Sounding off: A neighborhood’s plea to mute highway noise

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Your home is supposed to be your place of peace, but for residents in the Woodstock neighborhood in Virginia Beach, their homes have been everything but that, and they say it’s all thanks to Interstate 64.

“I’ve heard motorcycles racing down the highway at all hours of the night,” Driskill Court resident Sally Word said. “My fear is what happens when somebody pops over the highway.”

Driskill Court residents in the Woodstock neighborhood all share a similar story — they can’t deal with the noise any longer.

“For our safety and well-being, we should get that wall,” said resident Jeffrey Spears.

Spears has lived on this street for 30 years, but for a long time, he didn’t know where exactly to turn. That was, until Sally Word moved next door.

“It didn’t make sense that there wasn’t a wall here,” Word said.

She reached out to everyone you could think of.

“Initially, I reached out to VDOT and I got a lot of song and dance from them,” Word said.

VDOT’s response was that they had already done a noise study in the area in the 1980s before this neighborhood was even built.

“Then I reached out to the city,” Word said.

The city of Virginia Beach’s public information liaison sent 10 On Your Side this statement regarding the topic:

“This area is within the Virginia Department of Transportation’s right-of-way. VDOT is responsible for maintaining and improving the area.”

VDOT, in a statement, said that noise barrier installation has to correspond to federal and state regulations and guidance.

“The installation of noise barriers is governed by federal regulations and corresponding state noise abatement policy and guidance,” VDOT said. “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 construction 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.”

Residents weren’t pleased with VDOT’s response.

“Then I started reaching out to the state delegates office,” Word said.

Sally then got in touch with Del. Michael Feggans (D-Virginia Beach).

“One of the main things we are seeing, though, is that the road project was completed before the subdivision was created, and by policy, they are not able to come in and retrofit an area after a subdivision has been completed,” Feggans said. “Well, we can see that continuing, not just in Hampton Roads, but across the Commonwealth. Subdivisions are going to be built, you know, near highways, but we can’t just say, ‘Well, it was built after, there’s nothing we can do.’ So that’s what were going to be looking forward to next General Assembly Session is introducing legislation to take care of that.”

Feggans said he’s ready to explore other avenues, and it didn’t stop there. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine also got wind of the ongoing issue.

“There, either in the infrastructure bill which puts more dollars into the Commonwealth’s Transportation Board, or some of the congressionally-directed expenditures, infrastructure projects of that kind are eligible,” Kaine said. “As far as I know, there hasn’t been a funding request to our office that I had been made aware of.”

Over time the interstate has expanded, trees have been torn down, exposing these families — some of whom are disabled veterans suffering from PTSD — to possible danger. The issue affects drivers on I-64, also.

“If the boys are playing football and they throw a long ball too far, then it goes over the fence and into the highway,” said resident Andrika Ransom. “That could be catastrophic.”

Feggans said the next step would be drafting up the legislation — the start of a process 30 years in the making.

He expects to have the legislation drafted prior to the upcoming session that starts in January.

In the meantime, residents have put together a petition to put in noise barriers in their neighborhood.

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