PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — WPTV has heard from viewers about the noise along Florida's Turnpike west of Boca Raton.
It was an issue that came up at WPTV's recent Let's Hear It event held at the YMCA of South Palm Beach County.
WATCH BELOW: Noise from Florida's Turnpike has residents seeking solutions
Reporter Matt Sczesny went looking for answers as residents we spoke to push for a sound wall to be built.
WPTV spoke to Diane Weiner, Gail Carreras and Nancy Hermele, who live in the Whisper Walk community west of Boca Raton.
"You can't hear yourself think if you're outside," Carreras said.
Along the stretch of Turnpike that travels past Whisper Walk, there is no sound wall, and that doesn't sit right with those living there.
"We had requested a sound wall quite a while ago, and they came down," Weiner said. "They must have come in the middle of the night because they said we didn't need one."
Now the Turnpike is getting wider with an expansion of a fourth lane. There are plans for a sound wall but they said not until 2027.
"One of our concerns is if the wall is not up when they start the Turnpike construction, not only are we going to get more noise, we're going to get all the dirt," Weiner said.
In a video from the Florida Department of Transportation, the agency says this about sound walls:
"We conduct a noise study when we are building a new highway or making significant changes to an existing one such as the addition of a new traffic lane," FDOT says.
The video explained that FDOT studies decibels and costs in making a decision and construction noise is not part of the noise study, which makes it hard to whisper in Whisper Walk.
The concerned residents call the current situation "disgusting" and say "you can't even talk."
WPTV has been trying to reach FDOT about this situation. They're project online says that qualifying areas will get new sound walls.
We will keep following up on the situation especially as the expansion work begins.
