New acoustic screen to separate residential sector from airport
A new sound wall installed to mitigate noise from Pierre Trudeau International Airport in Dorval was unveiled by Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) last Thursday, but some nearby residents remain skeptical of its effectiveness.
The $5.5 million “acoustic screen” runs 850 metres in length and sits on a stretch of land that used to be part of the old Dorval municipal golf course, which closed two years ago to make way for a new airport security checkpoint.
The five-metre high wall is made of acoustic panel insulation and covered with plaited willow wood. More than 500 tree and shrubs also will be planted along a 25-metre green space between the wall and Thorncrest Ave.
The buffer zone, which will double as a park, is supposed to help make living next to a noisy airport more bearable.
Just don’t tell that to the residents of Thorncrest and Westwood avenues, who say their lives haven’t been the same since the ADM expanded operations on reclaimed golf course land.
Roger Smythe, who lives on Thorncrest, says noise levels have not decreased since the acoustic barrier went up. “It’s supposed to be a soundproof wall,” he scoffed. “Well, I’m gonna be deaf long before this goddamn wall is finished!”
“I’m so fed up with it,” added the 73-year-old retired truck driver. “It’s horrible to live here. Horrible! I’ve been going through it for three years and it’s getting worse.”
Smythe said the neighbourhood has changed for the worse since he moved there in the 1980s. “It was beautiful when I moved here. Beautiful scenery. The golf course was in front of my house. Once in a while I’d get a golf ball on my lawn … that was the only problem I had. But it was great. In the winter, people would cross-country ski here.”
The ADM said the wall, which it paid for, is the “most ecological product on the market.” It is developed by a Quebec company, Les Écrans Verts.
But Smythe isn’t impressed. “It doesn’t stop the noise. Dishes are rattling in my house,” he said. “The whole house is moving.”
Arthur Krause, who lives on Westwood Ave., also came to see the vaunted wall that was supposed to stem the noise and pollution from the stream of diesel trucks and other vehicles that now billow fumes where golfers once played.
“I don’t see a difference, not so far,” said Krause. “I live here, I know. The golf course is not relevant to us. It’s the noise. They took the golf course away because it’s their own land. OK … but I don’t see a difference in noise level.”
Philippe Rainville, CEO of the ADM, said the wall and berm is meant to mitigate ground noise. As for air traffic noise, he said flight paths from Dorval have not changed much since 1958. He also pointed out that local residents will soon have access to the green space next to Thorncrest, which has been fenced off since the golf course existed.
“We’re also way more sensitive to these issues than we would have been a decade ago,” Rainville added. “We would have had a nice, big Frost fence and said, ‘Well, this is our land.’ Now we’re talking big names like sustainable development. I call this ‘respect.’ ”
Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau said the new wall is better than the usual highway sound barriers made of concrete. But he noted Dorval is surrounded by planes, trains and automobiles, so there is always going to be some noise.
Some residents were philosophical. “There’s a reason we bought our house here: because the taxes are low,” said Annette Yacyno. “So you save money in the long run. It’s give and take. You come live beside an airport, you have to expect you’re going to hear something.”