While traveling for a year we lived next to a highway in 3 locations, then settled in an apartment next to a busy road people treat like a highway. No more, I’m sick of the constant loud engines, rattling utility trailers, truck engine brakes and diesel/gas pollution! Hard to enjoy tv or music at normal levels indoors, and hard to enjoy being outside on the patio. Told ourselves we’d get used to it. We were wrong and should have known better.
Pollution, pollution, pollution. There's a million reasons why real estate is so much cheaper near highways.
Almost as bad as living next to an airport. Your quality of life pretty much will not exist.
We live in a house in 30 yards from a 4 lane road. A major road in our area. 10,000+\- cars pass per day.
Don’t do it. We can’t wait to move.
I had a huge garden, but let it all go to weeds. The car noise is not what you want when you’re in your garden. The tyre and brake dust coat everything. I worry about my kids being outside for any appreciable amount of time in our back yard.
If I had an electron microscope and a mass spectrometer I would write and research something of value.
Recently brake dust was found to be quite dangerous. AI written: Brake dust can be hazardous to breathe in because it contains tiny metal particles that can be inhaled into the lungs. These particles can cause a variety of health issues, including:
Lung damage
Brake dust can damage lung cells and other organs. For example, brake particles that contain asbestos can lead to lung cancer, mesothelioma, or asbestosis.
Reduced immune system
Brake dust can reduce the immune system's ability to fight bacterial infections.
Inflammation
Brake dust can cause inflammation in the lungs.
Cardiovascular disease
Prolonged exposure to brake dust particles may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemic heart disease.
Phys.org
Brake dust air pollution may have same harmful effects on immune cells as diesel exhaust
Jan 9, 2020
Futurity
How brake dust could end up harming your lungs - Futurity
Mar 3, 2017 — New research shows how brake and tire dust—a cloud of tiny metal particles—coul...
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (.gov)
Preventing Asbestos Exposure Among Brake and Clutch Repair Workers
Persons breathing the air may then inhale asbestos fibers. Continued exposure can increase...
MRC Toxicology Unit |
Air pollution from brake dust may have same harmful effects on immune cells ...
Jan 20, 2020 — Dust from brake friction is rich in metals, which can catalyse the production ...
Tallano Technologies
Cancer, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases: what happens to your body ...
Jul 9, 2023 — “Some brake particles can be toxic and cause damage to lung cells and other org...
Brake dust is a major source of air pollution on highways, and can linger over busy roadways. While each car releases a small amount of metal dust when it uses its brakes, high volumes of cars can create measurable amounts. In urban areas, brake wear can contribute up to 55% of total non-exhaust traffic-related PM10 emissions by mass. However, this contribution is lower on freeways because of less frequent braking
We have a lot of truck bros with big stupid tires. On a quiet night you can hear those damn things droning on from over a mile away.
Motorcycles too. We're on some kind of popular poker run route. Nice weekends can be pretty unbearable with dozens of those "loud pipes save lives" types flying by.
Don’t forget the trash. It’s insane how much crap people just throw out if their car on the highway.
There is a small road that is parallel to a highway near me with houses a couple hundred feet from the highway. Nice houses, recent construction. I can’t figure out why anyone would buy one unless it was like half the normal price. Even then I probably wouldn’t.
This. We lived about an acre away from a medium highway and no thanks. This highway was used often by semis and those damn things are loud af. You’d always get a random one waking you up in the middle of the morning. If you’re a light sleeper good luck. We moved and now we live like a half mile from any big roads and it’s so much quieter now. It’s nice. We can be outside and not hear anything. At best at night we hear local coyotes once in a while.
We back up to a major highway. Noise isn’t bad, we got used to it. We are about 1/2 acre away from the pavement. No dust in our case, but once the dog got loose and we caught him just before she darted out there!
Deal breaker for me.
And it’s not just air quality and road noise.
We had family that lived on a farm that was next to an interstate. The farmhouse was clearly visible from the road. They got a lot of weirdos coming up to the house. They trained the kids from the time they were little to run to the house and lock the doors if they saw someone coming.
Were they right off the exit? Most houses that back on the interstate aren't going to see additional foot traffic, people aren't going up a mile, getting off at the exit and circling back to see what's going on in one of the hundreds houses they passed.
It was close to an exit. But most of the people coming were pulling over on the interstate and walking up. Or were hitchhiking because there was no visible car.
Keep in mind this wasn’t a house amongst hundreds.
It was a lone farmhouse that faced at a slight angle the interstate. Set slightly on a hill. Easily seen and stood out. Farmhouse predated the interstate.
But case in point - living close to a highway brings a volume of people closer to you.
And you’d be surprised at the effort people might go to depending on circumstances and perceived opportunity.
I live in a town with the state's major highway cutting through. Some houses are right against a major highway from Boston to Oregon. I wonder how many strangers must pass one of those homes in a day. The high volume of people makes it feel like it would increase your chances of crossing paths with someone nefarious.
I live under a flight path, a couple miles from the airport, and I can hear the planes putting their landing gear down. The sound travels so well that it took me a little while to figure out it was coming from the planes.
I live next to the foot hills in Denver. As the planes come across the mountains and start their decent, I can hear them drop engine speed and sometimes ramp back up. Nothing crazy or annoying but sure as hell surprising given DIA is a 45 - 60 min drive east. I'd never back up to a highway myself to address OP's question. Just sharing my fun little fact.
