Creative Corridors Coalition board member Lee French says many residents are raising concerns over the proposed barriers.

“How much will the noise be reduced? What will they look like? What will the impact on property values be with or without sound walls?” said French.

North Carolina Department of Transportation studies show the barriers will help reduce noise in the area by 5 to 10 decibels.

Greg Smith, Traffic, Noise and Air Quality Supervisor for the department, said about 20 property owners and about 60 residents will be impacted by the noise. Those people will soon receive a paper ballot in the mail to vote for or against the barriers.

“Current policy states that they have to have at least a simple majority that says they don’t want the wall, or we will build it as part of construction of the project. In past years, it was the opposite where we had to have a simple majority that said they did want the wall before they can build it,” said Smith.

Smith said the project is part of the NCDOT’s recent policy updates to stress more public outreach early on in the project.

“We have now gone to concrete columns, which are much more aesthetically pleasing and we are going to make the panels have a texture that might look like a stone wall or block wall," said Smith.

Smith said residents will also get to vote on how they want the walls to look.

"We are also going to allow the public to decide which texture they would like to have on their side of the wall and we are gathering input from city officials on what they would like on their side of the wall,” said Smith.

Next week, the noise barrier ballots will be mailed to residents and the results will be announced the end of June. According to Smith, the barriers will cost about $2 million per mile.