New I-95 Noise Barriers: Closer, Taller and Improved

After a year of construction on Interstate 95, traffic safety should improve at Darien Exits 11, 12 and 13: a mixed blessing for homeowners whose northerly view is of 12-to-26-foot-high noise barriers.

The $15 million state Department of Transportation project includes construction of a fourth "speed change" lane at the three interchanges to ease traffic flow.

CDOT is also replacing existing horizontal beam noise barriers with state-of-the-art acoustic barriers on the southern, residential side of the highway to muffle the relentless hum, drone and rumble of the estimated 150,000 cars and trucks that pass by daily.

But on the other side of the beige-colored noise-barrier wall, the project has brought the busy highway 14 feet closer to property owners (no property acquisitions were required because the CDOT already owned the right-of-way).

When the new barrier wall went up recently, just yards away from her home atop a knoll on Warner Drive, it brought a huge relief to Kelly Pensiero.

"With the old barrier, we could see the tops of trucks from our house as they rolled by," said Pensiero. "Then we lived for a year with it down."

Along with the incessant loud buzz, Pensiero related, was the unnerving view of fast-moving, truck-dense traffic as she stepped out her front door.

To Pensiero, whose husband Victor is the Assistant Fire Chief at the Darien Fire Department, the new barrier, while 14 feet closer to their property, is an improvement. Now trucks are not visible, and the sound is diminished—albeit not dramatically, Pensiero said.

According to Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the CDOT, the new noise barriers utilize an acoustically-engineered composite material of fiber-filled concrete that absorbs sound.

He said CDOT is building speed change lanes "where interchanges are closely spaced, in order to provide an additional length for the acceleration and deceleration of vehicles entering or exiting the highway."

The speed-lane construction includes:

• An 1,800-foot lane at I-95 north, from the Exit 11 on-ramp to the Exit 12 off-ramp
• A 1,500-foot lane at I-95 south, from the Exit 12 on-ramp to the Exit 11 off-ramp
• A 1300-foot lane at I-95 north, from the Exit 13 on-ramp to the Exit 13 off-ramp

The Federal Highway Administration is funding 80 percent of the project, and the state is funding the remaining 20 percent.

Late-night lane closings which occurred over the summer are over, and while the project is running a little behind schedule, it should be completed by November, said Nursick.