Yeah early in the morning I can hear the sweet sounds of truckers serenading the bad Florida drivers with their horns. Didn’t even realize the turnpike was .2 miles away when I bought the place.
I am 2.25 miles from I-95. Not sure I have ever heard it. Now I am 2,500 feet from a fire station and I hear that every once in a while. There is an elementary school 1,000 feet from me and when school is in I can here the bell for changing classes as well as the announcements. I am a little less than a mile to the high school field and every once in a while I can hear the marching band playing.
Sound travels further when the air is cooler. There's a freeway a couple miles away from me, and I hear cars all the time. It's worse in the winter because of the cooler air.
Agreed. I lived in a neighborhood about a mile and a half from a very busy interstate highway. We could easily hear the drone of traffic. No way I’d live any closer to one.
I think the distance at which you can hear a highway will vary greatly depending on the topography and development of an area. I live about 8k' feet from an 8 lane highway and can't hear it at all. There are two large neighborhoods between me and the highway, but even 10-15 years ago when those neighborhoods weren't there I couldn't hear it.
My parents live 2200' from the same highway and rarely hear it.
Noise is going to increase stress levels for most people and reduce sleep.
Pollution is going to decrease health though you'd have to read the studies to make an informed purchase. If you are mostly indoors you can probably remedy some of this by paying a few hundred bucks a year on nice big air purifiers and HEPA filters or adding them to your building HVAC etc, but it's still best avoided.
I lived about 1 mile away from the freeway and it was fine till the city came along and cut down all the trees along the freeway, then it sounded like it was in my back yard. I began to hate where I lived as the noise never stopped.
I live a mile away and can’t hear it at all… guess it depends on what’s between the house and the highway.
Edit: should also clarify, there’s a few different words for “highway”, which could assume that the multi-lane, high-speed road sits above regular traffic. I use freeway/highway interchangeably, but my freeway does not sit above regular traffic, it is on the ground, and there are bridges that go over it. The bridges are surrounded by hills. Maybe that really helps with road noise (but I know another reason my state prefers them on the ground is due to winter weather; winter precip doesn’t accumulate as fast on freeways that are on the ground, especially compared to bridges and overpasses).
I live maybe less than a quarter mile from I-90
Windows make all the difference. When my windows are shut I can't hear it at all.
Might be triple pane? They're definitely at least high quality double pane.
They were a selling point of the house for sure.
I had a few "must haves" on my list
* A flat property
* Two car garage
* Not on a through way
* Not in the flight path of airlines
* Not next to highways
There were highways a few miles away but they didn't seem noisy so I bought the house. I could hear the traffic only when the wind was blowing in my direction but otherwise, no problem.
Over the years, the population boomed. Now I can hear the traffic all the time, especially during rush hour. And I can hear the emergency sirens for the near daily rush hour traffic accidents.
I replaced the 30 year old windows with triple pane windows which greatly reduced the noise.
But it's nothing compared to the idiot neighbors who leave their extremely loud barking dogs out most of the day (by law, they can't have the dogs barking before 0700 or after 2200)
Do you like to go outdoors into your yard? If you do, walk away from that house.
You are right to be concerned about the air quality. Asthma is common among people who live near a highway.
You said the noise is OK to you--but I think that will wear on you over time. I once lived on a major intersection, it was terrible.
The noise could be okay on a Monday but then you go the next day and it's horrendous. It's crazy it's all about where the breeze or the wind is blowing it makes a huge difference. I tell people who thinking about being this close to a major highway go there every single day and hang out for 2 hours . Monitor the noise level see if you can stand it. Some friends moved near a highway they saw the house on the weekend when it was quiet. She was losing her mind she said I'm going insane I can't take it. No amount of insulation and new windows helped and they were never able to sit outside. They sold the house at a loss
I live about a half mile from a major interstate, and sometimes you can barely hear it, and sometimes it is quite loud. I don't know if it is the wind, bouncing off clouds, atmospheric pressure, or what, but it definitely changes.
coulds have a major impact on it. My parents live not even that close to a freeway and it goes from almost inaudible to fairly noticibale on low cloud cover days.
Yep, I was about to say this. Knew somebody that bought a house that was, unknown to them, near a small/local Nascar race track. (It's hard to describe but basically it didn't register how close it was because the road was kind of U-shaped and it was on the other side of the U and back some... and they were still over a mile away)
They couldn't hear anything in the summer during the day, or even during events because the trees blocked it. As soon as the leaves dropped, it was like a thunderdome in their living room.
Though at least that was limited to when events were running and not 24/7 like highway traffic.
Same deal here. We had a smoke spot across a river from drag racing strip. Winter was crazy for how much louder it was. What was muffled during summer was sounding like a whole runway during winter. (about half a km from the next spot, smoke spot was about 250 meters from the drag spot)
Used to think I was hearing a ghost train during winter nights because they are about a km out from me downhill, how am I hearing train this has a thick and valleyed forest between me and the tracks, closer to me and up the deeper valley walls)
Learned later about humidity, air pressure, sound waves and temperature, sound waves and travelling over water, travelling under cloud cover and it all starting make sense.
Growing up, a close friend of our family lived near a highway, also about 20 yards away. There was a bad semi accident, and one of the trucks had a chunk of wheel come off violently, striking and killing his three year old son playing in the backyard.
Fences are amazing but expensive. Then you still have to worry if you have an escape artist for a pet. I am lucky that our senior is content with her 200 sq ft of privacy fenced area in the L of the back of our house to poop in.
