Construction noise: waiting for answers, some curious (relative) quiet, and some TV coverage

For the third time in four days, I ventured last night at 11 pm to the intersections of Fourth Avenue and Atlantic Avenue and Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street, site of overnight road/utility work that's been keeping residents up at night.

Last night, it was relatively quiet, at least until midnight when I left. There was very light work at Atlantic, and the work at Pacific, though it clocked at about 90 decibels from just off the opposite curb. Inside an apartment hallway (though not an apartment itself) on Monday, the ricocheting noise reached 94 dB.

The indoor limit is 65 dB, and that limit has been approached (64.5 dB in one apartment Monday) or exceeded in nearby apartments. More testing is needed, but clearly those affected include residents outside the zone where impacts were predicted.

Why the quiet? Could it be that they knew that WPIX-TV (below) had been out doing an article earlier that day? Could complaints to Empire State Development, the state agency in charge of the development (which has yet to answer my question about additional mitigation), have led to some phone calls?


The segment features an interview with Robert Puca, a Newswalk building--on Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton Avenues--resident who lives across the street from railyard work, not the residents who live across the street from street work.

Puca's a Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn supporter, though most of the people filing complaints (via Atlantic Yards Watch) are just non-activists unlucky enough to be in the path of construction.