BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) is asking for the public’s input as it finalizes plans to expand I-41 between De Pere and Appleton.
The plans include adding barriers along the highway to cut down on the traffic noise and the impact it has on residents along the route.
You can’t see I-41 from Dan Oudenhoven’s house just south of De Pere, but you can hear it. He said, “When it’s five o’clock in the morning, you know that people are going to work and you can hear the howl. And it’s constant. And the same thing at night when they’re going home.”
Madeline Bennett lives along the highway in Grand Chute.
“It was a lot when we moved in. We were like, ‘How are we ever going to sleep with that?’ Kind of got used to it,” she said. “But now we actually just had a baby so we’re like ‘Crap, hopefully it’s quiet enough so she can sleep at night.’ So it’s kind of just something we’re dreading. We don’t like that it’s there.”
Oudenhoven and Bennett are two of the close to 1,000 residents along I-41 between De Pere and Appleton to receive a letter from the DOT — asking if they’d be in favor, as part of the I-41 expansion project, of the installation of noise barriers to cut down on highway traffic sounds.
With the highway expanding from four to six lanes, the DOT anticipates the additional noise will be above what residents nearby should have to deal with while at home. The installation of the barriers, according to the DOT, would significantly reduce the disruption.
According to I-41 Corridor Project Manager Scott Ebel, “If you’re right behind that barrier, it’s going to feel as if that noise is cut in half from the noise that’s out there that people are hearing out there today.”
As part of the plan, the DOT has identified nine areas where it would install the barriers as part of the expansion project. To move forward with the plan, it needs at least 50% of residents impacted in the nine different areas to approve the measure — something DOT officials are confident will happen.
According to Ebel, “Within our Northeast region, we have not had a noise barrier that’s been voted down.”
Residents who received a ballot are on board too. “We already sent in the ballot saying that we are totally for it,” Bennett said.
Oudenhoven added, “We will not be able to see it, but we’ll be benefactors, so that’s what I’m looking for.”
The barriers, if approved, will go up in stages as part of the expansion project that will start next year. It’s expected to take four to five years to complete.
The DOT is holding a public meeting on the issue Tuesday, Jan. 23 from 5–8 p.m. at the D.J. Bordini Center at Fox Valley Technical College.
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