East Torresdale wants
more peace and quiet

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

If a noisy semi truck passes and residents on one side of Interstate 95 can’t hear it, will its sound still annoy the folks living on the other side of the highway?
That’s the question the East Torresdale Civic Association had to ponder at its June 9 general membership meeting when consultants for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation provided details of the agency’s plan to erect a sound barrier along a 1,600-foot stretch of southbound I-95 between Grant Avenue and Convent Lane.
According to Michael J. Girman, a project supervisor for the contracted engineering firm DMJM Harris, the $1.9 million barrier project is being funded by a grant from the state legislature and is in the design phase.
As in previous monthly meetings of the ETCA, some residents voiced support for sound barriers, yet several worried that the proposed configuration would actually worsen highway noise in some sections of the neighborhood due to a possible echo effect.
Hundreds of residences line both sides of the highway corridor, which also includes Amtrak and commuter railroads.
Because of that concern, members of the civic group voted unanimously in May to support the construction of sound barriers on both sides of the highway or no barriers at all.
Last week, Girman said that state Sen. Mike Stack secured the funding for the proposed barrier and recommended its location.
“We didn’t decide where to build,” said Girman, a former PennDOT employee.
Initially, the barrier was to extend farther south to Linden Avenue, but the longer wall would have exceeded the allocated funding.
“It comes down to the ability to find funding and to get as much wall as you can out of it,” Girman said.
The project official explained that PennDOT does not fund the construction or retrofitting of sound barriers on pre-existing highways. The department only pays for the walls on new or newly widened roads.
However, the state legislature allocates a limited amount of money for retrofit projects each fiscal year. This year, Stack’s district was one of just three statewide to receive funding for such a project, Girman said.
Residents on both sides of the interstate have complained for years about the noise generated by tens of thousands of vehicles that traverse the highway each day.
Robert C. Kolmansberger, an air quality and acoustical specialist for the McCormick Taylor engineering firm, reported at the meeting that residential areas experiencing decibel levels of at least 60 are generally considered candidates for highway sound barriers.
The homes on the southbound side of I-95 between Grant Avenue and Convent Lane recently were measured at about 70 decibels, Kolmansberger said. There are about two dozen single homes in that section, which border’s the city’s Fluehr Park at Eden Hall.
Meanwhile, the northbound side of the same stretch of highway features a condominium complex. The row of residences closest to the highway has decibel levels in the 60 range. The measurement drops to the mid-50s for the second row of condos, Kolmansberger said.
The complex is home to hundreds of households. Kolmansberger theorized that the first row of condos acts as a noise buffer for the rest of the complex, although passing trains and the residents’ own air conditioning units contribute to the din.
The sound expert refuted claims that a barrier on the southbound side would echo noise back across the highway and raise the volume on the northbound side.
“Reflective” noise travels generally 100 feet or less, Kolmansberger said. In this case, PennDOT plans to install an “absorbative” barrier designed to further reduce echo. Even if sound did manage to echo across the highway, he continued, noise on the northbound side wouldn’t increase by more than three decibels. Such an increase wouldn’t be noticeable to the human ear, he said.
“This wall is not your problem, but you need some relief from the problem on the (northbound) side,” Kolmansberger said.
Girman noted that any northbound sound barrier would have to be built on PennDOT’s right of way, so it could not protect residents from railroad noise.
In addition to the northbound residents, there are dozens of single homes on the southbound side of the highway between Convent Lane and Linden Avenue that would not benefit from the proposed sound barrier configuration.
ETCA member Mark Morrison thinks that the state could use the available taxpayer dollars more effectively.
“For where it’s being built and the amount of houses it’s covering, I don’t think it’s right,” Morrison said.
Reached after the meeting, Stack said that he and House Speaker Dennis O’Brien both worked in Harrisburg to obtain the funding for the project and that the configuration of the barrier was chosen based on a history of noise complaints from neighbors there.
“The folks from Eden Hall have asked for over ten years, like fourteen years. I’ve tried to get the folks from PennDOT to focus on that area. A lot of times, it’s whoever is first in line, what’s needed and how effective the legislators (for the area) are.”
The lawmakers initially sought funding for a larger project, according to the senator.
“We’d like to go farther down,” Stack said, “but with the tight budget, we were fortunate to get the Eden Hall area. We’d like it eventually to go down to Convent if they can.
Project engineers assured Stack that a barrier on the southbound side of the highway would not cause reflective noise on the northbound side, the senator said.
“The engineering process is going to make sure (northbound side residents) get less sound as well,” Stack said.
In other civic association business, members voted unanimously with one abstention to send a letter to the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections and the Zoning Board of Adjustment asking for a review of several recent improvements or changes made at Maggie’s Waterfront Café, Delaware Avenue and Arendel Street.
At the ETCA’s May meeting, the proprietors of the bar/restaurant asked the civic group for its support on an expansion plan. The project would add an outdoor dining area and alcoholic beverage sales. Neighbors largely opposed the idea, citing concerns of noise and disorderly behavior by patrons.
ETCA officers said last week that the proprietors withdrew their plan in the face of local opposition but have since notified civic leaders of their intention to install a 6-foot fence around the perimeter of the property.
Neighbors want to know if the business has complied with the city code on a recently built front patio and on its alleged use of an adjacent residential lot for parking.
The next ETCA meeting will be on Monday, July 14, at 7 p.m., at Liberty Evangelical Free Church, Linden Avenue and Milnor Street. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com