State Expected To Pay $7M For Noise Barriers On I-894 In Greenfield

GREENFIELD, WI — Interstate 894 traffic roared in the background of a Greenfield neighborhood Friday afternoon as local and state elected leaders gathered nearby to announce $7 million in funding for new noise barriers along the highway.

Greenfield Mayor Michael Neiztke was joined by Republican State Rep. Bob Donovan and Republican State Sen. Julian Bradley plus a group of residents near Frontage Road and 49th Street to announce the anticipated plans from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

"For the better part of 20 years, probably longer, you folks have been waiting for sound barriers for this area," Donovan told the crowd which responded with applause. "You can see and hear how damaging the noise can be. I've talked to constituents, I've been in their yards, and they told me 'Bob, we can't even entertain in our backyards all summer long because of the noise.'"

Mayor Neitzke called the highway noise "an earful for a long time" and said it was a top issue for Greenfield, one of the state and county's biggest cities.

"I do want to say from the bottom of my heart—I think all of the alderpersons are here—we've all been working on this for well over 20 years, and when we talked to Bob when he went to Madison, we said 'this is really one of the most critical things you can do,'" said Neitzke.

The Wisconsin legislature adopted the funding on Tuesday, Donovan said, and barring an unexpected veto on the cash by Democrat Governor Evers, the installation of the barriers "may take a while." But in the meantime, officials said community meetings will be planned to keep people up to date as WisDOT engineers and implements the project.

The cash comes after city leaders in February adopted a resolution encouraging the state to install sound barriers. A summary of the resolution at the time said the city's growing population and businesses "are negatively impacted by loud noise caused by increasing high freeway traffic volumes."

See also: Noise Barriers On I-894 In Greenfield: Common Council Signals Support

Leaders didn't say where exactly the sound barriers are expected, but there are stretches of the east-west highway that traverses Greenfield residential neighborhoods with only a chain link fence to separate the two (including the area where officials met on Friday).

A resident who lives in one of those highway-adjacent neighborhoods, Rick Hansen, told Patch that traffic has gotten heavier and worse in the forty years he's lived there.

"I've been looking to move but I don't want to, it's really starting to bother me, you hate to open up the windows," Hansen said.

For Hansen, the barriers have been years in the making. He said he was disappointed when years ago he was told the downward slope of the road wouldn't allow barriers.

But "anything is better than nothing," Hansen said.

Another resident, who did not want to be named, signaled favor for reducing the noise, but not necessarily if construction would cut into people's yards or remove trees. Mayor Neitzke later told Patch he doesn't expect any new construction to go past the highway's right of way or the existing fence.