When the Henday was being built, the province and private builders assured residents that noise would not be an issue. Now that it's obvious that noise is a significant issue, it's time for the province to do the ethical thing and build a noise barrier.
This site is dedicated to convincing the Alberta Provincial government and Edmonton City government to erect noise barriers along specific sections of the Anthony Henday Drive.
Anthony Henday Drive is a 6-lane highway built as little as 200 meters from adjacent housing that generates a significant amount of traffic noise. This noise affects thousands of residents and is having a significant impact on resident's health, property values, and quality of life.
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Please attend this meeting if you can - the Henday noise issue is on the agenda (see here for details). There will be some presentations on the issue by residents.
Meeting Summary, October 31, 2008
I would like to once again thank George, Bob, and Eva for organizing the meeting, and the staff of Menisa school for helping out on their own time.
We had over 400 people there, and Global news used the meeting as their lead-off story at 11 with some good shots of the frustration and anger that we're feeling.
As I was lying awake in bed this morning (after being woken up by the Henday noise, of course), I thought about the government responses at the meeting last night.
Judging by people's feedback, I get the feeling most people felt "talked at", rather than listened to. Though I was happy to have government representatives there to explain their position and to allow you to question them, I feel I may have let you down by not forcefully responding to some of their more contentious comments. I'll try to make up for it a little here.
Bottom line: there were at least 400 people in that gym, every one of them angry, upset, and frustrated by the noise. That says it all - the noise is a problem, and we don't need people that have only looked at a small data sample and flawed standard to tell an entire neighbourhood that it's all in our heads.
One of the main arguments I heard is that the government would have to change the noise standard to get anything done, and that would affect roads across the entire province. Baloney. All it takes is a little political will - Premier Stelmach or Mr. Hancock can say "build a noise berm for the Henday - we'll just take some petty cash out of our $20 billion capital project fund to cover the cost", and we're done. No major changes, nothing - just doing the ethical thing for residents.
Well, if they do that then we heard "it's not fair to give you a berm and nobody else - it should be the same for everyone". So if nothing changes everyone must suffer equally? All citizens should have the right to a healthy environment and good quality of life. If others are affected by noise like we are, then definitely something needs to be done for them too. If they're beside roads but not bothered by the noise, then they don't need a berm. This is really simple stuff, we don't need engineers to figure out the policy - they're just there to make sure the work gets done properly.
Here are some other comments that needed to be addressed, but weren't (and I'm paraphrasing here - these are not the exact comments, but this is how they came across):
• "Living beside 23rd avenue is comparable to living beside the Henday". Nope. Not even close. As a matter of fact, you can often hear the Henday from 23rd avenue, while you can't hear 23rd avenue more than a row or two of houses away.
• "The noise beside the Henday is no worse than most of the city". Not in my experience, and I've lived in almost every corner of the city and downtown. And seriously, if it were, we'd have the whole city up in arms. When will these experts and elected officials realize that, no matter what the engineering preconceptions are, the Henday noise is a huge problem.
• "The Henday is a provincial road and not under city jurisdiction". Stop passing the buck! The city has a responsibility to its citizens, regardless of who "owns" the road. The city needs to work with and/or force the province to live up to the city's standards.
• "The Alberta standard is very similar to many other jurisdictions in North America". So? It's also worse than a lot of others too. A lot of other jurisdictions allow smoking in the workplace and open alcohol in cars. Do we have to do that too? Do we need to sink to the lowest common standard, especially when we're talking about the health and well-being of residents? I don't think so.
• "Your property values have not really decreased. Your house is worth the same in relation to your neighbours". The problem is that I don't want to sell my house and buy my neighbour's. I'd want to buy a house somewhere away from the noise, and those property values have not decreased like ours. Therefore, I lose money if I want to move.
That's my rant for now, but I'm sure there are many I missed - feel free to add your own in the forum.
Our next steps are to continue with political pressure, but also look at alternative means to get what we need. A few of the people interviewed on Global said that they would "have to live with it" if the province did nothing. "Living with it" is not an option.
Thanks,
Mark