Posted on 03/06/2017 3:53:10 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
BROOKSVILLE (FOX 13) - Some neighbors in Hernando County have had it with the noise. They say all-night construction on I-75 is keeping them awake, even shaking their homes.
It's all related to a 6.5-mile, $95 million FDOT project that started last summer. Crews are currently widening Interstate 75 from four to six lanes, starting south of State Road 50 and finishing at the Hernando/Sumter County line.
Lauretta Clemons, who lives on Shadywood Lane in Brooksville, remembers her backyard 30 years ago.
"Beautiful," Clemons said. "Trees, ferns, flowers, birds and wild animals."
Now, the trees are gone and she and her neighbors are have a front row seat to the construction.
"I moved here from Fort Lauderdale and I thought this was God's country," said Doris Wendell. "Well, this isn't God's country now, with all this going on."
It's not just the sight that has neighbors losing actual sleep. It's the noise and vibration, sometimes from p.m. to a.m.
"You hear clanging and banging and booming and beep beep beep beep when they're backing up," Clemons said.
"It shakes the house when they're using the milling machines," said Hailey Maurey. "My son is in kindergarten, so it affects his schooling because he can't sleep at night. It's affecting our community here."
"The pounding was so bad, I thought someone was knocking on the wall of my house," said Cyndie Russano.
And then, they say, there's the dust.
"I have trouble breathing," Wendell said.
"The car could be washed every day and you could still write your name on it," Russano said.
FDOT spokesman John McShaffrey told FOX 13 that, when possible, crews work during the day. But if work requires lane closures, crews must work at night because there's less traffic and less likelihood of wrecks. He said heavy equipment drivers try to limit activities like backing up so alarms don't wake people up.
Why not build a noise barrier? FDOT says the noise level didn't warrant one. Neighbors disagree.
"We requested a wall and that wasn't built," Maurey said. "If you're doing to do it at night, put up a barrier so the residents in the community can sleep at night."
We checked to see if the noise violates any of Hernando County's noise ordinances. However, scheduled road construction by city, county and state agencies and authorized contractors is exempt.
While FDOT is sensitive to the noise issue, it says night work will continue. The entire project is expected to be completed in fall 2019.
all interstates should be privatized
the federal gas tax should be eliminated
I’m guessing; Florida?
Improving infrastructure is good - unless it inconveniences us.
The Interstates are actually one of the few things the Federal government does that is actually a listed responsibility in the Constitution. Article I, Section 8, Clause 7.
Even if you discount that, Eisenhower (who had the system started) pointed out that they are a military necessity for the defense of the US.
Have these people ever heard of ear plugs?
Too bad for anyone who decides to live near a freeway. I personally think that any road construction, anywhere, that restricts traffic in any way should be worked on 24/7 until it’s completed. I get tired of roads being torn up for months (even years) longer than they need to be.
Turn off the backup alarms and replace with a blinking light.
The kid will then be the star of the kindergarten.
Yes, Florida. North of Tampa. Pretty much a rural area.
You would then be paying state gas taxes. Public roads have been a state responsibility since the beginning of the Republic.
You cannot toll every road.
For the vast majority of those living near I75 the road was there first having been planned in the 50s, started in the 60s, and finished in the 70s. So quit your whining. Ditto for people who buy houses near an airport or trains or farms.
>>Improving infrastructure is good - unless it inconveniences us.
People are stupid and selfish that way.
Like the resident in the story who moved up from south Florida because Hernando was “God’s country” but it isn’t anymore. And why isn’t it God’s country anymore? Because lots of people moved there from south Florida and the NE US. Like Californians who move to the Rockies and then proceed to Californicate it because it doesn’t offer the “services” they had in CA.
>>all interstates should be privatized
You mean they should all be toll roads? Or would they use the internet model and just have giant “pop-up” trucks roaming the highways at 10 under the speed limit and they would periodically block all the lanes and force drivers to watch some commercials before being permitted to continue on their journey?
Well then she must remember that I-77 was there when she moved to Brooksville. Maybe she should have chosen a location that wasn't a couple of hundred feet from a major interstate.
Oops, make that I-75.
Rick? Is that you posting? Or one of your foreign buddies?
or shooting ranges.
“you can not toll every road”
correct - that is why only the interstates should be privatized
eliminate the federal gas tax
I wonder if any liberals have ever made the mental quantum leap that immigration to the US leads to increased population, which leads to increased demand on infrastructure (e.g. highways, meaning more highways, more traffic, or both) or pollution and stress on the environment?
Probably not, would be my guess. Either that, or the silence is their discomfort with cognitive dissonance.
Exactly. Interstates (and most roads) don’t pop-up overnight. They’re even on the books years before the first Caterpillar rolls out. A little research before buying makes a buyer look smarter, and saves a ton of headache down the...uh, uhm...road.
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