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TROY — The results of a long-awaited sound study by the Michigan Department of Transportation will be shared and public feedback will be gathered at an upcoming open house.
MDOT will host the open house at the Troy Community Center, located at 3179 Livernois Road, in rooms 302 and 303 at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 11.
“There will be presentations. There will be an open house format as well,” said Rob Morosi, a spokesperson for MDOT. “We will talk about the methodology of the noise study and the preliminary results. Those in attendance can ask questions. We encourage feedback on the process to make sure we didn’t overlook anything.”
The sound study was announced after a significant push from members of the Troy area community living near Interstate 75 near its intersection with Adams Road. Local residents said that after roadwork was completed on that stretch of the expressway, the noise coming from I-75 was unbearable.
“We got about 1,000 signatures that we sent to the city, to the state, to MDOT and so forth. A lot of people are affected by the noise since the construction on I-75 was completed near Adams Road. Now people to the south are affected too, since more of the expressway has completed more work,” said Gail Morrell, one of the Troy residents who started the petition. “We had some people on the committee we formed who were noise experts for the auto industry who completed their own noise studies, and they got back some very loud results in our area.”
Morosi said that the study is the result of a $300,000 grant awarded to MDOT from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to conduct a traffic noise study on I-75 between 13 Mile Road and Adams Road in Oakland County.
“$300,000 was appropriated from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to conduct additional traffic noise studies in the city of Troy. We did the study,” he said. “We have a draft report that we want to present to the public on the results.”
However, he stressed that the results had not been completed as of March 30, and they will not be formally released until the meeting. Thus, he added, no decisions on sound walls or other sound mitigation measures have been made yet.
“On April 11, when we have the meeting, there has not been a determination where or if any walls will be built,” said Morosi. “This is just to discuss the draft study. Nothing has been finalized yet.”
Morrell is uncertain about what MDOT will say at the open house; it’s her opinion that MDOT has not been forthcoming in the past.
“We’re not sure the sound study will be in our favor. MDOT hasn’t been great at communicating in the past, but we are hopeful,” she said. “The most concerning thing would be finding money to get noise barriers installed. We hope they stay in contact with us better than they have in the past.”
Morrell encouraged any Troy-area residents affected by the issue to attend the meeting and make their voices heard.
“We would like as many people who can attend to attend so we have a good number to show that there are a lot of people who are upset,” she remarked. “We’re still here. We’re still fighting even after several years of this. We just want to see some action taken. We haven’t given up.”
Morosi said that anyone who cannot attend the open house can still ask questions or send comments to MDOT for two weeks after it.
“If you cannot attend the event on April 11, a presentation will be available on the city of Troy’s website after the meeting. People can contact us after the fact to comment until April 25. We always take two weeks after a public meeting like this for comments.”
The Troy city website is www.troymi.gov. MDOT can be contacted by going to www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies and searching for the I-75 project noise study.
