Freeway construction noise - Los Angeles Times
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Freeway construction noise

A sound wall is demolished on Sepulveda Boulevard, south of Sunset. For 2 1/2 years, residents of Westwood Hills have lived with the noise and shaking and lights from construction through the Sepulveda Pass. Much of the heaviest and loudest lifting is done at night, with the result that homeowners have had construction roar coming at them with the intensity of a diesel truck moving at 50 miles an hour 50 feet away. According to Caltrans, the noise of that diesel truck is equivalent to 86 decibels, the loudest level allowed at night under an agreement with homeowners.

A sound wall is demolished on Sepulveda Boulevard, south of Sunset. For 2 1/2 years, residents of Westwood Hills have lived with the noise and shaking and lights from construction through the Sepulveda Pass. Much of the heaviest and loudest lifting is done at night, with the result that homeowners have had construction roar coming at them with the intensity of a diesel truck moving at 50 miles an hour 50 feet away. According to Caltrans, the noise of that diesel truck is equivalent to 86 decibels, the loudest level allowed at night under an agreement with homeowners.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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Neighbors near ground zero of the massive 405 construction project have dealt for 2 1/2 years with shaking walls, pounding noises and the ever-present beep-beep-beep of trucks backing up. Read Martha Grove’s article: The 405’s nocturnal racket of progress

Noise for neighbors

Kim Sandifer watches the demolition of the sound wall. Her family and their neighbors have complained to Caltrans and Metro about the early morning booming, the shaking, the lights than make midnight seem like noon.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Shift change

The day shift calls it quits. But work will start again late at night and continue through the early hours of the morning on the massive 405 project. For homeowners of the hilly residential pocket just east of Sepulveda Boulevard between Montana Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, the construction promises to drag on for months to come.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

On Sepulveda Boulevard

Kim Sandifer stands behind her home, which peeks over a cinder block wall along Sepulveda Boulevard, where construction noise and vibrations from work on the 405 Freeway are a problem for her family and neighbors in Westwood Hills. “We can¿t move ¿ we couldn¿t refinance if we wanted to,¿ says Sandifer. ¿We are stuck.¿  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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The 405's backyard

A construction worker walks through the backyard of a home that Caltrans bought in Westwood Hills. Part of the property would have to be destroyed to build a retaining wall as part of the 405 construction project. Project director Mike Barbour of Metro said he wished that transportation agencies had seized the Westwood Hills properties. ¿I don¿t think your first inclination is to buy out properties or homes,¿ he said. ¿Looking back, it might have helped.¿  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Freeway construction

A construction worker walks up a flight of stairs next to a new retaining wall and sound barrier behind homes along Sepulveda Boulevard in Westood Hills.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Overlooking the 405

A construction worker looks over the 405 freeway during the building of a new wall along Sepulveda Boulevard. Metro offers an online hot line for residents’ complaints, with the promise of a response within 24 hours.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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