It is a beautiful Sunday morning and I am enjoying a look at the Globe when I came across one of those Massachusetts stories that make your head spin. The story involves a law suit by the Town of Lexington over noise levels created by the widening of Route 3 and a portion of Route 95 at the intersection of the two roadways. The crux of the suit involves the town's desire to have a sound barrier built along the sections bordering the town. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/13/sound_and_fury_over_a_barrier/
It is apparent that the writer did not visit the affected areas for her story because no where in the article did it mention that the entire length of the Southbound section of Route 3 adjacent to Lexington is buffered by a 300 acre pristine woodland.
State Highway had rejected the barrier request on the basis of the cost and few number of residents involved. On the surface it would appear the reasons were sound.
It is absurd to waste 6 millions dollars on a fence that will benefit but a few affluent residents of Lexington. I doubt that there are 30 homes directly involved in this decision, making this a $200,000 per home boondoggle.
It would be comforting to think that the legislature had the brains to reject this foolishness but some how I doubt it will happen when you consider Sen. Havern thinks the decision is a victory. Perhaps Lexington town officials would rethink this item if the cost of it was deducted from their local aid?
There are neighborhoods in our town and others that back up directly to Route 95 with out so much as a tree to block the noise yet the State DPW can put everybody else on the back burner to assuage the concerns of a few fat cats.
I wonder how far 6 million dollars might go in the education budgets of Lawrence, Fall River, New Bedford and Roxbury?
As ridiculous as spending 6 million dollars on a fence is, by caving into such a frivolous law suit the state DPW sets itself up for even more attempts at gaining ridiculous entitlements. The message is quite simple. By filing the lawsuit Lexington was able to put itself ahead of 48 other communities that have had long standing complaints regarding highway noise and guess what, they are just ecstatic about it! They ought to be embarrassed.
The simple solution to this problem is that sound barriers along state highways should be banned completely unless everyone who needs one gets one. Under the current system it is the squeaky affluent who get the grease.
