East Side - Noise/Traffic/Air quality (buying a house, neighborhood)

[EddieTripod]

Hi, We're considering buying a house just South of East Towne Mall, on Summer Ridge Drive. I notice that there are train tracks a few hundred yards away. I also see there is an airport just North of that area. I-39/90 is just East of this road also.

Does anyone know if this rail line is used regularly? If so, does it create a lot of noise in the area? Is it for industrial use, or passenger? I haven't been able to find much on the internet.

Same for the airport. Is it a noisy airport, or just the occasional plane going by?

Does the traffic noise from the interstate permeate the area, or just for the houses directly next to the interstate?

Any air quality issues with all this transportation in the area?

Thanks,

Eddie

[MidwesternBookWorm]

We live a lot closer to the airport than the house you're considering, and I can speak to that question with some experience.

In most respects, the airport is just a mid-sized regional airport, and we don't experience a great deal of noise or air pollution from it. However, in addition to being a commercial airport, it is also home to an Air National Guard unit, and when those fellows decide to spend a Saturday morning playing with their F-16's, there is no such thing as sleeping in. Those babies make enough noise to wake the dead, and they don't just go by once; once they get started, you can expect to hear them roaring overhead every few minutes for much of the morning.

[Megan1967]

We'll be neighbors if you move there! I live on Ridge Oak Drive, closer to Bultman. The airport is no problem, but the interstate is quite loud. I'm okay where I am, but you'd be closer. Glacier Hill Drive is the worst. I'd recommend either making an appointment to see the place and then just hanging out in the yard or just strolling around the neighborhood. I think the noise will be worst in the winter because sound won't be absorbed as well by snow, but you'll get an idea. The trains are no biggie where I live, but again, you'd be closer. I grew up with the sound of trains in the distance so I find it kind of comforting.

Oh, I just thought of something. These houses were built by Don Simon and are not the greatest quality. I've had some fairly major structural problems I didn't notice until the warranty ran out - like a 1/2 inch crack in the foundation where the exposed part and the full basement part meet. The area was patched from the beginning, but I didn't know about stuff like that when I built the house and assumed the building inspector would catch something major like that. Doing it over again I would never buy a Don Simon (now Veridian) home again. The builder KB that builds in other areas sounds similar.

[EddieTripod]

Thanks for the responses. We are looking at a house on the 10 hundred block of Bultman also. So that should be better regarding noise? Is Bultman heavily trafficked? It looks like Thomson would be the main road through the neighborhood.

Thanks again,

Eddie

[Megan1967]

Bultman shouldn't be too bad for traffic in that area unless you are on the corner of Golden Leaf since it is a direct route to N. Thompson. This might not be a Don Simon home, it might be a Brookstone home and I'd don't have a much better impression of them as a builder. Make sure you get a good property inspector, unfortunately I don't have any recommendations.

You may get more noise from N. Thompson in that location. Just something to check out.

[imtammyo]

Good inspector: Dave Haack of Haack Homestead LLC. Phone: 608-798-0032

[Megan1967]

I was out shoveling (again) today and noticed the trains. Usually I wouldn't, but I was trying to decided whether it would be really annoying in the first location you mentioned. I have to say that it might be. You should see if the RR will give you a schedule (better yet see if your realtor can dig it up) to see when the trains go through. If you are gone during the day and most of them go through during normal working hours it might not be a problem.