CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For weeks, getting a good night's sleep has been a challenge in parts of south Charlotte.
NCDOT crews started the demolition of the Ballantyne Commons Parkway bridge over I-485 in favor of a new bridge, which is now open. The work to break down the older version, however, has seen crews starting as most people are winding down for the night.
Neighbors like Sarah Drummond, at first, thought the sound outside her Piper Glen home was weird. She described it as vacuum-like.
She recounted discussing the noise with her husband to WCNC Charlotte. "Do you hear that? He was like, 'No I'm sleeping'. The next night before I went to sleep, 'Now do you hear it?"
The noise came from the work on I-485.
Jennifer Thompson from NCDOT said, "We're adding an express lane in each direction on 485 for almost 17 miles. So the Ballantyne Commons ribdge demolition is just part of that project. And it's just moved into that phase where now, we got traffic on the new bridge, it's time to take down the old one. There is some jackhammering going on and that's probably what people hear at night."
Thompson said the work starts around 9 p.m. each night with a single-lane closure.
Drummond, who lives a couple of miles away from the source of the nightly noise, said her neighbors hear it too.
"They said the same thing. You could even hear it inside the house," she said. "It is a humming. Just really weird, definitely gets louder when you step outside."
It's important to note that NCDOT is exempt from a noise ordinance from the city.
Drummond says she sees Charlotte's growth, and she understands construction is inevitable.
"I've been in Charlotte for a little over nine years now. And if it's not under construction now, it probably has been or will be in the near future," she said.
NCDOT estimated the demolition to take up to a month. Crews started on March 19.
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.