El Segundo May Install Barrier to Airport Noise

El Segundo will study the feasibility of installing a sound barrier along Imperial Highway to reduce the noise from Los Angeles International Airport, which has plagued the city for 30 years.

The Board of Airport Commissioners last week allocated $50,000, but no date for the start of the study has been set, said Don Harrison, assistant to the city manager.

The terrain along Imperial is hilly, and Harrison said the city believes that an earthen berm or a wall could effectively shield homes in lower-lying neighborhoods from the engine noise of aircraft on the ground.

“Barriers have been effective elsewhere in areas where homes do not sit above the barriers and where the airplanes are not in the air,” he said.

Robert Beard, LAX airport noise abatement officer, said a 20-foot-high berm and wall combination built several years ago north of the airport has cut noise from planes operating on the ground by up to 50% for the first two rows of homes near the wall. For homes beyond that point, he said the reduction is negligible.

Beard stressed that the reduction applies only to aircraft taxiing, landing or taking off. The berm and wall do not reduce noise from planes in the air, he said.

Harrison said the neighborhood most likely to benefit from a sound barrier is between Sepulveda Boulevard and Center Street in the vicinity of the Embassy Suites.

“At that point, the planes are on the ground,” he said. “This is the location where they land and do reverse thrust and the area where they are at full thrust taking off.”

He said that some homes on the west of Main Street at the west end of the city also might benefit.

The study will determine the most effective barriers, the best locations for them and the cost. Harrison said barriers could be either earthen berms or masonry walls.

Harrison said that the city has had airport noise problems since LAX expanded west of Sepulveda and began using jets. He said the noise seems worse at night, particularly from cargo operations using older, noisier aircraft.