What’s the hold-up with finishing the noise wall along Interstate 5 just south of the Northeast 92nd Street overpass? Lack of steel, it turns out.
“Construction on Wall 1-North is on hold while crews wait for delivery of steel and wall panels, which are expected to arrive in late February,” the state Department of Transportation says.
When the freeway was punched through in the 1960s, there was less traffic and the noise wasn’t so bad, the department says. Now, residents in Maple Leaf, Licton Springs and north Green Lake experience significant sound levels.
The goal is to cut traffic sounds by as much as half. When the wall is finished, it will look like the completed one on the west side of I-5.