FARMINGTON -- The Great Sound Wall Debate here has finally ended in a compromise.
After months of butting heads with Farmington residents who live near an increasingly noisy I-15, the City Council unanimously endorsed a sound mitigation plan Tuesday that will permit construction of a 2,800-foot-long combination earthen berm and minisound wall.Council members have been opposed to construction of the 17-foot concrete sound walls typically built along I-15 by the Utah Department of Transportation, contending they are unsightly and unnecessary.
The compromise plan provides for a 4-foot sound wall atop an earthen berm that will vary from 10 to 11 feet in height depending on the topography -- creating a sound barrier that will average 14 to 15 feet high.
UDOT will fund construction of the barrier, which will cost nearly $500,000, as part of its project to widen I-15 between Farmington and Bountiful. The work is scheduled for completion by August.
The barrier will be placed between the freeway and eastern frontage road from Glover Lane to South Farmington Park, just north of Centerville's city limits. A similar design will be used farther to the north where private developers will build a sound barrier along I-15 with UDOT financial assistance.
UDOT engineer Byron Parker, who heads the agency's Legacy Highway/I-15 North project team, said the compromise plan will achieve the minimum 5-decibel sound reduction required to obtain federal funding for sound mitigation.
Farmington residents who live along I-15 had been hoping for an 8-decibel reduction, which would have required a sound wall at least 2 feet higher than the council's preferred alternative.
But Parker said the berm and miniwall combination "is a solution everybody is comfortable with" and one that will not have to be upgraded over the next 15 to 20 years as I-15 is reconstructed to further increase its traffic-carrying capacity.
Councilman David Conner called the design of the combination berm and miniwall sound barrier "a tremendous example of how the system can work" and said the compromise is "the best possible point that represents an accommodation to both sides."
Farmington voters rejected a ballot initiative Nov. 2 that would have compelled the council to install some type of 17-foot sound wall.
Dustin Lance, one of several residents who led the initiative campaign, said he is disappointed UDOT did not follow federal recommendations calling for mitigation measures that would achieve the greatest amount of sound reduction possible.
But Parker said the transportation agency's policy is to "get a 5-decibel reduction at least" and leave the decision of further reductions up to local government officials.