Sound barrier draws mixed reviews.

Byline: CITY BEAT/EUGENE By Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Is it a sound wall or just a tall wall?

Three years ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation built a nearly one-mile long, concrete-block wall to lessen the assault on residents' ears from the roar of traffic along Interstate 105, from Interstate 5 almost to Coburg Road.

ODOT officials consider the $2 million project a success because it measurably reduced the traffic din. But a walk around the Harlow Road area neighborhood shows that residents have mixed opinions about the wall's effectiveness.

Their views depend on their proximity to the interstate and to the wall, which varies in height from a towering 16 feet to 19 feet.

Harvey Madding, for example, lives on a cul-de-sac not far from the roadway, with the wall rising about 17-feet in his backyard. Even with the wall, the road sound in his front and backyard is similar to an ocean roar.

"Even though the wall may have lowered the sound by so many decibels, it's not really enough to be noticed by the ear," Madding said.

But residents do not live along I-105 in a straight line. Some houses are set back from the interstate more than others, including Sherry Peters' home on Country Lane.

Before the wall, Peters said she often had to raise her voice while talking in the backyard to be heard above the din. Most annoyingly, traffic sounds could be heard inside her house, she said.

Now, Peters said, she can talk outside without raising her voice, and the swoosh of traffic is no longer heard inside her home.

"It (the wall) was a good thing," she said. "A positive thing."

Yet Peters and other residents say that some neighbors are disappointed in the wall because it didn't reduce noise more. Madding said some residents who live away from the interstate think the wall boosts the road sound up and over rooftops, making it noisier for them than it was.

In any event, property owners helped pay for the wall. Most of the $2 million was paid by ODOT, but 68 property owners near the road were assessed a total of $150,000. The individual assessments varied between $1,000 and $2,700, with homeowners closest to the road getting bills at the high end of the range.

Homeowners could have spread the payments over 10 years, but most have paid off the debts.

As of last week, 14 properties had a collective remaining balance of $28,779, with only one of them behind on their payments, said Jeff Perry, the city's financial operations manager.

Library fun

The downtown Eugene Public Library will have a couple of fun events next Sunday.

From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. "gently" used magazines on all topics will be for sale for 25 cents each. Proceeds go to the Friends of the Library, which raised $1,450 at the last magazine sale in September.

If you have magazines to donate, take them to the lower-level parking garage of the main library, the Bethel Branch library, or Rite-Aid on Coburg Road, near the Sheldon Branch.

Also next Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., residents are invited to have their voices recorded for the greeting of the library's automated book return.

People will have to read this script: "Welcome to the Eugene Public Library. Place items here one at a time. Thank you."

Any good Darth Vader imitations out there?