It’s time to make it easier to build sound barriers on interstates

Larry Johnson noticed something during the full I-285 weekend closures in May and June. The ambient sound in his southwest Atlanta neighborhood was much quieter.

It was more enjoyable to be on the deck of his home for 10 years, and he and his family slept much better at night. The calm reminded him of one of the few bright spots to come during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown: empty roads and low sound pollution.

“That’s when I noticed a difference, because we noticed when people weren’t on the highway. I was like, ‘Oh, God, it sounds great out here.’ Going outside, we could enjoy outside. People started going back to work, really started noticing the traffic,” Johnson told me during an interview for a story on 11Alive.

Johnson’s West Manor neighborhood sits off Benjamin E. Mays Drive, halfway between the Cascade Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive interchanges with I-285. His Cedar Island Drive house is on a corner lot of sorts, which throws a bow right at I-285. A chain-link fence is all that stands between Atlanta’s bypass and the wood line behind Johnson’s barn and storage shed.

The near silence amid the height of the pandemic prompted Johnson’s campaign for noise barriers. He largely has met headwinds.

He said he began by contacting Gov. Brian Kemp’s office and ended up in a dialogue with the Georgia Department of Transportation. Johnson asked them why parts of I-285 in Cobb County were getting old sound barriers replaced when his neighborhood had none at all.

GDOT clarified their rules for noise barrier installation to both him and me. The state said only areas that have projects that add capacity to a road or significantly change a road qualify for sound barriers. And then the state has to study if recipients will see a seven decibel or more benefit and if the barriers will cost roughly $110,000 per recipient or less. The state says barriers cost $50 per square foot.

“Even after preliminary approval, final design or utility conflicts can still prevent construction,” GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale said in a written statement.

And, after all that, the majority of residents have to approve the noise walls.

The barriers to entry for getting, well, barriers, are quite high. And understandably so. Just as residents push for the government to install traffic lights, there are plenty that push for noise abatement. Engineers and policymakers have to study the benefits and feasibility before committing taxpayer cash and efforts.

When work began last summer on the new westside I-285/I-20 interchange, Johnson thought his neighborhood fell in the project’s scope. GDOT told both Johnson and me it did not, meaning no noise walls there.

U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams represents Johnson’s 5th Congressional District and introduced the Negating Neighborhood Noise Act in 2022. Her office told me the bill essentially unlocks federal funds to help more neighborhoods gain protection from noise pollution.

“Constituents and elected officials have made it clear: we must address the disruptions caused by congested highways. For too many communities — particularly those intentionally divided by the construction of our interstate system — these roads have long brought not just displacement, but lasting harm,” a statement from her office said.

So far, Williams has been unable to get her bill added to any U.S. House infrastructure plans.

Johnson shared with me the email chains with GDOT engineers and reps, and the dead ends he has run in to.

A software engineer, he demonstrated the sound-measurement device he placed on his deck and the online portal that chronologically logged the decibel levels.

“When big trucks go by or the Amtrak train comes near, they honk their horns, you hear their brakes, all that stuff. It’s jarring sometimes,” he said.

He said he constantly measures traffic noise at close to 70 dB. Despite all this evidence, West Manor still was not within the purview of the right project.