DOT: Wall wouldn’t be effective due to ‘cuts’ for roads

The peace and tranquility of one of Peachtree City’s oldest neighborhoods has been wiped out by the sound of tractor trailers and trains due to the widening of Ga. Highway 74.

Residents in the Clover Reach subdivision, particularly those who live near the intersection of Kelly Drive and McIntosh Trail, are wondering why a sound wall isn’t being installed to protect them. Those residents lost a significant stand of trees along the highway that previously shielded them from the noise.

Neighborhoods to the south are getting the sound walls, and so are those to the north. Meanwhile the homes in Clover Reach, some 36 years old, are not going to be protected.

A Georgia Department of Transportation spokesman told The Citizen Wednesday that the area didn’t qualify for a sound wall because of multiple cuts in the wall for roads that would have reduced the wall’s effectiveness in muffling the sound. The sound walls cost about $15 a square foot and are paid for with federal funds, so they come with stringent guidelines about where they can and can’t be used, the spokesman said.

Residents closest to the Kelly/McIntosh intersection in particular are bemoaning their lost peace and quiet. The cul de sac at the end of Charter Oak Court has borne the brunt of the sound, having lost a significant stand of trees that previously helped direct noise elsewhere.

Neighbor Marsha Derose said the noise from trains traveling on the other side of Hwy. 74 has gotten much louder, and tractor trailers also make quite a stir.

“And the fire trucks, I know they’re very necessary and I don’t mind them. But it’s loud,” Derose said.

Todd Allen, a police officer who lives in Clover Reach and works the night shift, said the noise from the highway can interrupt his sleep.

“The question is, why are we the only ones who don’t have a wall,” Allen asked.

A neighbor’s initial complaint to the Georgia Department of Transportation netted a reply that the agency wouldn’t be able to add a sound wall to protect Clover Reach because construction is already underway. The letter said sound tests that were conducted before construction began to determine the appropriate locations for the sound wall.

“If they weren’t going to put up a sound wall, they should have left us our trees,” Derose said.

Inna Satunovsky, who teaches piano lessons, said she used to keep her doors open during lessons when the weather was nice. Music wafted from her home on those days, and neighbors said they appreciated it.

But now, thanks to the noise from the highway infiltrating her home, Satunovsky has to keep her doors shut and the music indoors.

Satunovsky said a DOT representative suggested she plan cypress trees to help protect her yard from the sound. But the roadway is high above the Clover Reach homes and it might be impossible for the trees to grow that large over their lifetime, Satunovsky said.

A petition seeking sound walls for Clover Reach has already gotten 16 signatures even though it hasn’t been circulated through the entire neighborhood. Clover Reach neighbors sought support from the Peachtree City Council Thursday night and they are continuing to explore possibilities that might lead to having a protective barrier in hopes of restoring some of the neighborhood’s tranquility.

As Derose put it, she wants children playing the cul de sac “to hear you without shouting.”

Tom Carty, who has lived in the neighborhood for 36 years, said it could be that the overhead power lines off the highway would make construction of a sound wall more difficult. He hopes the DOT can be convinced to built the wall anyway, perhaps with Clover Reach neighbors allowing DOT crews to access the area through their yards so the wall can be built.