What's that noise?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009When John from the Ravenna neighborhood e-mails me at 2 a.m. saying pavement grinding work on I-5 in Seattle sounds like “airplanes landing in [his] neighbor’s backyard,” I decide to check out the noise myself. I don’t see any crash-landing Boeing jets, but it sure does sound like it.
To get a good idea of how loud it is, listen to this video with your headphones on. I shot this video at midnight 200 feet from I-5 near John’s house at NE 72nd Street.
The noise started back in February with screeching concrete saws ripping out crumbling concrete panels in the snow (photo, right).
18 comments:
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I was trying to find some information on the 15 being ripped apart in my backyard in San Diego, only to find this entry. To be honest it made both my wife and I laugh...I guess fixing the 15 is a mess everywhere it runs. At least the jet engine noise only lasts a couple of nights for you guys, they were blowing up an overpass the other night...talk about a lot of noise!
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Question about diamond grinding, is there a specific depth these machines grind down to or will they grind until the rutted areas are smooth? I ask this because I've noticed areas on SB I-5 near 145th where the diamond grinder has passed by but patches of the rutted areas still exist. Will I need to anticipate the return of the grinders to this area?
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I'm so glad to read this! So it's not the black helicopters coming to take us away after all! Whew!
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Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for your question.
We plan to grind between one-fourth of an inch and one-half of an inch on southbound I-5 near NE 145th Street. Last spring crews ground the right lane in this area. Later this summer we will return to finish grinding the remaining three lanes.
I-5 is one big grid of concrete panels. The amount of concrete we’re shaving off of each panel varies depending on how rutted the area is. Most of the panels are getting “buzzed” between a quarter-inch and an inch off the top.
August 10, 2009 10:56:00 AM PDT -
Hearing you loud and clear on top of Phinney Ridge, near the zoo. Well, the mystery is solved.
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Just before northbound I-5 merges with the express lanes at Northgate, there are signs warning motorcycles of the grooves in the roadway caused by the pavement grinding. I think the signs should warn all vehicles. The left most lane in particular immediately before the express lanes merge has uneven grooves (as if the grinding wheel lost some of its teeth) and the grooves meander from side to side a bit. There is also a half inch high edge in the right third of the lane where the grinding was not completed on this segment of the lane.
All of these deficiencies in the grinding process in this lane combine to make for one very wild ride while trying to maintain proper lane control. I have three different vehicles of varying size, wheel base/track, and tire size and all of them get thrown from side to side at this point in my commute. I wonder what this will be like when the surface is more slippery from water or ice. -
Wow! What a difference! The grinding was evidently completed on the segment of roadway that I described previously. It is actually a joy now to drive in the left most lane approaching Northgate on northbound I-5. Thank you to everyone involved in improving this roadway until it can be replaced. And my sympathy goes out to the neighborhoods that have to endure the nighttime noise caused by these machines.
As long as my wishes are being granted so seemingly easily (OK, I now realize it was planned to complete the grinding on the Northgate segment), all we have to do now is get studded tires banned in western Washington at least. I have been doing shift work at a hospital year round for twenty years and I have never failed to make it to work on front wheel drive with standard M+S tires with chains as back-up on very rare occasions. Studded tires ruin our roads at great expense with little benefit. The ruts on the segment of I-90 that passes through Spokane are ridiculously dangerous but that should be their choice, I guess. -
I agree with the last post, lets get rid of studded tires. This however should be done statewide, and we should stop people from entering the state if they have studs on as well. Just banning them from being sold in the state does not go far enough. The damage to I-90 in Spokane was not only done by Washington residents, but the large number of commuters from Idaho. The worst of I-90 ruts have been fixed this summer as best they could be; let’s not waste all that money by letting studs eat up the new asphalt and newly ground concrete.
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Thank you for letting us know what the noise was - we live about 5 blocks from I-5 at northgate. We came up with "a helicopter hovering constanlty for 5 hours maybe?" but knew that made no sense. I-5 construction was the only real answer - it is good to have it confirmed so that we don't fear the great black helicopter from the sky (as another poster commented)! Thanks for keeping us in the loop.