Absolute deal breaker. If you're okay with constant road noise especially trucks then go for it. Also don't forget in Winter when the trees are bare, you'll not only hear it more, you'll see it more. Don't do it.
> If you're okay with constant road noise especially trucks then go for it.
We bought a house on a busy road. I thought I was fine with the noise. But it just kept getting worse. Instead of getting used to it, it just got under our skin more and more. Never again.
I have lived on a highway, not an interstate but a state highway.
It was way louder than I ever would have imagined. Semis blowing by at high speed or using loud jake brakes, the highway was one of the single biggest contributors to us wanting to move.
If the house isn’t perfect you can usually remodel, fix, add-on to make it how you like. One thing you cannot fix/change is location.
When I moved to my house on major hwy 7 years ago it was quiet in the afternoons after 6. Now it’s constant loud trucks and cars. People going 60 in a 40 and passing on curves they shouldn’t . I’ve watched too many single car accidents within 100 feet both directions. Thankfully so far they have always ended in neighbors yard. But we get people turning around in our driveway at least once a day. And I live about 5 minutes from town.
Deal breaker for me if I get to ever move again.
I spent eight years in an apartment that backed up to a two-lane road carrying truck traffic at all hours. Eventually just tuned it out because I was single and broke and had no choice, but it was a consideration when I remarried and my wife and i started our house hunt.
We live near an interstate now but it's almost a mile away, and is basically just an unobtrusive white noise generator that gets attenuated pretty heavily by trees and topography. There are whole neighborhoods not far from here, though, that some of the houses back up to about thirty yards from said interstate and you can see them clearly as you drive by on it. You couldn't pay me enough to live that close.
Then that should also rule anyone out of living in any metro area as well. Living in the center of a major metro area would be worse than living in a small city next to a highway. Just some perspective…
Depends on the overall air quality. Living within a hundred yards of a busy highway is worse than most areas of most cities. Exceptions of course for highly polluted cities like Delhi. Or if you live next to a busy highway also in a city
It would be too variable for that to be a useful study unless it’s limited to one city and the surrounding areas. Like Houston vs Amsterdam for an extreme example; Houston is way more car dependent and therefore the emissions would be much higher.
Big cities are by far more environmentally friendly than tons of small towns and subdivisions. The closer and more walkable stuff is, the fewer resources have to be spent to get to it. The suburbs in particular are some of the most disastrous areas in terms of environmental impact.
I'm not talking about the impact on the environment, I'm talking about the environment around you. Air pollution in metro areas is a lot worse than in small rural cities, that's what you breathe in.
Deal Breaker for me. I can't deal with noise. Once lived in a condo unit next to a playground and it was awful. Didn't stay there long. But people are different. Many live next to highways, train tracks, airports, etc
I moved into an apartment in a small walkable area of Austin (the triangle) years ago and the only unit available faced the children’s play scape. I didn’t expect it to bother me, but I was 22 and went to the bars until 2am on weekends…. And kids like to play at the playground pretty early in the morning. Learned that quickly. At least I was 3 floors up.
Yup! We had a playscape behind the building next door. Lived on the first floor and part of our unit was slightly underground. Kids would nonstop draw on the outside of our bedroom windows with mud as they were near the ground. Living there was shit becayse of the kids, we wanted to move to a 55+ community so bad after that but we were in our 20s. Lololol
Hi! I have an interstate behind my backyard. You tune it out over time. We actually didnt hear it during any of the walk throughs. Now, the only time I hear it is if someone goes on the side and hits the bumpy lines (I don't know the real name for those). I have 3 dogs and a garden, and I still spend a lot of time in my backyard. But my house is in a very ideal location, good school district, and the layout and backyard are my favorite thing about it. Some noise is worth it to me.
As do we. We don’t butt up against it, but we are in a community that does, and it’s only about 200 feet from us, if that. All these people citing air quality must not live in a city, because I guarantee the people living in the big city 10 miles south of me, NOT off the highway, are dealing with more pollution than we are. It probably helps that there is very rarely stop and go traffic on the highway close to us, because we live on the edge of the urban growth boundary, and beyond us is rural. The road we live off of is louder than the actual highway. It’s white noise. I still hear the birds chirping and the bees buzzing. Our trees along the highways here are also evergreen. The air quality here is better than anywhere I’ve lived. Also, idling cars generally create more pollution than cars in motion. I would love to live somewhere quieter, but this house is my dream come true and I’m sticking with it.
We’re the same way. I think we’re ~200ft and up a hill from a 6 lane highway, but we have trees the whole way and a fence. We moved in February and you could definitely see the highway through the trees but now that there’s leaves it mostly blocks the view we have over the fence. The only noise we really hear are horns, motorcycles and other loud vehicles, but we also are in a fly zone so have airplane noise too; but as others have said you mostly learn to tune it out.
However we chose the house because the neighborhood is very well established with lots of original owners still here for 25 years and lots of kids that grew up here moving back to raise their own families. We have pools and tennis courts, some of the best schools in the county, and the house hit most of our wants/needs list otherwise. Plus we were able to negotiate for a good price due to the location as the highway has been a large deterrent for potential buyers.
If you really like this house, I wouldn’t let it deter you, unless it’s a very, very busy highway. Where I live, we mostly have evergreens separating the highway from us. My community is about 20 years old, and the people who have lived here the entire time are doing just fine, health wise. Pollution doesn’t just come from highways. I once lived several miles off a highway in Southern California, and the air pollution butted up against the mountains and created more pollution a few miles away than on the actual highway itself; so it’s also about geology and the environment you’ll be living in.
