Erecting a higher wall
Residents have complained about bridge noise since it opened in 2009
It looked like fear in the eyes of the West Coast Spray Foam frog, which appeared to be scrambling up the wall of the building in the Hammond industrial park last week, while an excavator cleared way for the new, higher sound wall along the on- and off-ramp to Golden Ears Bridge.
Photograph by: Troy Landreville , TIMES
TransLink is being a “good neighbour” by building a sound barrier that’s one and a half metres higher than the original one of the north side of the Golden Ears Bridge.
While the original wall was built to specification, complaints from the community have prompted the transit authority that built the bridge to build a higher wall and plant trees to buffer the sound of traffic from the bridge.
“Being a good neighbour, we’re constructing a wall that’s higher,” said Derek Zabel, TransLink spokesperson.
The new wall is about 750 metres in length and will be 4.5 metres high.
It will cost $817,000 to build and should be done by late May, Zabel said.
Wildwood Crescent resident Leslie Colquhoun said she’s happy TransLink is doing something but felt the wall could have been longer.
“I think this will mitigate some of [the noise],” she said.
Colquhoun’s big complaint, however, has been the drainage problems she claims have resulted from the bridge construction. She said the standing water is causing trees to die behind her house.
The money for the new sound barrier is already allocated to the bridge and doesn’t require any new funds, Zabel added.
It looked like fear in the eyes of the West Coast Spray Foam frog, which appeared to be scrambling up the wall of the building in the Hammond industrial park last week, while an excavator cleared way for the new, higher sound wall along the on- and off-ramp to Golden Ears Bridge.
Photograph by: Troy Landreville , TIMES
