Thoughts about having home close to interstate 275 and pollution

[Sarah Perry]

I recalled another noise anecdote: when we were househunting we were really paying attention to noise because of the bad experience I mentioned above. We looked at a house on as I recall Holly Lane (?) in Hyde Park, which is perched atop one of those big cuts they made when they built I-71. The realtor had a radio playing softly in the background when we arrived, and of course we immediately asked that it be turned off. The noise level (to us, anyway) was simply ridiculous. We left shaking our heads and wondering who would possibly buy the house. But of course, I'm sure someone did. Point here being elevation didn't seem to help much in that case.

[goyguy]

Sound waves, like heat waves, rise.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by goyguy

Sound waves, like heat waves, rise.

Thanks for that bit of useful information.

[Zen_master]

I recall house hunting as a teenager with my parents. Looked at a house off of Loveland-Miamiville Rd. which was probably somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 feet away from I-275. If you are familiar with the topography of that area you understand that the northeast side of the road rises into the hillside. While quite wooded and scenic, it also acted as a natural amphitheater for highway noise. I thought I could live with it, after all the house had a nice in-law suite in the basement which naturally I thought me and my friends could sneak in and out of for weekend parties. However my father said no way no how was he going to go out on the back deck at night and listen to freeway traffic. For context, they have spent 30+ years on a private drive with 3 neighbors and 25 acres between the four of them. So maybe he is a little more sensitive to noise than most.

To the OP, as for air pollution I don't think you are at much more risk than most elsewhere in the city. Cincinnati sits in a river valley and on those hot, hazy summer days it is one of the top ranking cities for air pollution. I would think whatever car exhaust you are concerned about gets so well swirled up in the atmosphere that you are not at much more risk than anyone else. My focus would be if you can live with the noise pollution vs. air pollution.

[Ohiogirl81]

"Car pollution" is everywhere. I wouldn't worry about that.

The constant noise of the freeway, though, would drive me insane.

[Briolat21]

I don't know exactly how close my neighborhood is to I-71. Not far (perhaps within a mile??) and we can hear occasional traffic noise from it. It is of course worse in the winter than the summer (something about air temps I believe, as well as lack of foliage).

But, it is not "loud", just there. And nothing is heard within our home.

I'm sure most people don't notice it or even realize that's what that occasional rumble is (I-71 is not visuall evident from our neighborhood).

As far as actual pollution - agreed with the other poster - Cinci is a "bowl" and esp. within the 275 loop, you can see the haze hanging over the city on Hot/Humid summer days. I know several years ago some folks in Northside (community right along I-75) were looking at trying to contact the state of Ohio to do something about truck pollution from I-75. In addition to health issues - they felt they were experiencing property issues issues (residue on homes, etc..). I'm sure that likely went no where by the way, as I-75 is just as full of trucks as ever.

[mlkmnsgrl]

Pollution-wise, there have been numerous public health studies related to relative risks of being within xyz buffer zone of interstates. Heart disease and asthma being the outcomes most often hypothesized. You might do a search on PubMed (search terms something like "interstate AND pollution") if you're interested in the nitty-gritty details. My feeling is that, in general, the risk associated with living that close to a freeway is hugely affected by whether you're talking about a stretch of freeway that will see full-stop heavy pollution events constantly, whether the area is prone to inversion (Cincy is not), and other factors that would compound the exposure. Unless you're standing on the side of the road taking deep breaths, I doubt anyone would argue that you're likely to have a major health consequence, but my husband is the epidemiologist and he might be inclined to steer clear...I'm the fly-by-the-seat archaeologist who chose a profession with a guarantee of skin cancer, lol.

Noise-wise, I think it's so very dependent on the person. If you have someone who tends toward hypertension, anxiety, etc, then adding a significant level of white-noise could actually measurably reduce quality of life. If you're more resilient to environmental noise, then it's probably fine. I agree with previous comments that it may be best to try and spend some time there during the night. Even if it's parking your car in the driveway and seeing if you feel like you could doze versus feeling irritated. Hard to determine that when it's new sounds versus something you're accustomed to.

Good luck with your decision!

[Zen_master]

A portion of this is going to come down to lifestyle. I have neighbors who other than mowing their lawn once a week and occasionally trimming the bushes or raking their leaves in the Fall are never outside. I, on the other hand, am constantly outside whether it is in the garden, washing the car, going for a run or bike ride, or simply relaxing on the back deck with a stogie and a beer. My neighbors may not notice freeway noise whereas it would drive me crazy given our differences in lifestyle.

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by Zen_master

A portion of this is going to come down to lifestyle. I have neighbors who other than mowing their lawn once a week and occasionally trimming the bushes or raking their leaves in the Fall are never outside. I, on the other hand, am constantly outside whether it is in the garden, washing the car, going for a run or bike ride, or simply relaxing on the back deck with a stogie and a beer. My neighbors may not notice freeway noise whereas it would drive me crazy given our differences in lifestyle.

Another excellent point. In case I didn't say this strongly enough up-thread, I guess what I would REALLY try to warn anyone against the most is the low-frequency, constant rumble and vibration that occurs near some high-traffic areas. I believe that type of sound has been scientifically shown to cause widespread distress and very well might be something you simply can't get used to or ignore.