By Bridget Halloran
WEST SENECA — On Covington Drive, the Thruway used to be something neighbors mostly heard through the trees. Now they can see it from their backyards, and they say they hear it all night.
Residents want the town and the state to measure the noise and build a sound wall. The town is taking a first step toward a study. But state policy offers little hope for a wall along a stretch of highway with no construction planned.
“We don’t know what to do anymore. It’s terrible. Just terrible,” Barbara Sonnenfeld, who has lived on the street for decades, told WGRZ.
What changed
In October and November 2024, National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. removed trees and overhanging limbs it considered hazardous along a pipeline right-of-way behind the Covington Drive backyards. Neighbors say that line of trees was their buffer from Interstate 90.
“It helped to a point,” Sonnenfeld said. “Was it 100 percent? No, but it wasn’t as bad as it is now.”
Karen Merkel of National Fuel’s corporate communications office told WGRZ that “the company conducts aerial inspections and maintains a clear right-of-way so the pipeline corridor remains visible and accessible.” She added that the company appreciates “that residents value the trees and natural screening along the corridor,” and that the work was done to support pipeline safety and required inspections.
Connie Scioli said the loss goes beyond the trees. “It has nothing to do with the trees per se,” she told WGRZ. “It’s a matter of our noise and pollution buffer. It’s gone.” She told WKBW: “You didn’t actually even see the Thruway before, and now, you can not only see it, but it’s much louder as well.”
Brianna Kaitanowski, who is raising young children on the street, described the trucks to WKBW: “It’s nonstop, all the time. It shakes the house, it wakes the kids up.”
At Town Hall
At the Oct. 26 Town Board meeting, according to the meeting minutes posted by the Southtowns Record, Scioli asked the town for an immediate noise and pollution study and for a Type II sound barrier. She pointed to traffic tied to Route 219, the Bills stadium and the planned Costco, and she handed a petition to the town clerk.
Another Covington Drive resident, Susan Kims, reminded the board that it passed a resolution on July 10, 2017, asking for sound barriers on the same stretch.
Supervisor Gary Dickson said at the meeting that the land carries an easement and that he has gotten the same answer from the Thruway that residents have. He said he supports studying the problem. The minutes say a town official, Mr. Foote, will bring quotes for an acoustical survey to measure baseline noise levels to the next Town Board meeting.
Dickson told WGRZ the problem isn’t limited to one street. “This is not the only place in town that’s had this. You know, neighborhoods that back up to the 400 or the 219 have the same problem,” he said. He said the Thruway and the state Department of Transportation “always come back with, ‘We don’t have a capital project plan, therefore, we can’t put up sound barriers.’” He added, “We’re going to gather some evidence to strengthen our argument. Whether at the end of the day that has a result is a question for the future.”
Why a wall is hard to get
The Thruway Authority told WKBW it has no project planned near Covington Drive that would require sound testing, a noise study or noise abatement. It said it follows Federal Highway Administration rules and the state’s noise analysis policy and applies them the same way across its 570-mile system, and that residents may pursue options on private property. Much of the Thruway was built in the 1950s, long before federal highway noise rules existed.
The state’s noise policy explains the problem. Sound walls usually come with “Type I” projects, such as a new highway or added lanes. Walls built along existing roads with no construction planned are called “Type II.” The policy says “NYSDOT has not developed a Type II Noise program,” so those projects aren’t eligible for federal aid. It also says Type II projects “shall not be considered without separate additional funding by the Legislature for this specific purpose.”
Put plainly, a baseline study could document the noise, but a wall would likely need the state Legislature to pay for it.
Albany, and today’s ballot
That points to the Assembly. Assemblyman Pat Burke told WGRZ: “I’m aware of the problem now, and we’re going to try and take care of this.” Burke and Dickson are opponents in today’s race for the 142nd Assembly District, so whoever wins will be in a position to carry the request to Albany.
Scioli said she isn’t asking for anything special. “I think as citizens and taxpayers, we deserve that,” she told WGRZ.
The Buffalo Chronicle will follow the acoustical survey quotes when they come before the Town Board. Covington Drive neighbors and others along the 400 and 219 can share their experiences at editor@buffalochronicle.com.
This story draws on reporting by WGRZ and WKBW, Town Board minutes published by the Southtowns Record, and state Department of Transportation policy.
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