-Northgate Neighbors -
I've been hearing this from time to time, figured it was helicopters. Going strong now at 2:20 a.m. and we're at 3rd and Northwest 77th! It's pretty loud this far away.
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OK, nice to see the humor in your reports, but its pretty loud. I live three houses East of I5 right by the Lake City Way exit and the grinding has occurred for two consecutive nights, pretty much all night long. There was a brief pause around 3:00AM last night for an hour. Its unbelievable that this type of noise is allowable at night for that long of a duration.
Every window is shut and the noise drowns out a very loud television. -
this is a nice idea and to quiet the ride down but it to me isn't safe since the grinding lines ar parallel with the driving surface wich means u slide eazyer how do i know i locked my brakes on a sectiion that was ground like the story mentioned and slid very well un till i got to a unground section so people i would not advise these so call engeneers to hold your next ride safe they need to grind at horizontal to the driving surface or diagonal criscross pattern and most tires will follow the groove that are ground in which makes it some times dam nerveracking to have to really grab the wheel to stop from crashing let me know what u think tomcat1993@gmail.com
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Hi John,
We do have a noise permit to do the work. The permit allows crews to do pavement grinding at night for up to 100 nights. We realize it is noisy, but the work has to be done to fix the failing pavement. The area of I-5 near where you live is one of the roughest sections of pavement, and it requires more work than other areas.
We looked at ways to reduce construction-related noise. We considered placing shields around the grinders to soften the noise, but because pavement grinding crews move about 6-10 feet each minute it was impractical to keep setting and moving the shields. We also looked at attaching noise-deadening material to the grinding machines, but because of the high amount of friction generated it would create a fire hazard. Crews even tried using a mobile noise shield but found it didn’t measurably reduce the noise.
Crews will do their best to get in, grind and get out as quickly as possible. We apologize for any late-night noise and please let us know if you would like us to send you a free pair of construction-grade earplugs to help lessen the affects of our critical freeway improvement work.
Our crews will be off the highway this weekend, Friday night through Tuesday morning. Next week we'll be grinding on northbound I-5 from NE 92nd Street to NE 150th Street in Shoreline. Please see the I-5 construction schedule for more details: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/King/Construction/I-5Pavement_Const_Closures.htm. -
That has got to be the noise I'm hearing over on Latona, just off 50th St. Sounds like the Goodyear Blimp is hovering right outside our bedroom window throughout the night. We'll be happy when it is done. And we'll be happy to have a smoother I-5, too.
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Yay - just got woken up at 3am again. When will this be done? Maybe we could just retire roads when they reach this condition and then everyone could take the train? Oh, wait - there are no freakin trains.
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Regarding the I-5 pavement-grinding project, there is NO excuse for why the schedule for the I-5 pavement-grinding on the following webpage isn't being updated more frequently than it is:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/King/Construction/I-5Pavement_Const_Closures.htm
For example, the schedule states that:
Monday, Oct. 12 - the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 13 - Crews will close up to three southbound lanes of I-5 between NE 85th Street and Ravenna Boulevard from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
That, as I can attest to since I am being kept from SLEEPING, is NOT the area currently being worked on! I live at NE 58 St, and I can tell you that the construction is CLOSER than Ravenna Blvd!
This entire project has been mismanaged from the get-go; having been extended three months beyond the original date of completion helps to illustrate this. But AT THE VERY LEAST, that website ought to be updated more frequently.
There's NO excuse good enough to justify to me or anyone else why that isn't the case.
We poor citizens, who lost out to the commuters in the government's considerations regarding this project, who work during the day and are trying to sleep at night, DESERVE to be PROPERLY notified in regards to the construction schedule: this includes updates, changes, etc. Again, to beat a dead horse to death, there is just NO excuse for why this isn't being done properly.
To WSDOT: congratulations on a sloppy job done, and furiously yours,
Angry In Seattle -
Was this really necessary? The pavement seems plenty safe to me.
A bunch of seriously sleep deprived people driving around might be another matter. This constant noise is stressful and keeping everyone around here awake and grumpy.
Another reason to not salt the roads!! Or this will become a yearly deal.
