ANAHEIM : Freeway Sound Wall Will Be Temporary
Confronted by about 30 Anaheim residents who demanded a much-delayed sound wall along the Riverside Freeway, the Orange County Transportation Commission on Monday voted to spend $550,000 for a temporary structure.
“It’s better than nothing,” said Bob Lowe, whose home is 150 feet from the freeway. “We want something as soon as possible.”
Work on the sound wall, which will extend from Placentia Avenue to Sunkist Street, is to begin July 1.
A wall was scheduled for construction this year, but voter approval of Measure M in November provided money for a long-delayed freeway interchange and widening effort that should occur first, officials said.
The compromise approved Monday pleased the angry homeowners and flew in the face of a staff report that warned against building the temporary sound wall. The staff argued that the wall will have to come down to make way for a freeway interchange project, with a more costly, permanent wall to be built on rights of way not yet purchased.
Also, the staff argued that the temporary wall, unlike the $1.1-million permanent structure, would be ineligible for state and federal funding.
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