ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Some north St. Louis County homeowners are trying to put the brakes on a MoDOT sound wall project.

Sound walls have prompted concerns for many people in the Hathaway Manor North Subdivision near Interstate 270 and Old Halls Ferry Road. Concerned residents fear the walls will become a safety hazard and hurt the value of their homes.

Curtis Faulker says there are big issues with the traffic that the wall would worsen.

”It blocks vision from individuals coming off the highway doing 60 miles an hour, and it also blocks vision of people who are entering Dunn Road,” said Faulker. “They can’t see that traffic coming off as well.”

The sound walls would be around 12 to 20 feet tall. Plans for the sound walls came with the I-270 North Improvement Project. There are already sound walls on one side of Interstate 270. The sound walls will cost around $46,000.

MoDOT says they’re required by federal law to see if people affected by increased highway noise want noise mitigation measures, like sound walls. MoDOT took a poll in the neighborhood. They apparently got 18 “yes” votes to move forward.

But residents against the sound walls say they went out and collected names of their own and got 25 “no” votes. They say some of the people who initially supported the idea have since changed their mind.

Some opponents contend that MoDOT is not listening.

“I think we’re actually being ignored,” said Tony Chestang. “They gave us 24 hours to go get the petitions, so we hurry up and got the petitions. We put it in the hands of the director of MoDOT, and now they’re telling us, ‘Okay, it’s a done deal.'”

“They could have been more open. They could have come earlier and addressed this issue with us, and I think it would have been handled much better,” said Robbye Covington.

You Paid For It then reached out to MoDOT for comment. They say they started contacting homeowners about the sound walls two years ago. They also shared this statement:

”MoDOT received a majority of votes in favor of the noise barrier, and it was determined that a noise barrier would be built that benefits the homeowners and residents that were contacted.”

Meanwhile, homeowners are currently consulting with a lawyer to see if they have a leg to stand on in their battle against these sound walls.