More noise made about 23 Freeway sound walls
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Construction on the 23 Freeway is ahead of schedule and should be completed by the end of 2008 instead of the middle of 2009 as previously thought.

Public Works Director Mark Watkins made that announcement at the May 29 City Council meeting and said one of the seven bridges was finished and the others were being worked on. He also said all four miles of the sound walls have been completed.

Thousand Oaks resident Kathleen Doran was at odds with that statement. Not all of the sound walls needed to block freeway traffic noise from neighborhoods have been built, she said.

"I'd like to see more sound walls," Doran said.

Her home, along with about 50 or 60 others, sits away from the freeway but is a victim of what she called "a sound tunnel" created by an opening left between the other sound walls. It's destroying her neighborhood, she said.

Watkins had mentioned how he was hoping landscaping would soften the look of the sound wallsbut Doran expressed hope thamoney would be spent correcting

her neighborhood's sound problem before using it to beautify what's already been built.

She said some of the residents had purchased their own sound measuring equipment and disagree with Caltrans on whether onot they met the decibel level required to qualify for a sound wallCity staff was asked by the

council to check into Doran's concerns and help the neighborhood work with Caltrans.

Meanwhile, those who have sound walls and others who see them have been upset by graffitthat's staying up too long.

An agreement with Caltrans should make a difference in getting the graffiti off faster, Watkins said, and future landscaping should also help with the problemhe said.

Councilmember Dennis Gillette asked if police were working with Caltrans to discourage those putting graffiti on the walls. Watkins assured him thawas the case.