------------
> probably the truth is. those were paid for due to
> lawsuits back when. i remember
>
> HOWEVER. if you theiving gov ass develops on land
> that had no homes, got it cheap, and is now
> demanding taxes (meanining my ass) owes you money
> ...
>
> fuck you
No, fuck you svenestle. Your posts are so irritating to read. Every time I open a thread on here, there's a silver of hope that I won't see one of your fucktarded comments. I get let down a lot. Stop being so crazy/stupid/incoherent/annoying. Thank you.
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
xTwxW
()
Date: April 03, 2014 03:59PM
Sprawl and Crawl
is a bandwagon call of the people doing the stealing
----------------------------
the developer was supposed to pay / got the land cheap
they already got paid for inconvenience when 495 was laid out
sucker
is a bandwagon call of the people doing the stealing
----------------------------
the developer was supposed to pay / got the land cheap
they already got paid for inconvenience when 495 was laid out
sucker
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
VxWbd
()
Date: April 03, 2014 03:59PM
didn't read it
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
Ain't That the Truth
()
Date: April 03, 2014 04:16PM
TMjGb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EKxdy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > probably the truth is. those were paid for due
> to
> > lawsuits back when. i remember
> >
> > HOWEVER. if you theiving gov ass develops on
> land
> > that had no homes, got it cheap, and is now
> > demanding taxes (meanining my ass) owes you
> money
> > ...
> >
> > fuck you
>
> No, fuck you svenestle. Your posts are so
> irritating to read. Every time I open a thread on
> here, there's a silver of hope that I won't see
> one of your fucktarded comments. I get let down a
> lot. Stop being so
> crazy/stupid/incoherent/annoying. Thank you.
"I get let down a lot." lol
-------------------------------------------------------
> EKxdy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > probably the truth is. those were paid for due
> to
> > lawsuits back when. i remember
> >
> > HOWEVER. if you theiving gov ass develops on
> land
> > that had no homes, got it cheap, and is now
> > demanding taxes (meanining my ass) owes you
> money
> > ...
> >
> > fuck you
>
> No, fuck you svenestle. Your posts are so
> irritating to read. Every time I open a thread on
> here, there's a silver of hope that I won't see
> one of your fucktarded comments. I get let down a
> lot. Stop being so
> crazy/stupid/incoherent/annoying. Thank you.
"I get let down a lot." lol
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
svennestle has been bad lately..
()
Date: April 03, 2014 04:17PM
Someone should really get him help
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
NOVA.Dude
()
Date: April 03, 2014 04:23PM
This is just like people that buy a home near a college campus and then complain when students pinch a loaf or puke on their lawns...
"Gosh, honey! Look how fucking cheap these houses are in Prince William Estates! I wonder why that is..."
"Gosh, honey! Look how fucking cheap these houses are in Prince William Estates! I wonder why that is..."
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
The Loller
()
Date: April 03, 2014 04:57PM
NOVA.Dude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> complain when students
> pinch a loaf or puke on their lawns...
LOL!
-------------------------------------------------------
> complain when students
> pinch a loaf or puke on their lawns...
LOL!
Re: Barriers going up to block I-95 noise
Posted by:
9VdYd
()
Date: April 03, 2014 06:53PM
"Dumfries" is the most retarded name ever.