Lori Wisniewski says she and her neighbors hear the sound of cars zooming by from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed.
“The noise is horrendous, and it’s really bad in the summer when you have the windows open,” says Wisniewski.
Wisniewski has lived along U.S. 127 for more than 40 years.
She says she was excited when construction on the sound wall started back in April of 2016, but for the last year she’s been frustrated as work on the wall has been at a stand-still.
“We need it and we’re looking forward to it. They get all those posts up, and it ends,” says Wisniewski.
Officials with the Michigan Department of Transportation say a material shortage is to blame.
“We wanted a good quality product that met all of our specifications and that we had enough of that product that we could come out here on site and not have an interruption in service,” says Spokesperson for M-DOT, Kari Arend.
Arend says a sub-contractor was brought in to build about 1400 panels for the wall.
And while nobody expected the project to take this long, she says, it’s finally getting back on track.
“In approximately 10 days from now is when you’ll start seeing the big cranes back on site and those panels will actually start going in place,” says Arend.
Now that work is officials underway again, Arend says this time it won’t stop until the wall is complete and that should happen before the end of the year.
Crews have already put orange barrels up, taking away the auxiliary lane for drivers.
And while it’s been a long time coming, it’s been worth the wait for those who live nearby.
“We really care about the future of this neighborhood so we’re super excited for it to get finished,” says neighbor Courtney Reynolds.
Because of the delay of this project, officials with M-DOT say it will likely end up costing more than estimated at the start, but they won’t know the exact number on the price tag until the project is complete.
