MEDINA, Wash. -- From her home more than a mile from the water, Clyde Hill's Peggy Gennatiempo thought the noise was loud enough to keep her windows closed.
"I thought it was a wild boar," she explained, "Then I thought it was these toads."
In the end, she determined what more than 100 people have complained about, the new SR 520 floating bridge is too loud.
"At night when there is no noise, you can clearly hear two bumps," said Medina Mayor Alex Morcos, "The noise is a real problem."
Despite being built with a series of noise canceling measures, homeowners along the east end of the bridge believe the sound of cars passing over two expansion joints is louder than it should be, particularly in the evening.
Thursday, the Washington State Department of Transportation and the bridge contractor met with Medina city officials and other community members to discuss the issue.
"I've got to be honest with you," said 520 Director of Construction David Becher, "That's the same sound I hear when I go across the I-90 bridge."
Nonetheless, Becher said his team has started analyzing sound impacts in a variety of places around the bridge and further inland, to see if it's too loud.
"What we're trying to determine is, what are the levels of the noise," said Becher, "Is it what we expected? Is it less?"
Results of the survey are expected in a few weeks.
