Round-The-Clock Demolition Of I-244 Bridge Keeps Neighbors Up

Some people who live near a construction project on a piece of the Interstate 244 bridge that spans the Arkansas River are losing sleep because of the loud noise.

It's gotten so loud people are now complaining to the department of transportation.

ODOT says 70,000 cars travel across the Arkansas River there every day. It says the contractors are working overnight to meet incentives and deadlines, but people who live in the neighborhood say it's too loud.

"Daytime hours, working hours, normal workday, I can totally understand that. It's just the nighttime racket that's really kind of unusual," said Jason Maloy.

For the past week now, loud demolition equipment has been on the bridge chipping away at concrete and steel reinforcements.

"The crews have been going 24/7 and in that time since last Saturday, they've been able to remove more than half the bridge deck," said ODOT spokesperson Kenna Carmon.

The noise has some people who live by the demolition lacking some shut eye.

"I think it's a function of being so close and also the echo effect off the bridges, but I think everyone understands that construction is noisy, but I just can't imagine maybe some other neighborhoods in town enduring this kind of thing all through the night when people are trying to sleep," Maloy said.

Maloy said he walked over to see what the banging was in the middle of the night. Since then, he's been wearing ear plugs, trying to cut the noise out while sleeping.

"I was surprised that they got permission to go all through the night for several nights running with that incredibly loud noise," he said.

ODOT says the contractor working on the bridge project has incentives to get the project done early.

"With the contract, they can do night operations to help expedite their schedules, so this will be going on through Spring of 2015, but with the expedited work in place, we could see the traffic put on a new bridge quicker than that," Carmon said.

Maloy said, "I totally sympathize with the workers who take advantage of the cooler temperatures overnight, but there's got to be some kind of trade-off."

There is some relief for the people who live near the demolition. ODOT says night operations will not happen this weekend.

The demolition of the bridge could take another two months to complete.