I think our home just doubled in value.
We live on a ridge overlooking a gulch crossed by a two-lane bridge that's a couple hundred yards below & to the side of our house. Although we have a great view from a larger lot on a cul-de-sac, we're also entertained by two rush hours every workday (pretend it's the roar of the ocean). When we were looking at this house six years ago I remember saying "That traffic is annoying but we sure can't let this house get away..." The subdued roar is at the edge of our hearing but we've learned to tune it out.
Over the years the state has considered expanding the bridge to four lanes, which would make us feel like we're living next to a highway overpass. However the last price tag was over $100M and I'm sure that today it'd approach $200M. It's tough to justify that expense for an island populated by a million people, even if the bridge is nearly 75 years old.
But the state is getting sensitive about its infrastructure. A couple weeks ago a truck hauling an oversize load on H-1 accidentally crunched a pedestrian overpass. The overpass was cracked badly enough that the state's main highway was closed to homeward-bound commuters for nearly 16 hours while road crews demolished the overpass. People were stuck in traffic for six hours and the state took a lot of flack for "overreacting" to the problem. (Subsequent photo analysis has revealed that the state did the right thing.) So the DoT staff is a little sensitive to cracked concrete this month.
This morning I heard a horrific crunch and felt the shock all the way up at the house. The sirens clued us in to an accident on the bridge but we couldn't see it. (I've learned that a car flipped into the concrete guardrail and cracked it, although all the occupants survived.) However it's been real quiet down there since all lanes have been blocked off.
A little hiking revealed that the cracked railing is surrounded by DoT trucks, with a dozen hardhat guys standing around scratching their heads and uttering comments like "@#$%!!" and "*&^%~!!" (Did I mention that it's raining?) The road's still closed but we can hear intermittent banging & power tools. I'm wondering if this repair will be a dab of epoxy or if the bridge will be out of service for a few weeks.
But for now we're enjoying the lovely rustling tradewinds and the crowing of the gulch's roosters. Except for the intermittent cursing, it sounds like 2 AM Sunday morning! Sure, when we sold the place we'd have to disclose that there's traffic noise, but reading a disclosure is a lot different than hearing the reality. By coincidence a comparable home is for sale a little further up the gulch. I wonder how fast we could close the two transactions...
We live on a ridge overlooking a gulch crossed by a two-lane bridge that's a couple hundred yards below & to the side of our house. Although we have a great view from a larger lot on a cul-de-sac, we're also entertained by two rush hours every workday (pretend it's the roar of the ocean). When we were looking at this house six years ago I remember saying "That traffic is annoying but we sure can't let this house get away..." The subdued roar is at the edge of our hearing but we've learned to tune it out.
Over the years the state has considered expanding the bridge to four lanes, which would make us feel like we're living next to a highway overpass. However the last price tag was over $100M and I'm sure that today it'd approach $200M. It's tough to justify that expense for an island populated by a million people, even if the bridge is nearly 75 years old.
But the state is getting sensitive about its infrastructure. A couple weeks ago a truck hauling an oversize load on H-1 accidentally crunched a pedestrian overpass. The overpass was cracked badly enough that the state's main highway was closed to homeward-bound commuters for nearly 16 hours while road crews demolished the overpass. People were stuck in traffic for six hours and the state took a lot of flack for "overreacting" to the problem. (Subsequent photo analysis has revealed that the state did the right thing.) So the DoT staff is a little sensitive to cracked concrete this month.
This morning I heard a horrific crunch and felt the shock all the way up at the house. The sirens clued us in to an accident on the bridge but we couldn't see it. (I've learned that a car flipped into the concrete guardrail and cracked it, although all the occupants survived.) However it's been real quiet down there since all lanes have been blocked off.
A little hiking revealed that the cracked railing is surrounded by DoT trucks, with a dozen hardhat guys standing around scratching their heads and uttering comments like "@#$%!!" and "*&^%~!!" (Did I mention that it's raining?) The road's still closed but we can hear intermittent banging & power tools. I'm wondering if this repair will be a dab of epoxy or if the bridge will be out of service for a few weeks.
But for now we're enjoying the lovely rustling tradewinds and the crowing of the gulch's roosters. Except for the intermittent cursing, it sounds like 2 AM Sunday morning! Sure, when we sold the place we'd have to disclose that there's traffic noise, but reading a disclosure is a lot different than hearing the reality. By coincidence a comparable home is for sale a little further up the gulch. I wonder how fast we could close the two transactions...
