On earth the airports are very close to population centers. But going 500knots, it doesnt take very long for the plane to be well out of town. SO, why all this worry about quiet planes when we could just make it protocol to clear Mach 1.0 in certain places, yadda, yadda, yadda. It aint that far to out in the country, especially as the crow flys.
You can hear a sonic boom from a very long way off.
This pop science article is poorly written because it seems support the incorrect premise that a “boom” is created where the aircraft goes through (Is this what you mean by “clears”?) Mach 1, like popping a balloon at that spot. In fact shock waves are produced and pushed along the entire supersonic flight segment, and are experienced all along the route as a Boom as the shock waves arrives.
Not sure if that is what you meant because it was ambiguous.
If the boom were severe and all over fly-over (Trump) country, we don’t want it. It would be another case of a taking from the many (quality of life in the country) for the benefit of the few. The R&D here is to make the shock wave minimal along the route.