WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderSubdivision pushes for sound abatement against noisy neighbor

Subdivision pushes for sound abatement against noisy neighbor

By Marissa Alter

WINNEBAGO COUNTY (WREX) - People in one Roscoe subdivision are fed up with all the noise. That's because I-90 butts up right against their neighborhood. Neighbors in Emerald Ridge tried to contact the Illinois Toll Highway Authority themselves to get some action and now turned to county and state leaders for help.

From this side, Emerald Ridge looks like a typical subdivision. But it doesn't exactly sound like one. Instead of kids playing, Belinda Lund and her neighbors hear this: traffic.

"Now when you have the semis use their Jake Brake, you can't even sit out on the deck."

Belinda moved in 12 years ago and says the noise wasn't a real problem then. But the state's decision to expand I-90 and push it closer to their homes changed everything.

"A lot of the noise resonates with this new construction project here for Northern Illinois. It totally affects our quality of living as well as the property values eventually too," adds resident BJ Lundsten.

He spearheads the neighborhood effort to get Illinois to put in some kind of noise buffering. Neighbors sent two petitions to the State Toll Highway Authority but nothing happened. Now they've contacted their elected leaders at the county and state level to push for some kind of action.

"They're not insisting on anything that would cost the state a lot of money. They understand there's not a lot of money to be had right now," explains Winnebago County Board Member Kyle Logan. "They're just looking for some kind of action to show the government does care that what they're doing with the highway construction does affect them."

Ideas include a berm with trees or a sound abatement wall. One was built on the other side of the highway which has Emerald Ridge residents even more frustrated.

"There's noise abatement walls to the south of us. It doesn't warrant where they're at."

At the last Winnebago County Board meeting, the group passed a resolution supporting sound abatement there. That was sent to the Illinois Toll Highway Authority.