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- Traffic on the Katy Freeway feeder road at Campbell Road in Spring Valley Village
- Spring Valley Village City Hall. The city is preparing to open a new city hall next door.
- A wooded park sits next to Spring Valley Village City Hall, just a few blocks from the Katy Freeway.
- Noise wall in Spring Valley Village at Campbell Road
- A segment of noise wall near the Katy Freeway in Spring Valley Village.
- Spring Valley Village's mayor says noise walls only go so far to keep the community quiet.
Houston is a pretty noisy place, and that's confirmed by a new map from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The map shows much of that noise is along the city's freeways. It affects communities like Spring Valley Village, located on I-10 just west of the 610 Loop.
Spring Valley's City Hall is nestled behind a shady park and it looks like a place where you could find some peace and quiet. But just down the street, the traffic roars on the Katy Freeway all hours of the day and night.
The suburban community of 4,000 residents does have noise walls but Spring Valley Mayor Tom Ramsey says they only go so far.
"The sound wall does very well for the home next to it," explains Ramsey. "But the homes to the north and south of that wall, the receive very little benefit."
But Ramsey is hoping things get quieter, after TxDOT finishes a project to groove the pavement between Post Oak and Gessner. Those cuts in the pavement are designed to make the road smoother and the ride quieter.
"The tone of the tire going over the pavement is, I'll put it in the category of irritating," adds Ramsey. "So we're going to eliminate that irritating tone."
So how much does cost to get a little peace and quiet? The project runs about $12 million. The work should be finished this fall.
