Wednesday, May 3, 2017

2 Freeway: CalTrans Keeping Neighbors Awake

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 2, 2017, after midnight.  CalTrans lit up the entire neighborhood.  It's so bright, you can see the dry brush on the Red Car Property in the foreground.)  One neighbor said it was so bright, "I could've done shadow puppets."  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

It wasn't just bright, one Corralitas neighbor remarked, "It was annoyingly LOUD!!  The pounding!!"  

Sound walls would have only helped 6 of the eight houses on the south end of Corralitas.  If you are above the line of sight of the wall, as 90% of the neighborhood is, sound travels up and sound walls don't help.  However, this is cruel and unusual punishment for the 8 homes less than 50' from the southbound lanes of the 2 Freeway, particularly since last summer, when CalTrans cut down all the trees that previously blocked the view of the freeway.  

The least CalTrans could do is put up temporary sound baffling when there are homes within 100 feet of the freeway.  Additionally, give notice to neighbors within a 500 foot radius that bright and noisy work would be happening on specific days/nights.