Residents of Gwynedd Knoll as well as State Representative Kate Harper gathered at the Lower Gwynedd Township Meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the new sound barriers that have been placed on Route 202.

Linda Callegari, resident of Gwynedd Knoll, said in 2007, residents of Gwynedd Knoll attended supervisors meetings, neighborhood meeting, had meetings with the PennDOT engineer to discuss the sound barriers and were asked about the color of the walls.

She said they feel like they are one of the most neighborhoods most impacted by the Route 202 project and by the sound barriers going up along the highway.

When they were asked about the color and texture of the wall that would be facing their backyards, the residents say they thought that this color texture would be the same as the wall that faced the drivers on the highway side of the road.

The walls that face the residential neighborhood are tan and have a stone finish, while the walls that face the drivers’ are red, sound absorbent bricks. However, part of the drivers’ side of the wall is red bricks and part of the wall is tan bricks that will be painted red at a later date.

These sound absorbent walls are different from the sound barriers along the Blue Route or Route 309, where the sound barriers are designed to keep the sound in the roadway. These sound barriers along Route 202 are designed to absorb the sound so it doesn’t get through to the residential community behind the wall.

Edward Brandt, chairman of the Board, said the residents were given choices for the residential side, but the drivers’ side was always a township issue. Lower Gwynedd Township worked with Upper Gwynedd Township to make sure the wall that face Rte. 202 would be all the same color.

Harper echoed what Brandt said, saying the red walls that face the drivers were chosen and agreed to by both townships and are supposed to get ivy, which is part of the PennDOT contract, which should soften the look of the red bricks.

Residents asked if there was a possibility of painting the red bricks tan to match the currently tan ones. Harper said the red paint has already been purchased and a change order in the contract will cost $50,000, which PennDOT doesn’t have.

Supervisor, Dr. Richard Booth added that the red bricks will take two to three coats of paint and that much paint will make them less sound absorbent.

Harper added that the Route 202 Project is over 10 years old and she got PennDOT to do Meetinghouse Rd. early by 10 years.

Brandt said that PennDOT will be replacing the traffic light at Hancock so residents of Gwynedd Knoll will be able to make a left out of their development.