13 New Valley Sound Walls Part of Plan OKd by Panel

The California Transportation Commission has decided to fund a long-delayed list of sound wall projects as part of its next spending plan--a move that should result in 13 new sound walls in the San Fernando Valley area in coming years, officials said Friday.

Responding to a request by Gov. Gray Davis’ administration, the commission agreed to provide money to pay for a 10-year-old list of unfunded sound wall projects throughout California, now estimated to cost about $230 million. Of that, about $170 million would be funded as part of the transportation panel’s four-year capital outlay program, with the rest coming later.

At least $35.6 million would be used to fund sound walls in the Valley, three along the Golden State Freeway, seven along the Hollywood Freeway and three along the Glendale Freeway.

The commission is expected to approve that spending plan in March, but included the sound wall funding in its estimate at Thursday’s meeting, due in large part to a written plea by Maria Contreras-Sweet, California’s secretary of business, transportation and housing.

For the past three decades, California has built sound walls or other noise-reflecting devices around freeways, part of the larger effort to address negative environmental effects caused by construction. But many older freeways were built without any attempt to address sound pollution, creating a situation where some residential areas are protected from freeway noise by sound walls while others have no protection.

The state Legislature in the 1970s sought to address the disparity by creating the so-called Retrofit Soundwall Program, but never provided the money to build all of the structures.

Two local legislators, Assemblymen Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Scott Wildman (D-Los Angeles), sponsored legislation to pay for the sound walls last year. But it was vetoed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson, who said such projects should be financed by local governments.

Both were working to pass similar legislation again this year.