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[jeffandnicole]

Looking at the 95/395/495 Mixing bowl, I was taking note to the neighborhoods in the area.  Then I looked at a GSV and thought, couldn't Virginia have done a better job for the homeowners in the area?  Here's a GSV: https://goo.gl/maps/imabNdUW9672 .  These homeowners look out and see these gigantic 30' gray walls held up with steel I-beams.  Yeah, I understand their purpose, but there are so many other design choices that would have at least given the homeowners a more attractive view out their windows!

[Mapmikey]

Here is what that view looked like originally...


"Highway Safety, Design, and Operations - Freeway Signing and Geometrics" before the Special Subcommittee on the Federal Aid Highway Program in the House of Representatives, conducted 1969

[JoePCool14]

There's one in my local area, but not nearly as bad as the first example. At least here some greenery was provided, and the wall isn't quite grey either.
https://goo.gl/maps/khYqXap8xCo

[intelati49]

There's one in my local area, but not nearly as bad as the first example. At least here some greenery was provided, and the wall isn't quite grey either.
https://goo.gl/maps/khYqXap8xCo

Yeah, that one you can almost forget you're walled off. The original post is downright dystopian

[Max Rockatansky]

Had this barrier immediately east of my house when I lived in Scottsdale, AZ:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5293496,-111.8916728,3a,75y,192.6h,81.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5_wk6npbbDb8Wht611SYuA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en
Interestingly the barrier didn't really act as a barricade to AZ 101 but rather Pima Road and I believe it long existed before the freeway was built.  Most of the neighborhoods the Phoenix Metro Area in general have some sort of sound barriers next roadways.  At the least the style of the barriers is somewhat ornate but personally I would have preferred a view of the desert.

[SectorZ]

Looking at the 95/395/495 Mixing bowl, I was taking note to the neighborhoods in the area.  Then I looked at a GSV and thought, couldn't Virginia have done a better job for the homeowners in the area?  Here's a GSV: https://goo.gl/maps/imabNdUW9672 .  These homeowners look out and see these gigantic 30' gray walls held up with steel I-beams.  Yeah, I understand their purpose, but there are so many other design choices that would have at least given the homeowners a more attractive view out their windows!

Who knew that highway engineers took ideas from Attack on Titan.

[Beltway]

Looking at the 95/395/495 Mixing bowl, I was taking note to the neighborhoods in the area.  Then I looked at a GSV and thought, couldn't Virginia have done a better job for the homeowners in the area?  Here's a GSV: https://goo.gl/maps/imabNdUW9672 .  These homeowners look out and see these gigantic 30' gray walls held up with steel I-beams.  Yeah, I understand their purpose, but there are so many other design choices that would have at least given the homeowners a more attractive view out their windows!

Those 4 houses close to the wall were probably given the option of being bought out.   Some people decide they want to stay.  Future buyers know what they will be facing.

[Brandon]

I can name a few more.

Welcome to Gary, Indiana:
https://goo.gl/maps/1h2FGzQefnr
https://goo.gl/maps/8LaDNwvyhrz
https://goo.gl/maps/tRktSg7CYhy

Lansing, Illinois:
https://goo.gl/maps/nCUt8C6bcjr

Hazel Crest, Illinois:
https://goo.gl/maps/3sPpAu4NtiT2

Joliet, Illinois, what a way to exit your subdivision:
https://goo.gl/maps/gGopSyCHPWN2

Woodridge, Illinois, waiter, there's a tollway at the end of my block!:
https://goo.gl/maps/SH5JzyJt9fn

[skluth]

This is the GSV for part of Eichelberger St on the south side of St Louis. To the right are homes on Eichelberger. Homes to the left use Eichelberger as their alley as their homes face Schiller Place to the south which is why there are trash dumpsters and garages all along the street. My first house in STL was a block north of this on Walsh.

[7/8]

Some condos in Toronto are built right next to the Gardiner. Here's an example of one by Bathurst: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NcHZX. Imagine having the balcony that lines up with the traffic or the concrete structure.

[Kulerage]

My uncle's old house literally had an advertising billboard in its yard due to the construction of I-75. Plus, the trees didn't do a good job of covering the road.

[webny99]

Some condos in Toronto are built right next to the Gardiner. Here's an example of one by Bathurst: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NcHZX. Imagine having the balcony that lines up with the traffic or the concrete structure.

I think I would actually like that, but just for a few weeks or so, definitely not permanently.

[cabiness42]

Lansing, Illinois:
https://goo.gl/maps/nCUt8C6bcjr

I live about a half mile due east of that spot with essentially the exact same view.

[kphoger]

Some condos in Toronto are built right next to the Gardiner. Here's an example of one by Bathurst: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NcHZX. Imagine having the balcony that lines up with the traffic or the concrete structure.

I think I would actually like that, but just for a few weeks or so, definitely not permanently.

The opposite for me.  I'm sure I'd hate it at first, finding it hard to sleep at night and such.  But, eventually I'd get used to it.

For a brief 1½ months, while I was in between apartments in the Chicago area, I slept in the living room of some friends from work.  It was early summer, and the apartment had no a/c, so they left the front door open at night to let in whatever breeze there might be.  Well, the front door opened out to face the Union Pacific West railroad, and the front room was my sleeping space.  It was bad for a week or two but, by the time I moved out, the passing trains were already no bother to me.

[CtrlAltDel]

Here's another really close one. I-294 at Coolidge Avenue in Berkeley IL:

[1995hoo]

Some condos in Toronto are built right next to the Gardiner. Here's an example of one by Bathurst: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NcHZX. Imagine having the balcony that lines up with the traffic or the concrete structure.

I think I would actually like that, but just for a few weeks or so, definitely not permanently.