Our highway is a major interstate, but it only has traffic when there’s an incident, so that helps. Our air quality is great, too.
Also, there is a fence between us and the interstate. I don't worry about my dogs getting out and running for it. I also don't have trees between me and the road besides the trees in my neighbors and my yard. I would think if you have a tree barrier it would help a little bit to (at least outside of winter).
I have a giant yard that backs up to the hwy. the city provides 15ft solid wall fencing so I don’t see it but I can hear it (obviously) however the city also provided insulated windows. So in the house, I don’t hear anything. Outside, I notice when I pay attention— otherwise it’s basically white noise to me. I haven’t noticed the dust everyone else has commented on? But again, the walls might be helping with that.
I live in a major city so no matter where I go, there’s SOMETHING. I’m happy to not be near a fire station, school, factories etc…
even as someone who is very noise sensitive, white consistent noise like a hwy is easy to tune out while slamming construction or obnoxious neighbors would grate on my nerves so I knew what I was able to live with. it’s all a compromise.
1000% a dealbreaker.
First, just the noise and pollution of the existing highway.
Second, they could decide tomorrow to start a multi-year, loud, smelly, dangerous road work project and, guess what? That 20 yards of existing buffer could very well be right-of-way and they could expand the highway closer to your property.
Run away. Run far, run fast.
Even if you could live with the noise and/or pollution, you're taking on a house that will be inherently harder to resell and which will be more limited in its appreciation ceiling. Decide if those are downsides you want to take on.
Yup live at the corner of a 25 mph road and it gets loud in the winter. Especially with all the oil trucks. My home is also over 150 ft away from the road. Can’t imagine a busy highway what the noise would be like! Probably deafening!
Housing prices in my area are nuts (Ontario, Canada). Our house is very close to the 401 (busiest highway in North America for those that don’t know) and is also on a major road. Everytime the 401 gets shut down for an accident our road is backed up with transports and other traffic. If our housing market was better it would’ve been a dealbreaker but we got an amazing deal on our house and it checked off all the boxes except for being in a high traffic area. It’s a perfect spot for a yard sale or a roadside stand though!
I used to live in a house in a rural area and you knew there was a bad accident on the highway when you started hearing semis driving down the skinny two lane road behind us. And then not being able to turn at the t-intersection and blocking everything. There's a reason they tell them not to use that detour.🙄
>I think I could get accustomed to the noise
Plenty of posts in this sub from people that thought this, but then made a post how the noise is driving them crazy and how to do they fix it. Would be a deal breaker for me. It took me ~8 months to find my current house because I refused to even be near a busy street, let alone backing up to a highway. Now I sit in the middle of a neighborhood with plenty of buffer to the closest street that isn't a main thoroughfare. Nice and quiet, just how I like it!
Deal breaker for me. I'm far enough away from a route regularly used by semis that it doesn't bother me inside, but constantly hear them slowing down while outside. No way I could sleep through that noise closer.
Depends on the traffic level. I lived next to a railway switch yard and a 4 lane US highway, they were less than a mile apart and I live in the middle. There was a huge highway less than five miles away that went the same places, but not through the center of the towns. Trains didn’t bother me and the road not well used so it wasn’t an issue.
Moved to a large city, back fence was on a four lane divided street that was heavily traveled from 5AM till 3AM. We had to put us a sound fence, bushes and sound deadening windows.
I used to live 200 yards from a highway, a mile from another. I couldn't really hear them inside but the noise outside was 24/7.
After I moved it took me a long time to get used to zero outdoor noise. I don't think I could go back to highway life.
This is me. Lived off a major highway in the Detroit suburbs where it intersected with a north-south road. Motorcycle races on the freeway at night all summer long (they on the Lodge with it!) was the worst. But all year long the road surface produced pretty loud traffic noise that moved in waves and actually reminded me of when I lived off the Pacific Ocean in CA for short time. After I moved from the Highway House, the first night in my silent neighborhood I couldn't sleep due to the sound of all the crickets at night. Now I'm used to the relative silence and could never go back to that speedway sound.
I thought it would be alright inside, outside I knew it would be heard. So I built a new build house a few hundred feet from a freeway, there was only one lot between my house and the freeway (but it was the backyard of the other lot).
Actual experience was that the outside was loud as expected. The inside, downstairs wasn't bad since there was concrete walls between properties and couldn't hear much. Upstairs though, especially in the master bedroom, I could hear everything. The only things between the road noise and me was an exterior wall, and even with upgraded insulation, road noise was awful and trucks were the worst.
I tried many things to block out the noise (white noise, Bose sleep buds, earplugs, etc..), but all these things made me sleep like shit just like the road noise.
I stayed for 2 years and listed it right at the 2 yr mark. Thankfully this was around 2020/2021 and ended up making about 100k in the equity after 2 years... Took off some of the sting of losing my 2.5% rate. But I'm way happier in the new house that came after in a much better location. Sometimes it takes a hard lesson to learn that sayings are sayings for a reason... And "location, location, location" is an absolute truth.
If you’re still on the fence, resale is tough and if the area starts going bad with crime it might start on that street making it even harder to sell. Been there done that, good neighborhood when I moved in, took a $30,000 hit and 6 months to sell after I was involved in 3 instances of crossfire and my wife was almost car jacked. I was happy to pay a $30,000 fee to get the hell out.
