CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Provide direction regarding construction and location of noise walls for the 248th Avenue improvement project
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: William J. Novack, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
While the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) provided a recommendation for the Preferred Alternative, staff did not seek the board's input relative to noise wall location(s).
BACKGROUND:
In 2026, the City plans to improve and widen 248th Avenue between 95th and 103rd Streets from two lanes to five lanes. To assist with funding for the $9.5 million roadway construction, the City decided to pursue Surface Transportation Funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). When FHWA funds are used, preliminary engineering must be performed. One of the requirements of preliminary engineering is a noise impact analysis.
Before the Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN) project was approved by the City Council, the City's engineering consultant performed the analysis which showed no noise impact. After meeting with nearby residents, the City asked the FHWA if the noise impact analysis could be performed again with the projected ICN traffic added in.
The second analysis showed that approximately three quarters of the residents adjacent to 248th Avenue had a noise impact. A property is considered to have a noise impact when the modeled noise level meets or exceeds 67 decibels for residential property and 72 decibels for commercial property. The attached exhibit shows the homes in green that met the criteria for a noise impact while those shown in red did not meet the criteria.
The two blocks that did not meet the criteria for a noise impact are located on the east side of 248th from Grassmere Road to Lapp Lane and the east side of 248th from Landsdown Avenue to the Tall Grass Greenway.
The first block did not have a noise impact due to the set back from 248th that allo...
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