By Lea Kahn / Staff Writer
LAWRENCE — The on-again, off-again noise barrier along Interstate 95 in the Long Acres neighborhood is off again, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The DOT held a special public information session in October 2007 to announce that it was putting the finishing touches to the plan for the noise barrier before sending it out to bid. The estimated cost was $3.2 million.
But last week, DOT spokeswoman Erin Phallon said the agency is "re-evaluating" whether to move ahead with the project. The DOT funding for infrastructure projects is limited, she said, adding that the priorities are roadway and bridge projects.
"(The DOT) is determining whether this noise wall project would be the best use of limited resources," Ms. Phallon said of the Long Acres noise barrier.
The latest iteration of the noise barrier called for a 13-foot-tall wooden wall. It was slated to begin about 100 feet west of a culvert near the Rider University athletic fields on I-95 North, and extend about 2,700 feet east. It would have ended at the off-ramp to Route 206.
The news that the project has been put on hold was disappointing to Buz Donnelly, who lives on West Church Road in the Long Acres neighborhood and whose home abuts the highway. He has been one of the leaders in the fight for a noise barrier.
"(The noise barrier) should have been built in 1974," Mr. Donnelly said — the year that the highway was built. Most of the houses in the Long Acres neighborhood were built in the 1960s.
"It’s not just a ‘sound’ problem, it’s a sight problem," he said. "When the leaves are on the trees, we hear the cars and trucks. When the leaves are down, you hear them and see them. We just sit here and we can see every car and every truck that goes by."
The DOT resurfaced a portion of I-95 between Scotch Road in Ewing Township and Route 1 in Lawrence with a new type of asphalt, which reduced the noise made by cars — but not trucks, Mr. Donnelly said.
Looking down the road, he said, the DOT plans to widen I-95 and the Scudders Falls bridge across the Delaware River. Noise barriers are planned for sections of the highway in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Ewing Township — but not Lawrence, he added.
"This needs to be corrected," he said. "The noise barrier was supposed to have been built four times, and four times it fell through."
Residents in the Long Acres neighborhood have been pushing for the noise barrier since the late 1980s. Most of the single-family residences were built in the 1960s. Residents claim the noise from the six-lane highway, which was built in 1974, interferes with the enjoyment of their homes — especially those homes that border the highway.
The DOT has promised to build the noise barrier for years, but each time the plans fell through. The neighborhood was on the list for construction of a noise barrier in the early 1990s, but the list was scrapped when then-Gov. Jim Florio lost his re-election bid.
In 1999, the DOT said it would build a noise barrier if township officials would contribute toward the cost of that wall. Township officials were willing to pay for the municipality’s share of the project.
But in 2000, the DOT began to use federal money for the noise barriers. Along with the federal money, however, came changes in the regulations dealing with the barriers. The new regulations barred municipalities from contributing money toward the barriers.
In 2003, the DOT decided it would construct the Long Acres noise barrier in conjunction with a noise barrier in Hamilton Township. But the Long Acres project was dropped when it was determined that based on federal guidelines, it would not be cost effective. The Hamilton noise barrier shields 163 homes, but the Long Acres barrier would only shield about eight houses.
In 2005, state Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D-Lawrence.) and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton Borough) and Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman (D-Ewing) lobbied the DOT for the noise barrier. The agency changed its mind and decided to go ahead with plans for the Long Acres neighborhood project.
Mr. Donnelly said this week that the neighbors plan to contact Sen. Turner, Assemblyman Gusciora and Assesmblywoman Watson-Coleman again. There are plans to contact the Mercer County Board of Freeholders, also, he added.