I'd be very hesitant. The amount of brake and tire dust generated is non-trivial. When I had a plane, my hangar faced a medium busy street. Th amount of dust generated was tremendous and it was nasty stuff.
As someone that used to live next to a very busy road, I did not realize how much collateral stress it put on us as a family until we moved away from it.
It will bother you, albeit in insidious ways, that you don't realize.
A friend of mine bought a house on a service rd that runs next to I-75 in the rural-suburbs of Detroit. His front door is 60 yards from the freeway. He would go to the house on random days and times to hear the noise and it was never that bad. He bought it.
Then summer came around and the next exit up the freeway is a concert venue that backs up traffic before events. The gridlock traffic was loud. People honking, yelling, getting out and pissing in full view of his living room window.. all that was louder than just normal travel. Then when the concert gets out they use his service road as an auxiliary exit which backs up his single lane road and they are even louder leaving the venue.
So yeah... May seem nice but you need to spend a lot of time to make sure you covered everything. He didn't..
I had an apartment that overlooked an interstate highway. You can only pretend that road noise is the ocean for so long.
Even three floors up I could still smell the exhaust, etc.
It’s a dealbreaker until it isn’t. Housing is so expensive where we were and we had to make some sacrifices. One of them was proximity to the freeway. We ended up buying and honestly, got used to the noise. Pollution is another discussion but if you’re worried about noise level, you might get used to it and not notice at some point.
It was a hard no for me. Absolutely non negotiable. I have pets, I am terrified enough where I live (dead end accessed by backroads) of them getting loose and getting hit, never mind near a highway or busy road.
The vast majority of microplastics in the environment comes from [tires](https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/us/microplastic-pollution-car-tire-trnd/index.html).
Besides the noise, that's what makes it a real dealbreaker.
Also, the shit that comes off tires is one of the most toxic substances for salmon species. I'm not saying people are salmon, but something that toxic to a fish is probably not doing a person any favours either.
When I was a kid one of the houses we lived in was right of of 65 and honestly it was nice because we were away from people (also had woods around us) but it wasn't a pain in the ass to get in to town for groceries/school/work because the main road was RIGHT there. As for the air quality I will let the people that actually know what they are talking about do the explaining but I would imagine it would be better near a bunch of trees versus in town where there is hardly anything.
It wouldn’t be for me, personally, but I know it would be for a lot of people. I grew up in the city and twice lived on a direct route to the hospital (like… same street.) One house for 19 years and one for 6. I think you can get used to most amounts of noise. I’ve lived by the train tracks too and stopped noticing train noises after like two or three weeks.
Having said that, the air quality might be bad and depending on which highway this is and where it runs, semi trucks and their brakes can be loud as fuck.
I have a friend who lives near a freeway. They have windows they specifically installed for sound reduction, planted a large hedge. They run air filters. Most importantly they almost never go outside of their house. They really like the hermetically sealed vibe , so it works just fine for them. I need windows open and spend most of my time in my yard so I couldn’t do it.
Air pollution and noise pollution.
Plus my personally feeling obligated to care for or keep an eye out for the neighborhood’s pets not somehow running through my yard towards the highway, or otherwise feeling obligated to handle the bodies. It’s not like it’d be my responsibility but I would notice and not be able to ignore it, especially since I’m not too bothered by handling dead animals and most people are.
It’s the dust that’s the deal breaker for me. I’ve lived on busy streets before and I can always get used to the noise, but I hate that when I leave my windows open everything gets covered in a fine layer of black road dust. If you don’t clean regularly, the dust builds up into an oily goo that is difficult to remove.
My mother-in-law's house was by a small highway. TxDot needed to expand the highway for hurricane evacuations, and now they own every single one of her trees since they're on the new easement. They're just not allowed in our yard to do anything about them.
An on ramp for sure. I used to live next to one and the acceleration of loud cars was really irritating.
I think it depends on your lifestyle. Someone who always has their tv on or music playing - someone who doesn’t have a lot of backyard parties - probably won’t care.
But imagine holding your child first birthday party in your backyard and you’re recording video of them eating their slice of cake and HOOOOOONK VROOOOOM is picked up. That would suck. But maybe 20 yards is far enough that isn’t an issue. I can’t comment on the air pollution aspect. I imagine if that highway gets backed up for periods of time that could be bad.
Been there, done that. Do not recommend. Your house will be dirty with vehicle exhaust if you keep your windows open. Noise, of course. Not just regular traffic but sometimes drag racers, trucks, noisy motorcycles, in the middle of the night, too. My kid had asthma and respiratory issues frequently when we lived in an apartment like that. The foliage will help, but I don't think that it will completely mitigate the problems.
Road pollution is nasty - what’s in the air as well as what settles in your home and on everything. My daughter used to wash her screens monthly otherwise they’d get so dark, she couldn’t see out her windows.
Not only are there all the concerns people have already mentioned but constant background noise is not healthy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_from_noise
Also consider how many people in this thread (me included) would never buy a house that close to a major road. It will be extremely hard to resell that house in the future.
Too much noise for me. I'm up against a state road where everyone does 50mph in a 35. I soundproofed my windows and it's fine now after many years. But a highway is a whole different level of noise that I couldn't live with.
That close is definitely a deal breaker for me, and I think many people.
The noise is only part of the problem. I live about a quarter mile from a highway and we can still hear road noise from it, if you're going to be less than 100 feet away you will absolutely hear it and will likely want to look at noise insulation. In many areas the morning rush starts to build up well before the sun is up.
There is also random crap that gets tossed from cars or falls out of trucks that can easily make it into your yard. You'll be picking up random garbage regularly, and anything outside will get dirty more quickly.
There is also pollution from exhaust. The air quality will be greatly reduced both outside and inside of your home.
There is also pet safety to consider. If you have outdoor cars then they're in grave danger being that close. If you expect to have a dog outside even if your yard is fenced there is a risk of escape. The same applies to young kids playing in the yard.
Yes, and arterial streets. I barely like that I'm on a semi-busy street (during rush hour) but that seems the only way to get something affordable and walkable in a HCOL city.
Yes. Highway noise sucks and it'll affect resale value.
Now, if you get an appropriate discount on the purchase price, and the highway noise is generallyike white noise, it's alright.
It really depends how much distance you have between the highway and your property and what barriers are between them eg trees, wall, fence, open land et.
Deal breaker for me. I did wind up buying a house in a neighborhood that is one property removed from a busy 2 lane road. I can hear road noise on my patio but not in the house, unless someone has a super bass stereo or an exhaust for a-holes. I’m happy with it. I looked at a house that was right next to I-5 and I didn’t make it past the driveway. I opened the car door and noped right out of there.
I grew up near one, and it never bothered us. But my bedroom was on the other side of the house. And the way it was situated, around 300 yds, with a forest between us
Excessive noise is a deal breaker. We looked at houses that were perfect except for the fact that you could hear airplanes flying overhead constantly or hear the constant whoosh of cars nearby. Hard pass. I want to be able to have the windows open or sit outside without constant noise. Sure, I didn't anticipate dogs barking but at least that stops.
I remember reading an article in Germany about the Black Forest. It was dying years ago because of the asbestos from the brake pads. Can you imagine? Of course it’s changed now. But I thought that was interesting.
Asthma is much more common if you live next to a road, and I absolutely wouldn’t do that if you have kids because it can mess them up for life. It’s also just generally dirty, you’ll get nasty dust all over everything. The resale value of the house is always going to be lower for the same reason.
You’ll get accustomed to it. But whenever I visit friends that live near a highway it’s always something that I can’t unhear. It’s a dealbreaker for me
Dealbreaker, I know people who live by 2 different 2 lane highways, if you're not on flat land where they just go by always at the same speed, and don't have to accelerate up a hill or near any kind of corner then "maybe' but, you'll be amazed how many cars and trucks are super loud when they accelerate and how many loud motorcycles go by and even cars with deer whistles or trucks with knobby tires, how loud it all is. Have had to stop speaking until offending noise moves out of earshot. If the price is lower than similar nearby houses not on that highway you know why.
100 percent deal breaker. you may eventually get used to the noise, but your air quality will allways be sub par living that close to it. especially if it has heavy traffic.
Re-sale may be an issue. I had a house on a busy street. When I went to sell (25 years ago), I had three different realtors tell me it would be worth 30k more if the house was any where else. This was a small house, in a small town with a busy through street. 30k was 25% more.
I used to live two miles from the freeway, and while I got used to the noise, I never got used to the constant very fine black grit that covers everything. You can keep your windows closed year round, of course, but it still settles on everything everywhere else.
Wouldn’t be an issue for me. My work backs up to an interstate and (other than the occasional truck shifting down) I barely notice it. It wouldn’t be ideal, but I’d say it’s far from a deal breaker.
It’s going to depend on how busy the highway is. An interstate or well used highway, no way. Something in the country that doesn’t get a lot of traffic…
Sat at a house last weekend that’s off the highway. In the 30 minutes we were there there were 5 vehicles that passes, I don’t think any were heavy trucks and we were 1/2 way between 2 pretty small rural towns. Even if you quadruple the traffic during the week thats only 20/ hour. We haven’t taken it off the list - 12ac that backs to river and great trees.
Need to better define highway. I live on a state highway. It’s one lane in each direction, 40mph speed limit, and slows down going into town just past my house. Our house is also about 150 feet from the road. Yes, there’s road noise and it’s occasionally obnoxious but I’ve pretty much tuned it out and I’m also the type of person that likes background noise. Sometimes I visit family who live deep into some back road and the lack of any activity is weird to me. I also like being able to go into town quickly without an extra few minutes of meandering by car or even longer on foot. Air quality is a concern but I don’t suspect my current situation is any worse than living in town on a slow road. Obviously worse than living on a back road.
To answer your question. If my house was closer to my road, I wouldn’t have purchased it. If my road were 55mph, I wouldn’t have purchased. But my specific situation is just fine for me.
By highway, do you mean 2 lane, 4 lane, or interstate?
My current house sits about 200 yards back from a fairly busy 2 lane highway but I am currently sitting in my kitchen beside the window facing the road with traffic going by and the cars passing is a low hum... no louder than a fan in the background.
However, my house was built in 1960 of cinderblock, has had vinyl siding and related insulation added in the '90s, and has noise blocking windows installed.
I barely hear the jets and planes fly by unless they are doing mach speed treetop drills directly overhead. I live within a couple of miles of a military air base.
The noise is a lot louder if I am out in the yard, but it isn't a deal breaker for me.
If it were a constantly busy 4 lane or an interstate, I probably wouldn't unless there were other incentives like a fantastic price or it being my dream home within my budget.
Edit: if you go for it, invest in a high-quality air purifier. Keep it going in your house year round to mitigate any of the risks. We have one going all the time.
I’m about 40 yards from a two lane main rd, given only like 3 roads into town but it’s a small town. In order to sleep at night I have to have a sound machine blasting or knock a few back, so yes it would be a deal breaker.
I would recommend spending a day or night just in a car with the window up on the street you’re considering. See if you really can get used to it. Then imagine friend and family coming over to bbq or watch the game?
Btw I have some nicely filled evergreens blocking all the road besides my driveway. Any speeding a hole or big truck could wake me out of my sleep. Triple pane glass windows too.
100%, not a fucking chance.
A buddy bought a place about 1/2 mile from a rural interstate... He planted a bunch of trees and I guess it seemed okay. But things changed and he had to move. It was impossible to sell the place. He may still own it for all I know.
Just don't. Living near the highway is super annoying, bad for your health, etc... And you'll keep that shit forever.. [like luggage](https://youtu.be/LSPehKy4mUc?feature=shared)...
Yes. I live two miles from an interstate as the crow flies, and I can hear cars zip along if the wind is right and there's no birds singing that day on my property.
Lived by a major bridge for 20 years. After a few months you only notice 3 things. Sirens, Harley's with modified exhaust, and silence if the bridge gets closed.
If you have a Harley with a modified exhaust fuck you from the bottom of my heart.
My first house backed in to a 6 lane highway, but they built hills along the sides to direct the noise upwards and away from houses. It really was not an issue and I had good access to said highway which was super convenient.
It really comes down to how well was it built and do you have an opportunity to build a sound barrier fence if needed.
I’d read up on the air pollution that kicks up from tires on the freeways. The particles are tiny and they can get in the lungs and also cross the blood brain barrier. I wish I was being overly sensitive about it but yeah, it’s true.
If you potentially have other options, I’d suggest staying away from a home near the highway.
When looking for houses where I want to settle. I will often see some priced affordable and wonded why. Then I click and see they are very close to a highway or busy two lane road. Nah, I'll pay a little more for peace and quiet.
Lotta dust. I used to live in a rural area but it was right off a main trucking route. If I kept the front door and windows open, by the end of one day, there'd be a layer of dust on everything. You wouldn't really notice it. But, after you cleaned, the next day boom there it was. And of course, you have to configure. Also breathing all that in. Then there's the noise....
Id never buy a house near a highway! Noise, air quality, backed up traffic or accidents or some one running out of gas and potentially walking into your yard trying to get help/gas/off the highway etc NOPE.
For me - it would all depend on the type of traffic. A NYC type highway CONSTANTLY full of cars and commercial traffic and a highway in Southern NJ are two totally different animals.
My would be step brother has a home that backs up against a highway. I've been there several times over the weekends and never noticed anything. Its a very nice middle class home as well (by my standards), and I wouldn't hesitate to be where he is.
The worst part for me about living with an "Expressway" (2 lanes in each direction, and a suicide lane) in my backyard, isn't the normal sound of traffic. I can deal with the sound of cars driving back & forth. It's the late night (after 11pm) drag races that go along with a straight stretch of road with minimal stoplights on it. Between the Camaro/Mustang crowd (which I grew up in) to the turbo import cars, and motorcycles are the worst!
For that reason, I will never again live next to a highway or busy street. Unfortunately, I'm going to be stuck here for another 10 years or so. Hmph.
You can change the house itself but you can’t change the location. The noise might be ok now but it probably won’t be ok in the future.
I, personally, would pass on the house.
While traveling for a year we lived next to a highway in 3 locations, then settled in an apartment next to a busy road people treat like a highway. No more, I’m sick of the constant loud engines, rattling utility trailers, truck engine brakes and diesel/gas pollution! Hard to enjoy tv or music at normal levels indoors, and hard to enjoy being outside on the patio. Told ourselves we’d get used to it. We were wrong and should have known better.
Thank you for the warning.
It’s also the tire dust. Black dust on everything.
Came here to say this- omg it’s so bad
Omg yes, so much dust
Go stay in a hotel beside the highway and see if it’s bearable. To me, it isn’t. I wish you luck in your house search!
Also the sound of car accidents. You never get used to it, it always sounds scary.
Especially in the cold winter nights
Damn, that sounds scary. How often would you hear one?
Pollution, pollution, pollution. There's a million reasons why real estate is so much cheaper near highways. Almost as bad as living next to an airport. Your quality of life pretty much will not exist.
We live in a house in 30 yards from a 4 lane road. A major road in our area. 10,000+\- cars pass per day. Don’t do it. We can’t wait to move. I had a huge garden, but let it all go to weeds. The car noise is not what you want when you’re in your garden. The tyre and brake dust coat everything. I worry about my kids being outside for any appreciable amount of time in our back yard. If I had an electron microscope and a mass spectrometer I would write and research something of value.
