DALLAS - With more than 100,000 cars and trucks traveling it everyday, TxDOT is testing two methods to reduce Interstate 30's noise level on surrounding neighborhoods in North Oak Cliff.
TxDOT is covering concrete with a noise-reducing asphalt on I-30 between Sylvan Avenue and Hampton Road - just west of the Dallas skyline.
It's also considering a product called Soundfighter. It's a synthetic material applied to freeway walls which absorbs traffic noise rather than deflecting it toward homes.
Soundfighter is already used at sites on the Barnett Shale.
Sara Reidy, a North Oak Cliff resident, is the catalyst behind this project. Using a $49 sound meter from Radio Shack, she measured the freeway noise over a 30 day period last summer and discovered higher decibel levels than TxDOT allowed.
Reidy then convinced the state to extend a short test of the asphalt farther down the freeway.
If it works in North Oak Cliff, it could protect other neighborhoods from similar freeway noise.
"This latest part that we're doing is a little over a mile," said Cynthia White, TxDOT spokeswoman. "I think all-in-all it's probably about two miles long and it's just under $600,000."
"I'm excited," Jillce Stevens, resident, said. "I'm hoping it works and it helps if anything. I know it can't get rid of everything but I really hope it works."
It is expensive and TxDOT is short on money.
Even if it reduces noise, it's uncertain how soon it could be applied anywhere else.
The state has not yet officially signed a contract with Soundfighter's product.
Once it's all installed by the end of the year, TxDOT will measure the decibel level to see how much noise is reduced by the special asphalt and Soundfighter.
Email: jwhitely@wfaa.com
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