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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Park

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/27/07

HB 300

SHORT TITLE

Increase I-40 Sound Barrier Height

SB

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$10,000.0

Non-Recurring

General fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 300 proposes to appropriate ten million dollars from the general fund to the NMDOT

for the purpose of increasing the height of a noise wall located along Interstate 40 between

Louisiana Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue in Albuquerque. The appropriation is for fiscal

year 2008. Any unexpended or unencumbered funds remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008

would revert to the general fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

This appropriation would reduce the general fund by ten million dollars in fiscal year 2008.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The NMDOT indicates that this bill will establish a noise mitigation precedent inconsistent with

existing NMDOT policy which could result in public funds for mitigation with a high

cost/benefit ratio. The department states that current Federal Highway Administration and

NMDOT noise abatement policies requires a demonstrated 5 decibel reduction in noise at a cost

House Bill 300 – Page

2

of $40,000.00 or less per receptor (residence/business/park) in order to justify the expenditure of

federally-designated public funds for noise mitigation. The sound barriers constructed on the

south side of Interstate 40 between Louisiana Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue in 2005 met

this criterion. These existing noise walls range in height from 18 feet at the residential locations

to 12 feet in the area of the park. The foundations and structural support members were designed

for the existing wall heights. If the barrier height was increased as this bill proposes the NMDOT

affirms that the existing walls would need to be removed and replaced with foundations and

structural support members designed for the increased height (wind loading, wall stability).

In 2005 the NMDOT evaluated raising the barriers and noted that an additional two decibel re-

duction could be attained by raising the walls an additional four feet (note: the human ear cannot

discern less than 3 decibels). This two decibel reduction was not deemed cost effective, based on

the FHWA/NMDOT noise abatement policy.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The NMDOT indicates that it is unsure what wall height increase would be required by the bill

and which wall, north side or south side, of Interstate 40 or both.

GM/mt