NEW NOISE-LEVEL READINGS TO BE TAKEN IN CARSON

Caltrans will take new noise-level readings in a Carson neighborhood where residents say they deserve a freeway sound wall.

“We’ve agreed to come back and take some additional sound readings,” said Don Watson, Los Angeles regional director of the state Department of Transportation, after a meeting with residents last week.

“We want to satisfy the residents. We think our readings are valid, but we’ll recalculate and if the noise levels turn out to be higher, we’ll make a change,” Watson said. “But I’d be surprised if there’s a dramatic change.”

Residents in the neighborhood along the San Diego Freeway between Carson and Alameda streets have said that Caltrans’ reading of the noise level in their area--a maximum of 72 decibels over a 15-minute period--is inaccurate.

They hope that a higher reading will raise their position on a state priority list for receiving a sound wall. The area ranks 204th on the 235-site list, which means the neighborhood would not get a wall for 10 to 15 years.

Warren Kimball, a retired aerospace engineer who has led the residents’ campaign, said he took his own tests with a hand-held decibel meter and got readings as high as 84 decibels on March 19 at 5:50 p.m. On another occasion, he said, the noise level reached 90 decibels.

Caltrans does not consider his readings to be official. A decibel reading of at least 67--the level equal to that of a portable vacuum cleaner--is required to get on the list.

Other factors that influence an area’s ranking on the list include population and whether the neighborhood was established before the freeway was built.

“Many homes on 221st Place and adjoining streets were built in 1948. The 405 (San Diego Freeway) was opened to traffic in the early 1960s. If the department was proceeding as directed, why are we so low on the priority list?” he asked.

In response, Caltrans officials said the ranking would be affected only if a majority of residents in a neighborhood awaiting a sound wall lived there before the freeway construction.

Kimball said that requirement is unfair and discriminatory. “It implies that the original tenants should have boarded up their homes and walked away. That’s not reasonable; this area is zoned for residential property. People have the right to enjoy their homes.”

Watson told the residents that Carson could build a sound wall with city funds and be reimbursed, without interest, when the neighborhood’s turn for a sound wall comes under its current ranking. The 4,000-foot-long wall that Kimball’s neighborhood would need would cost about $800,000, the city estimates.

The meeting was arranged by Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena).