Residents complain of overnight noise during Hoan Bridge project



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Residents in one of Milwaukee's premier neighborhoods say a construction project sounds like a war zone in the middle of the night. It has gotten so bad, one neighbor says he's considering moving.

With crews on the Hoan Bridge improvement project working off hours to avoid traffic, those living in the area are forced to put up with noisy nights.

"It's a huge annoyance. It's not going to provide for any type of sleeping," said Perry Nell. "They usually start drilling and breaking up the concrete about 8 p.m. and it goes on through the night and there's not much sleep or chance of sleeping as a result of that."

Nell contacted Alderman Robert Bauman earlier in the week with the hope of some relief. Bauman says he has received plenty of emails and phone complaints from others in the area. One resident even shared a video of the work with Bauman.

"That video looked and sounded like the videos I saw of Americans bombing Baghdad," Bauman said.

The noise has prompted Bauman to go to bat for the neighborhood. He wants the DOT to start working normal business hours and voluntarily comply with the city's noise ordinance.

"The State of Wisconsin claims that it's exempt from the city's noise ordinance -- that it can do work whenever it pleases, any time of the day or night, for as long as they like," said Bauman.

The City of Milwaukee noise ordinance, according to Bauman, prohibits this exact kind of noise after 9 p.m. and before 7 a.m.