Peter Pan already goes that way so what's the point?

try living right off wickenden street by the highway 😭. Moving here from a rural town was a nightmare trying to sleep at night at first lol

Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time.

I'm not an urban planner, but I believe building materials/design acoustics, tree cover, sound barriers all have an impact, as do encouraging non-automotive transport and traffic calming measures.

I'm not saying that eliminating the use of illegal mufflers isn't part of the puzzle. I'm just saying that enforcement is only part of the puzzle, and it's the only part that this group is concerned with. So you shouldn't be surprised that the list they rattled off is "a problem only because of enforcement." That's the lens they're operating from. (Notice that construction noise and sirens aren't on that list even though those are most certainly a noise issue for many many people.)

Oh gotcha thanks.

If you would indulge another question, what urban plan is going to eliminate the sound of illegal mufflers? Seems like those will echo anywhere as long as they exist.

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I don't believe the person quoted in the article works directly for Brown, he's working with them as a representative of the PVD Noise Project.

I'm not suggesting they're "in bed with the police." I'm saying that there are lots of ways to reduce urban noise-- enforcement is one, but urban planning is arguably more important. The website of the person quoted is focused pretty much entirely on enforcement. So I'm not surprised that the quote from him reflects that.

I'm not sure I follow, you're saying that the Community Noise Lab at Brown’s School of Public Health is untrustworthy because they're in bed with the police or something?

The consistent full send of police, fire, and ambulance for every call is my biggest complaint. 4 years in PVD has had more sirens than 15 years in Boston.

>I'm surprised that almost the whole list is a problem only because of enforcement.

I think it's important to consider that the source of that quote is a group that is pretty focused on enforcement in their advocacy... I am interested to see the research but I would take that list with a grain of salt. There are ways to reduce urban noise that aren't enforcement- focused, but they don't talk about those much in their materials.

If a hike and a distant view works for you, check out Wolf Hill in Smithfield

Lightning Bolt is our Spiders Georg.

I made this comparison a while back: https://i.redd.it/fjqd58yj00v91.png

It's sad to think about what the city would be like if the US hadn't gone all-in on cars - look at all those streetcar lines!

Cianci proposed doing exactly that back in the 90s, at least for the downtown stretch. I don’t know how much traction the idea got at the time, but maybe it could be revisited.

Absolutely, the money embezzled by the construction companies on the big dig went right back into the economy! For real though, look up how much money was stolen.

It seems like it would be relatively easy compared to the big dig. There wouldn't need to be too much actual digging; most of it is in a trench already and they could just cap it. I'm thinking specifically of the stretches from Point St to Atwells, Smith St to 146, and Thurbers Ave to to Broad St, as well as most of Pawtucket

Did they actually do any measurements? Providence has noise limits in its code of ordinances. Unfortunately, because of how highway noise regulations are structured federally, highway projects often go through despite being too noisy. It's a little complicated, but it generally comes down to noise barriers being infeasible to construct or not be worth the money.

The part I came looking for:

> The things we hear about the most are: vehicles, modified exhaust systems, stereos playing very loud, people using leaf blowers, ATVs, the all-terrain vehicles, the motorcycles without mufflers.

[fireworks throughout the summer were mentioned as well]

I'm surprised that almost the whole list is a problem only because of enforcement. ATVs shouldn't be on public roads, illegal exhaust systems are illegal, and there are ordinances for the likes of audio equipment. Beyond that, gas lawn equipment is surely going extinct soon, especially in the dense city.

Oh and /u/franzifranzi - this must be based on your work, right?

Yeah, the noise is frankly at the bottom of the list of benefits we’d get from burying the highway. The biggest improvement would be reconnecting neighborhoods with usable land. I’ll continue to dream about it until it gets built or I die, whichever comes first (undoubtedly the latter).

Anecdotally, Providence is super loud. I came from Boston where I live in a bunch different neighborhoods and it was never as loud as Providence. Even living on hope st Providence is incredibly loud practically all night. It would be great to reduce the level of ambient noise but I can’t imagine solving an abstract problem is going to happen when seeming moly simple problems like fixing the roads never happens.

I’ve always liked that idea but it’s worth noting the noise impact probably won’t matter much for the majority of the city.

It’d definitely benefit a lot of people in way more ways than noise.

Yeah-- if you want to do a big St Patricks day thing, go to Newport. You'll have dozens of bars and restaurants to choose from in a one-mile radius all doing an over-the-top St Patricks day celebration, plus the parade. To avoid figuring out parking and designated drivers, you can take the RIPTA bus straight there (though staying over would be fun too).

These are the people who post here off and on that always seemed kind of pearl-clutchy about noise after they moved to the west end, right?

I feel like their main issue was not that they didn't have a point-- most people don't want to live around excessive noise-- but that they were always pretty tone deaf about making it. I'm not sure that teaming up with Brown and talking about how they moved here from the Mission in San Fransisco (a famously gentrified neighborhood) is going to change that perception... That said, I'd be interested to see the research out of the public health lab when it is done. It doesn't seem to be available as far as I can tell?

Not sure if you’re looking specifically for providence but Newport seems to go pretty hard for St. Patrick’s Day. Ie: there is generally a parade, very walkable bar crawls down Thames, and plenty of hotels to crash safely for the night.

Bank of America Tower (Providence Place Mall)

the riverwalk along the Woonasquatucket River

India Point Park

Roger Williams Park (Temple to Music)

Prospect Terrace Park.