The opposite for me.  I'm sure I'd hate it at first, finding it hard to sleep at night and such.  But, eventually I'd get used to it.

For a brief 1½ months, while I was in between apartments in the Chicago area, I slept in the living room of some friends from work.  It was early summer, and the apartment had no a/c, so they left the front door open at night to let in whatever breeze there might be.  Well, the front door opened out to face the Union Pacific West railroad, and the front room was my sleeping space.  It was bad for a week or two but, by the time I moved out, the passing trains were already no bother to me.

I lived near an at-grade railroad crossing for three years during law school. (Map link here; the railroad crossing is across the Durham Freeway adjacent to the intersection of Anderson and Main Streets.) I agree with you about how you get used to the trains at night—at my apartment, you'd hear train whistles blowing regardless of the time of day or night, but within the first week I was able to sleep through them and now, over 20 years later, I can still sleep through almost anything. It was harder to ignore them during the day if I were on the phone or watching TV, though. (For the forum members younger than about age 25, there were no DVRs in the mid-1990s, thus no way to pause live TV.)

If I lived somewhere overlooking a busy highway, such as in the Toronto example noted above, I'd be less bothered by noise than I would be by headlights and the thought of what sort of air pollution I'd be breathing. (These weren't issues in Durham because there was a hedge bordering the property, then Erwin Road, and then the Durham Freeway was/is sunken.)

[kphoger]

Berkeley IL

Not exactly the epitome of a scenic town to begin with...

[CtrlAltDel]

Berkeley IL

Not exactly the epitome of a scenic town to begin with...

Ouch.

[kphoger]

Berkeley IL

Not exactly the epitome of a scenic town to begin with...

Ouch.

My opinion of the town may be influenced by the fact that most of my business there has been by way of either (a) the Metra station, which faces an intermodal freight yard under the Mannheim overpass, or (b) driving through the strip malls and apartment blocks along Saint Charles Road.

I did use to rent a room from a guy who briefly had a job in Berkeley.  He had been in prison for 18 years and couldn't hold down a regular job (not just for that reason), and he took one at a metal factory in Berkeley.  He told me they had him suspended over a vat of molten metal as part of his work duties.  He didn't last long at that job, couldn't take it.  But that's the kind of business that operates there.

[BrianP]

It's probably worse to not have a wall since then you have to deal with the noise.
https://goo.gl/maps/LU8JF99QFR42

[CtrlAltDel]

Berkeley IL

Not exactly the epitome of a scenic town to begin with...

Ouch.

My opinion of the town may be influenced by the fact that most of my business there has been by way of either (a) the Metra station, which faces an intermodal freight yard under the Mannheim overpass, or (b) driving through the strip malls and apartment blocks along Saint Charles Road.

I did use to rent a room from a guy who briefly had a job in Berkeley.  He had been in prison for 18 years and couldn't hold down a regular job (not just for that reason), and he took one at a metal factory in Berkeley.  He told me they had him suspended over a vat of molten metal as part of his work duties.  He didn't last long at that job, couldn't take it.  But that's the kind of business that operates there.

Fair enough. (Although it's the not the Berkeley Metra that's near Mannheim Road, but Bellwood.)

[kphoger]

(Although it's the not the Berkeley Metra that's near Mannheim Road, but Bellwood.)

Sorry, I was conflating the two in my mind.  It's possible, then, that I've never actually used the Berkeley Metra station.  If I have, it was only once.

[Ian]

It's probably worse to not have a wall since then you have to deal with the noise.
https://goo.gl/maps/LU8JF99QFR42

I had actually initially thought of this example when I read the thread's title. I'd much rather have a view of the huge sound wall than to hear the constant roar of traffic all day and night.

In similar vein, I thought of the houses along Gum Spring Road in Rosedale, Maryland (such was a stopping point at the 2010 Baltimore Road Meet). They not only have to constantly hear the sound of traffic at the busy I-95/I-695 junction, but also are forced to look out at the tangle of flyover ramps from their windows.

[sprjus4]

Looking at the 95/395/495 Mixing bowl, I was taking note to the neighborhoods in the area.  Then I looked at a GSV and thought, couldn't Virginia have done a better job for the homeowners in the area?  Here's a GSV: https://goo.gl/maps/imabNdUW9672 .  These homeowners look out and see these gigantic 30' gray walls held up with steel I-beams.  Yeah, I understand their purpose, but there are so many other design choices that would have at least given the homeowners a more attractive view out their windows!

Those 4 houses close to the wall were probably given the option of being bought out.   Some people decide they want to stay.  Future buyers know what they will be facing.

Good luck to those who want to sell the homes. If they're even lucky enough to sell, they'd be loosing a lot of money. Their home values must have plummeted. I couldn't think of a person who would want to purchase a property at that location.

[skluth]

Looking at the 95/395/495 Mixing bowl, I was taking note to the neighborhoods in the area.  Then I looked at a GSV and thought, couldn't Virginia have done a better job for the homeowners in the area?  Here's a GSV: https://goo.gl/maps/imabNdUW9672 .  These homeowners look out and see these gigantic 30' gray walls held up with steel I-beams.  Yeah, I understand their purpose, but there are so many other design choices that would have at least given the homeowners a more attractive view out their windows!

Those 4 houses close to the wall were probably given the option of being bought out.   Some people decide they want to stay.  Future buyers know what they will be facing.

Good luck to those who want to sell the homes. If they're even lucky enough to sell, they'd be loosing a lot of money. Their home values must have plummeted. I couldn't think of a person who would want to purchase a property at that location.

Unless they bought their home several decades ago, chances are it was already inexpensive for Springfield due to the traffic noise at that location. The area from the Beltway to the Springfield interchange has been a loud area for quite some time. They may even think it's better than before.