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The fear of traffic noise and speeding cars crashing into the neighborhood has east Sacramento residents calling for barriers along their side of the freeway.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento residents living along Highway 50 in neighborhoods like Alhambra Triangle are calling for the construction of a sound wall to not only fight noise and air pollution, but to protect against cars potentially driving off the freeway.
The fight to get a freeway barrier in the area dates back to 2017, Newton Booth Neighborhood Association member Rory Hodgson told ABC10.
“There was a noise study done in 2017 and when I read the study, it had a check mark for our section of the wall to propose to be built,” Hodgson said. “Then I said ‘Wait a second, why isn’t our section built?'”
A Caltrans Noise Abatement Decision Report recommended a section of the freeway in Alhambra Triangle to receive sound walls. Construction for the barriers was estimated to cost $8.5 million, though they were not mandated to be constructed since no funding was available.
Hodgson noted sound walls and barriers were approved for funding and construction in the nearby neighborhood of Elmhurst, yet he and his neighbors are still advocating for their neighborhoods.
“We found out Caltrans wouldn’t fund the project through federal funding and so we would have to get local funding to construct the sound walls,” he said. “So, we decided to make our voices heard at the last (Sacramento Transportation Authority) meeting.”
‘A safety wall’
A dozen neighbors came out to the Sacramento Transportation Authority (STA) meeting Feb. 8 to call for local officials to find funding for the sound wall near Alhambra Triangle. Many residents noted the sound wall would serve purposes beyond blocking sound.
According to the California Air Resources Board, sound walls with vegetation help dispel pollution, too.
“It really needs to be called a safety wall,” homeowner Liz Blum told officials Thursday. “This is a huge safety issue since I’ve lived in the neighborhood. I can see the highway from my home, I witnessed at least three accidents.”
She and other neighbors mentioned trees along the unbarricaded parts of the freeway have been knocked down by car accidents and are now gone.
“At any moment a car could go flying. There’s no barrier from the highway to our neighborhood sidewalk,” Blum said.
The Newton Booth Neighborhood Association wanted to get the sound wall between Alhambra Boulevard and 34th Street built through the ongoing Highway 50 Multimodal Corridor Enhancement and Rehabilitation Project, but a Caltrans spokesperson said no local funding was available for the walls.
STA executive director Kevin Bewsey said Caltrans seems to be motivated to address the issue because of the overwhelming public advocacy.
Caltrans spokesperson Steve Nelson told ABC10 they met with the neighborhood association and now plan to add more trees, plus a 42-inch concrete barrier that would address some of the pollution and noise concerns.
“The Sacramento Transportation Authority (STA) reached out to Caltrans in January 2024 about the concerns raised by the Alhambra Triangle neighborhood. Caltrans is coordinating with STA to identify local funds for sound wall 5A,” Nelson said.
But Hodgson said his neighborhood deserves a full-size sound wall.
Councilmember and STA board chair Eric Guerra added he sympathizes with the Alhambra Triangle residents because folks he represented went through a similar challenge.
“I remember as a Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association member organizing with my neighborhood to [STA] and others to include the sound wall in Tahoe Park, partly because the East Sac sound wall got put up decades ago and none of the other side got in there,” Guerra said Thursday.