Government Response
The provincial and city governments have responded to written concerns over Henday noise. However, these responses have been completely inadequate in addressing residents' complaints, especially given the significant evidence of health risks from the noise.
Out of many, many letters and requests for in-person meetings, only a single response from the Alberta Government was received. Response from Hon. Luke Ouellette, Minister of Transport:
I recognize increased traffic is a concern along major transportation corridors across the province. In response, Alberta Transportation has developed a standard to determine if a location requires noise attenuation.
The province’s noise guidelines state that noise attenuation will be considered if sound levels exceed 65 decibels on a 24‑hour average. During the design of the southeast ring road, noise levels were calculated for approximately 30 years into the future and these projected noise levels were below the 65 decibels guideline, therefore noise attenuation is not required. However, the department will be undertaking a noise study this summer to confirm the existing and projected levels. Once complete, the results of this study will be available for review on the department’s website at www.infratrans.gov.ab.ca.
I appreciate your writing to share your concerns.
The noise study referenced in the response has been published here. There has been no response from local MLA(s) as of yet.
City Action
Mayor Mandel has written to the government regarding the problem. The city believes that they have no responsibility for building a barrier, even though the Anthony Henday development violates the tenets of Edmonton's guiding development principles (see Transportation Strategic Goals - "the city will also ... appropriately mitigate the impacts of the transportation system on existing and future residential communities"). We believe the City Attorney should be involved in legal action to compel the provincial government to build a barrier.
The response from the government is here. The response to the mayor is largely the same as the response above - simply a standard form letter used to ignore residents' concerns.