Austin City Council approves construction of noise barrier at Monday meeting

On a vote of 4-3, the Austin City Council approved the construction of a 17-foot high noise barrier at their meeting Monday along a portion of Interstate 90 between 2nd Street and 14th Street NW.  Austin Mayor Steve King spoke with KAUS during the “Meet the Mayor” segment of “Wright Here, Right Now,” and stated that the issue was a great example of the council thoroughly weighing the pros and cons of the project,and then voting accordingly…

The landowners had been given two options to distribute the cost, one that would spread the cost among a larger number of property owners based on a lower decibel decrease, while the other would concentrate the cost to property owners based on a higher base threshold of decibel decrease.  The cost for the construction of the noise barrier will total approximately $932,000, with the Minnesota Department of Transportation covering 90% of the cost, the city of Austin 5%, and the affected landowners 5%.