5 Freeway Construction Keeps Arleta Up at Night

Arleta resident Delfina Torres is in the unfortunate position of getting more rest at work than she does at home.

She played back a home video, with accompanying audio, that demonstrated how noisy the ongoing 5 Freeway widening project has made her neighbohrood.

"That was at 1:20 in the morning," she pointed out. Watch the video above to see the home video.

Overnight construction on the 5 Freeway, a Caltrans widening and improvement project, is slated to continue through 2013. Torres says she's tried earplugs, burying her head under pillows, and sending emails to Caltrans. None of it has worked.

"There's very loud banging," says Torres. "They’re moving equipment and I just don’t understand why it’s not happening during the day."

Torres has lived in the house for four years. When she moved in, next to the freeway, she knew it would be loud sometimes. Just not this loud, or at these hours.

Georgia Dardenelle, also of Arleta, is suffering, too. And not just because of the noise.

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"I didn’t know how to get on (the freeway) because they closed this on-ramp," said Dardenelle. "They closed the Osborne on-ramp."

Patrick Chandler of Caltrans said he understands, but wants residents to keep their eyes on the prize.

"These are some of the growing pains that come along with improving some of our aging freeways," said Chandler.

Caltrans does monitor overnight noise. It's supposed to be capped at 86 decibels, about the noise made by a small truck traveling 50 miles per hour, 50 feet away.

"We actually have a unit that will go out and monitor that," says Chandler. "And they'll see if they’re over that level."

He said residents should call the Caltrans hotline if there's noise. And he said, there will be noise.

Residents said they aren't experts on decibels, but they know sleep-defeating noise when they hear it. They said the sounds they're hearing are penetrating walls and windows, even in homes specially designed for freeway noise. 

And that's not just for one weekend. That's pretty much every day.

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