HD93 - Feasibility of Providing Noise Abatement at the Intersection of I-66 and I-495 and Along I-66 from I-495 to the Fairfax County Parkway

  • Published: 1994
  • Author: Department of Transportation
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 576 (Regular Session, 1993)

Executive Summary:
House Joint Resolution 576 (HJR 576) requested the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to study the desirability and feasibility of providing noise abatement at the intersection of I-66 and I-495 and along I-66 from I-495 to the Fairfax County Parkway. Sound barriers have previously been provided at many of the noise-sensitive locations along the study corridor. However, there still remain 11 residential areas and a proposed park that experience traffic noise impacts from I-66 and the I-66/I-495 interchange.

Noise levels will reach the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) impact criteria at each of these 12 locations and effective sound barriers can be constructed to eliminate all of the impacts. Public input received previously at public hearings and other public meetings and in written correspondence indicate that the affected residents desire noise protection.

Because VDOT does not have a retrofit noise abatement program, barriers to protect these noise-sensitive areas can be provided only in conjunction with qualifying highway construction projects or when funded by a third party. A retrofit program would involve the installation of noise abatement features along existing highways in the absence of qualifying projects. In the I-66/I-495 study area, qualifying projects would significantly change the roadway alignment or would increase the number of through-traffic lanes. The only such projects in the study area included in VDOT's current Six-Year Improvement Program involve the widening of I-495. A sound barrier that would protect one of the unprotected areas in the study corridor is likely to be constructed in conjunction with the Beltway widening and should not be included in a third party funding abatement package. It is also not recommended that a barrier to protect the proposed park be included in an abatement package for the study area. Constructing this barrier is not considered reasonable due to the nature of the activity in the park and the excessive cost required to protect it.

The estimated cost of a package to protect the other 10 impacted areas is $2,722,000 for barrier materials and installation only and $3,787,550 for all costs related to barrier construction.

It is possible to establish a retrofit noise abatement program. However, such a program would have to be applied statewide at a cost of $500 million to $750 million.