{"id":93605,"date":"2019-06-06T19:47:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T01:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/screeching-highway-traffic-pushes-bayfield-into-action\/"},"modified":"2019-06-06T19:47:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T01:47:15","slug":"screeching-highway-traffic-pushes-bayfield-into-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/screeching-highway-traffic-pushes-bayfield-into-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Screeching highway traffic pushes Bayfield into action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Bayfield Town Board is considering a noise ordinance, in part, to try to cut down on highway noise through town.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

BAYFIELD \u2013 The Bayfield Town Board is considering a noise ordinance, the first step toward addressing residents\u2019 complaints about loud traffic on U.S. Highway 160.<\/p>\n

Jake brakes, or compression brakes on large vehicles, seem to be the problem. Residents are asking town officials to put up \u201cjake brake\u201d signs; however, because of jurisdictional complications, Bayfield has to start by passing a noise ordinance. As of Tuesday\u2019s Town Board meeting, officials seem interested in extending the potential ordinance, and law enforcement\u2019s ability to enforce it, beyond brakes to other noise disturbances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been reached out to by both sides of the town,\u201d said Mayor Matt Salka. \u201cJust Sunday night, I had the windows open and it sounds like an 18-wheeler driving through the middle of Bayfield in the middle of the night with their jake brakes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Town Board meeting included a discussion to provide staff with guidance on developing the ordinance. The next step is to schedule a public hearing to give residents an opportunity to comment, Town Manager Chris La May said.<\/p>\n

Traffic noise is a part of life for many residents living near the highway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s loud enough to make you think something crashed,\u201d said Lucy Stewart, who has owned a home in Bay Estates since 1979. The big \u201cscreeches\u201d from the truck brakes are most noticeable in the early morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome days, it\u2019s not so bad because they\u2019re not as often,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes, it\u2019s real noisy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highway 160 is under Colorado Department of Transportation jurisdiction, and the department won\u2019t place signs unless the town has approved a noise ordinance against specific levels or types of noise. Once an ordinance is in place, the town can request that CDOT place signs reading, \u201cnoise ordinance enforced, no engine brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

La May presented an ordinance from Castle Rock that Bayfield could use or adapt to update town noise policies. Castle Rock\u2019s ordinance included time of day restrictions on noise from construction, live bands, loading and unloading materials, and internal combustion equipment like lawn mowers and weed trimmers. It also applied to radios, television sets, musical instruments and more, if those devices could be heard a certain distance away, like 100 feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith regards to the noise ordinance itself, if any of that happens within our jurisdiction, we can enforce that completely,\u201d Town Marshal Joe McIntyre said. \u201cThis gives more teeth in areas that we haven\u2019t had before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fines are usually set by the municipality, but a judge can fine up to $1,000 for a traffic violation, McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time residents have complained about traffic noise on Highway 160. Stewart remembered asking the town to address the issue in the 1980s with others in the community. The effort didn\u2019t move forward back then; however, she would have attended the June board meeting if she had known they were discussing a noise ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never know what the board is doing because the minutes are so out of date,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad it\u2019s moving forward; maybe it\u2019ll cut down on noise through here. \u2026 I wish it would have happened awhile ago, but we\u2019ll take whatever progress we can get out of the Town Board at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

considers noise ordinance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[731,69],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-bayfield","tag-u-s-highway-160"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93605"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}