Fairfax City residents fed up with unwanted sound walls

Residents in a Northern Virginia neighborhood have had it with sound walls

Neighbors in Fairfax City are fed up with sound walls in their backyards.

People in a Northern Virginia neighborhood are frustrated after construction on I-66 has left them with unexpected structures in their backyard.

The Mosby Woods neighborhood in Fairfax City is situated right next to the interstate. During the construction V-DOT has been replacing a noise wall that runs along the neighborhood but one homeowner has ended up with three very different looking walls in her yard.

"Of the three walls, none of them match, none of them connect. There’s a gap between each wall so both sound and people can get through the walls," Amanda Stamp, a homeowner in the neighborhood said.

Stamp’s yard falls right where the replacement noise wall ends and the old wall remains. Additionally, V-DOT has installed a third wall to overlap the two.

A spokesperson for V-DOT tells FOX 5 the new wall could not be extended because of a utility duct underground and that they plan to add chain fences to link the three walls together. But Stamp says she’s concerned both noise and people can still get through.

Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather

"Having three different walls not connecting, it just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to us," Stamp said.

V-DOT says the walls pass their standards to properly abate highway noise. But when asked if they could replace two of the walls with a wall that looks like the newer one, V-DOT said it’s not possible because their protocol only allows noise walls to be replaced if they pose an issue to new construction or noise abatement.

"They have told us that they’re not worried about what it looks like to our property, how it effects our community. They’re only worried about what they have to do for I-66," Stamp added. "It’s very upsetting to me that as a citizen who pays our taxes, who votes, who is engaged in the community, that they just don’t care about our needs."

I-66 construction has been ongoing for years now. Stamp says she understand she chose to live near the interstate but would like some consideration from V-DOT when it comes to the effect the construction has on personal property.

"For them this is only a project that is going to last for a few months but for us we’re going to have to live with this for the rest of our lives and it has a huge impact on our community and on our house value so it definitely doesn’t make us happy," she said.

Representatives from V-DOT plan to meet with neighbors Tuesday morning to discuss a solution.