ODOT Meetings On Sound Barriers on I-71 Between Peal Road and West 47th Street

There will be two community meetings for neighborhood residents to comment.

 The first: Wednesday, July 22nd at 6:30 p.m.  at Applewood, 3518 W. 25th Street.

The second: Thursday, July 23. It will be on the Agenda of the BCCA meeting to be held at Brooklyn Memorial United Methodist Church, 2705 Archwood Ave. also at 6:30.

The Item to discuss:  Noise Barriers along I-71 in the Brooklyn Centre Neighborhood .  Here is whee they would be placed.
Northside of I-71 from W. 25th Street/Pearl Road going west to Denison overpass, and
Southside of I-71 from W. 25th Street/Pearl Road going west to Fulton Road and also from Westside of Denison (other side of overpass) to the first railroad crossing overpass by the small residential section containing W. 46th and W. 47th and Denmark Avenue.

Here is the email that Councilman Brian Cummins sent out earlier about these impending meetings.

Please spread the word…
See message below regarding ODOT funding for mitigation of noise issues for I-71.  The map  can be found  here..  OBCDC and ODOT will be doing outreach and mailers to the immediate areas and we’re asking civic associations and block clubs to help spread the word.  Meetings will be forthcoming.  If you have any question please let me know. 
So far I have attended one preliminary meeting.  In discussions over the years about noise walls, most people have stated they do not want them and a few want them very much.  It was brought up in the meeting with ODOT what other alternatives could there be?  If walls are not put up, other mitigation actions could be taken nut only 15% of the total allocated funding could be used.
Another big issue is that the access roads to the freeway between Fulton and Pearl Roads were initially part of the innerbelt plan and then dropped.  ODOT confirmed that lowering the access roads, is no longer in their plans.  I think most of the comments about not wanting the barriers is that homes (other than on Smith and portions of Riverside and Mapledale) are fairly far off the freeway and that the options of barriers could impact the tree lines that are currently in place.  One suggestion was to see if ODOT could put up nicer privacy fencing or something else other than a barrier wall of 12 – 14 feet.  There will be a lot to discuss in the up coming meetings.
We’ll be getting a lot more information and will share it when it comes.
Regards,
Brian.