Mopac Improvement Project Update – “Quiet Pavement”

Neighborhoods along the Mopac Corridor in Central Austin are certainly hopeful that the Mopac Improvement Project will lead to less traffic, but another expectation is that it will reduce the amount of road noise.  Two things will contribute to that, and here is a quick update on each:

1. Sound Walls – Construction is not yet complete. They expect the contractor to begin installing walls again sometime this fall, but do not have a schedule for specific walls at this time.  They should know more by sometime in October or early November, once the express lanes open, and wall construction will extend into 2018.  However, work around the 45th Street off-ramp should be otherwise complete by November of this year.
2. Noise-reducing Pavement – The final layer of pavement on Mopac will be “permeable friction course”, a type of pavement that is significantly quieter than other pavement types. In other states they actually call it “quiet pavement”. It has already been put down on northbound MoPac and they expect to begin laying it on southbound MoPac in October.

Hopefully, residents along the Mopac corridor will hear a difference, and that will hopefully translate to good news for property values closer to the highway.