How nice that Fairway Village, the development started in the early 1980s, is getting a sound wall as part of the Washington State Department of Transportation project on Highway 14 between Interstate 205 and 164th Avenue. It would be nice if WSDOT was as considerate to those of us living along Highway 14 closer in.
In the late 1950s, WSDOT usurped property (along what was then known as the Camas Highway) to build Highway 14. Forty feet of my parents’ property (now mine) was taken. My front door is less than 100 feet from Highway 14, and the noise from the highway is beyond deafening. One cannot carry on a conversation in my front yard without shouting.
WSDOT appears not to care about Highway 14 west of I-205. In addition to the lack of consideration regarding noise, the fencing is in total disrepair. A Douglas fir that has grown next to the highway threatens to destroy the retaining wall. I have contacted WSDOT several times regarding this tree … crickets.
Ronald Reagan once famously called on the former president of the Soviet Union, “Mikhail Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” referring to the Berlin Wall. I’m calling on Gov. Jay Inslee (or the next governor), “Mr. Inslee, build up a wall!”
