The noise wall along 1-80 at Jeremy Ranch is a fact of life now, but Summit County Council members hope they can talk the Utah Department of Transportation into tweaking the look of the barrier.
During the Wednesday discussion about the Jeremy Roundabout project, council was visited by a UDOT representative. Council chairman Roger Armstrong said they hope the state can change the color of the wall.
“The noise wall got finished at the end of the season and I think they just couldn't get the wall colored properly by the time it turned cold and rainy and windy at the end of the build season last year," Armstrong explained. "So John Montoya was there, he was one of the guys that was involved in the sound wall project. I told him Kim and I would take him out to lunch if he would bring some color swatches with him so that we can decide on colors. They're going to come back and actually take out some of that gray and make it a little nicer. I think earth tones is what—during the conversations that Kim and I had when were having meetings about the design of the sound wall to try and blend it in to some degree to the natural landscape.”
The response from the residents has not been a surprise.
“There are residents there that like the wall, the one’s that believe the sound has made their lives better," Armstrong said. "There are people that didn't like the idea of the wall before it went up and I don't think they like the wall any better now. It is what it is you know. It's impacts and benefits and everybody is a little bit happy and a little bit not happy.”
