VB Woodstock neighborhood residents petition for I-64 sound wall

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A noisy neighbor has people asking VDOT to do something.

That neighbor is Interstate 64, and people in a Woodstock neighborhood in Virginia Beach say it’s too close for comfort.

“There’s no escaping this noise for anyone anymore,” said Driskill Court resident Sally Word. “It disrupts the quality of our life, it impacts us on an economic level.”

Word moved to Virginia Beach a year ago, and noticed the need for a noise barrier. After all, their neighbors directly across the highway have one.

“That was the first thing I did was reach out to VDOT,” she said. “I think when I first got here, I said, ‘Hey what can we do to get a noise wall put up.'”

She said though, that they haven’t gotten anywhere.

10 On Your Side asked the Virginia Department of Transportation about the complaints, and in an email response, they shared in part:

Residents said now it’s time to get elected officials involved.

“It’s a quarter-of-a-mile, not even a half, can we just finish it,” said Virginia Beach City Councilman David Hutcheson. “It’s 100 houses there. Can we do a study now to see if it is louder?”

Hutcheson, a resident of the neighborhood himself, said it’s time for a new assessment.

“It’s gonna take a little while but we’ll stay on it,” he said.

“We think that VDOT has done an excellent job at slow-walking this process and trying to minimize the concerns of the residents of this community so w’ed like to see some action,” Word said.

Word has started a petition regarding the complaints. To learn more, click here.

VDOT

VDOT addressed a number of different questions in their e-mail response to 10 On Your Side. Here is their response to our questions:

“VDOT staff from both the District and Central Office statewide levels have also been in contact with one of the residents of Woodstock Woods both in-person and via multiple phone calls and email correspondence over the last year as well. Thank you for the opportunity to provide this information to you as well.”

• What’s VDOT’s policy or practice for notifying residents when work is going to be done in their area.

With an extensive amount of construction and maintenance work occurring in the VDOT Hampton Roads District around the clock, seven days a week, we strive to do our best to communicate significant impacts to the region’s travelers, while balancing efficient delivery of roadway improvements and maintenance to benefit these drivers.

Our VDOT District is also currently administering more than 50 active construction projects, including 8 major interstate projects. Many of these projects are complex, large-scale, and being constructed on active roadways, which requires careful planning, coordination and execution to ensure safety and minimal disruptions to the traveling public while also delivering a project in a timely manner. On average, we receive nearly 190 submissions for planned closures weekly, covering more than 1,000 lane closures per week in Hampton Roads. On top of the planned closures, there are also unplanned lane closures for emergency maintenance and repairs and traffic incidents occurring daily. In fact, VDOT handles more than 600 to 800 lane-impacting incidents per month in Hampton Roads.

While we are committed to providing the public with the most accurate and up-to-date information to the extent possible, continuous operations occurring across the region require prioritizing our public outreach on the more significant, higher travel impact work impacting a larger population over more temporary, minor work with relatively minimal traffic impacts, such as the roadway maintenance work referenced at this location. Given the large volume of closures and work being done, individual notifications for each one would not be feasible to reach every property owner adjacent to the 160 miles of interstate that VDOT maintains in Hampton Roads.

Our District does distribute multiple press releases and notifications for our more long-term projects and more significant closures within the region every week via email and our social media channels. These can be found on the VDOT website here: https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/news-events/news.

• What can these residents do in this case? They say they’ve started a petition but is that the best point of action for a situation like this, and Does VDOT take concerns like this seriously?

While we are aware of and apologize for the temporary inconveniences roadwork can pose, ultimately, VDOT’s number one priority is safety, and we must continue to maintain and improve our heavily traveled roadways to ensure the safety of the traveling public.

VDOT values the input we receive from the community and strive to address concerns as best we can, while also adhering with federal and state regulations and requirements.

• Any possibility of a sound wall being built in the area, so residents aren’t distracted by the noise?

The installation of noise barriers is governed by federal regulations and corresponding state noise abatement policy and guidance. Noise barriers are only evaluated as part of qualifying, federally-funded “Type I” projects, which typically involve significant changes to roadway alignment, the addition of through lanes, or construction of roadways on new alignment. At this time, there are no qualifying “Type I” projects scheduled for construction in the vicinity of this neighborhood. A noise study was performed for a previous qualifying project in this location in the late 1980s prior to its construction; however, the Woodstock Woods neighborhood had not yet been permitted for constructed at that time and therefore was not eligible for noise abatement consideration.

Installation of a sound wall when there is no qualifying “Type I” project would constitute a “Type II” or retrofit project and the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s State Noise Abatement Policy does not provide for retrofit noise abatement action nor is there a funding mechanism in place that the agency can use to address these situations.

The agency strives to balance the technical aspects of our projects with the concerns of our citizens, following the same guidance across the state for all noise studies and sound wall installations with a commitment to objectivity, fairness, and consistency.

• How long will work in that area continue?

The current overnight maintenance work for concrete patching on I-64 in the Greenbrier/Indian River area is expected to conclude, aside from final pavement striping, within the next few weeks, weather permitting. Single-lane closures are being implemented on I-64 east and west, outside of the heavier daytime travel times, from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. to minimize traffic impacts.

For the section of roadway between the Providence Road overpass and Indian River Road, near the Woodstock Woods neighborhood, the work is predominantly complete except for final pavement striping that will be done at a later date in the near future.

• What is the work in this area for?

The current repair work involves concrete patching, which is necessary to maintain the integrity and safety of the roadway. This maintenance ensures a smoother driving surface and prolongs the life of the pavement.

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