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‘Nightmare’ near 18th Street

Residents of 5 Burton Ridge area homes say I-205 interchange project has increased noise, mud woes

By Marissa Harshman, Columbian Health Reporter

Published: January 27, 2016, 6:01am

5 Photos

Steven Hoard of Vancouver looks up at the hillside between his backyard and the southbound lanes of Interstate 205. The hillside used to be full of trees, bushes and other brush that muffled the freeway sounds and stabilized the slope, but the state cleared the area to make way for interchange improvements. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

Efforts to ease congestion on Interstate 205 and its busy Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard exits might be cheered by commuters, but for some in the neighborhoods surrounding the construction area, the project has brought nothing but headaches.

And they doubt their pain will be relieved once construction of the new Northeast 18th Street partial interchange is complete.

“We’ve had nothing but a nightmare,” said Lynn Toops, co-chair of the Burton Ridge Neighborhood Association.

When the interchange is complete, the Washington State Department of Transportation project will have connected I-205 and 18th Street with a half-diamond interchange, putting ramps only to the south of 18th Street.

Project information

• For more information about the Interstate 205 interchange project, visit Washington State Department of Transportation's project website, www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i205/millplainto18th.

Northbound freeway traffic will be able to exit directly onto 18th Street, and an onramp will send vehicles from 18th Street onto I-205 heading south.

Toops’ neighborhood sits to the north of 18th Street, keeping its residents out of range of most of the construction. However, the project includes a new offramp connector lane that funnels I-205 South travelers from the freeway onto Mill Plain Boulevard. The new lane stretches for about 1 mile, beginning just south of Burton Road … right behind Toops’ house.

Toops’ backyard has abutted the southbound lanes of I-205, but until a few months ago, the land between her backyard — and the backyards of four other residents on the street — and I-205 had trees and brush that provided a buffer, Toops said.

In the fall, WSDOT removed all of the landscaping in that swath of land and added the new offramp connection lane.

“These five houses here lost a lot of that stuff that blocked the noise,” Toops said. “It used to be a soft noise.”

“We lost everything absorbing the noise,” she said.

The trees had to be removed to make room for construction, and WSDOT will replant trees on the slope behind the homes, said Lori Figone, a WSDOT project engineer. The new trees will be planted this spring, though they won’t start as large as the ones removed, she said.

Toops said she had noticed a sound wall installed on the south side of 18th Street and asked WSDOT if she and her neighbors would be getting a wall, as well. A barrier, however, is not in the plans.

“These homes have been here for years,” said Toops, who said she moved into her home 11 years ago. “It’s not like we’re a brand-new sub(division) or apartments. These are homes that have been here.”

Figone said that WSDOT performed a noise study that required measuring the existing level of noise in the early stages of the project to determine projected changes in noise levels as a result of the project and changes in traffic volume. In the area behind Toops’ house, the project won’t be adding to the volume of traffic, she said, just changing how it’s dispersed. As such, that area of the project didn’t meet the criteria to require a noise wall, Figone said.

“In that area, there was not a significant increase in noise,” she said.

The neighbors disagree.

“It’s definitely a lot louder,” said neighbor Steven Hoard.

In addition to the increased noise, Hoard has been dealing with another new side effect of the construction: a muddy backyard.

“The biggest problem we’ve had is … all the water runs down from the freeway and into our backyard,” he said, “so it’s a mud pit back there.”

The trees and brush not only muffled the freeway noise, they helped to absorb rainwater, Hoard said. Since the area behind the houses has been cleared out, the dirt on the steep hillside behind Hoard’s home has washed out several times in heavy rain, he said. As a result, he has had muddy water reaching his patio, he said.

“The whole yard was flooded,” he said.

The construction has prompted Hoard to start looking for a new place to live. He said that in the coming months he hopes to move his family from their home of the past eight years.

“Before, it was kind of nice,” he said. “It wasn’t nearly as loud.”

Project information

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