Recently brake dust was found to be quite dangerous. AI written: Brake dust can be hazardous to breathe in because it contains tiny metal particles that can be inhaled into the lungs. These particles can cause a variety of health issues, including: Lung damage Brake dust can damage lung cells and other organs. For example, brake particles that contain asbestos can lead to lung cancer, mesothelioma, or asbestosis. Reduced immune system Brake dust can reduce the immune system's ability to fight bacterial infections. Inflammation Brake dust can cause inflammation in the lungs. Cardiovascular disease Prolonged exposure to brake dust particles may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemic heart disease. Phys.org Brake dust air pollution may have same harmful effects on immune cells as diesel exhaust Jan 9, 2020 Futurity How brake dust could end up harming your lungs - Futurity Mar 3, 2017 — New research shows how brake and tire dust—a cloud of tiny metal particles—coul... U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (.gov) Preventing Asbestos Exposure Among Brake and Clutch Repair Workers Persons breathing the air may then inhale asbestos fibers. Continued exposure can increase... MRC Toxicology Unit | Air pollution from brake dust may have same harmful effects on immune cells ... Jan 20, 2020 — Dust from brake friction is rich in metals, which can catalyse the production ... Tallano Technologies Cancer, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases: what happens to your body ... Jul 9, 2023 — “Some brake particles can be toxic and cause damage to lung cells and other org... Brake dust is a major source of air pollution on highways, and can linger over busy roadways. While each car releases a small amount of metal dust when it uses its brakes, high volumes of cars can create measurable amounts. In urban areas, brake wear can contribute up to 55% of total non-exhaust traffic-related PM10 emissions by mass. However, this contribution is lower on freeways because of less frequent braking
We have a lot of truck bros with big stupid tires. On a quiet night you can hear those damn things droning on from over a mile away. Motorcycles too. We're on some kind of popular poker run route. Nice weekends can be pretty unbearable with dozens of those "loud pipes save lives" types flying by.
Ugh on both cases
Don’t forget the trash. It’s insane how much crap people just throw out if their car on the highway. There is a small road that is parallel to a highway near me with houses a couple hundred feet from the highway. Nice houses, recent construction. I can’t figure out why anyone would buy one unless it was like half the normal price. Even then I probably wouldn’t.
This. We lived about an acre away from a medium highway and no thanks. This highway was used often by semis and those damn things are loud af. You’d always get a random one waking you up in the middle of the morning. If you’re a light sleeper good luck. We moved and now we live like a half mile from any big roads and it’s so much quieter now. It’s nice. We can be outside and not hear anything. At best at night we hear local coyotes once in a while.
We back up to a major highway. Noise isn’t bad, we got used to it. We are about 1/2 acre away from the pavement. No dust in our case, but once the dog got loose and we caught him just before she darted out there!
Deal breaker for me. And it’s not just air quality and road noise. We had family that lived on a farm that was next to an interstate. The farmhouse was clearly visible from the road. They got a lot of weirdos coming up to the house. They trained the kids from the time they were little to run to the house and lock the doors if they saw someone coming.
Were they right off the exit? Most houses that back on the interstate aren't going to see additional foot traffic, people aren't going up a mile, getting off at the exit and circling back to see what's going on in one of the hundreds houses they passed.
It was close to an exit. But most of the people coming were pulling over on the interstate and walking up. Or were hitchhiking because there was no visible car. Keep in mind this wasn’t a house amongst hundreds. It was a lone farmhouse that faced at a slight angle the interstate. Set slightly on a hill. Easily seen and stood out. Farmhouse predated the interstate. But case in point - living close to a highway brings a volume of people closer to you. And you’d be surprised at the effort people might go to depending on circumstances and perceived opportunity.
I live in a town with the state's major highway cutting through. Some houses are right against a major highway from Boston to Oregon. I wonder how many strangers must pass one of those homes in a day. The high volume of people makes it feel like it would increase your chances of crossing paths with someone nefarious.
Tell me you haven’t lived on a highway without telling me you haven’t lived on a highway.
Yes
Even a mile away from the highway is going to be surprisingly loud.
I live about three miles from the highway and can hear it on quiet mornings.
When it's quiet at night, I can hear airliners as they start their engines at the airport. It's 5 miles away. Sound can really travel.
I live under a flight path, a couple miles from the airport, and I can hear the planes putting their landing gear down. The sound travels so well that it took me a little while to figure out it was coming from the planes.
I live next to the foot hills in Denver. As the planes come across the mountains and start their decent, I can hear them drop engine speed and sometimes ramp back up. Nothing crazy or annoying but sure as hell surprising given DIA is a 45 - 60 min drive east. I'd never back up to a highway myself to address OP's question. Just sharing my fun little fact.
Yeah early in the morning I can hear the sweet sounds of truckers serenading the bad Florida drivers with their horns. Didn’t even realize the turnpike was .2 miles away when I bought the place.
I am 2.25 miles from I-95. Not sure I have ever heard it. Now I am 2,500 feet from a fire station and I hear that every once in a while. There is an elementary school 1,000 feet from me and when school is in I can here the bell for changing classes as well as the announcements. I am a little less than a mile to the high school field and every once in a while I can hear the marching band playing.
Sound travels further when the air is cooler. There's a freeway a couple miles away from me, and I hear cars all the time. It's worse in the winter because of the cooler air.
Or maybe it’s because there’s less foliage to absorb noise.
Agreed. I lived in a neighborhood about a mile and a half from a very busy interstate highway. We could easily hear the drone of traffic. No way I’d live any closer to one.
I think the distance at which you can hear a highway will vary greatly depending on the topography and development of an area. I live about 8k' feet from an 8 lane highway and can't hear it at all. There are two large neighborhoods between me and the highway, but even 10-15 years ago when those neighborhoods weren't there I couldn't hear it. My parents live 2200' from the same highway and rarely hear it.
I’d agree about the topography. Except for a few homes, it was mostly pasture between us and the interstate.
Noise is going to increase stress levels for most people and reduce sleep. Pollution is going to decrease health though you'd have to read the studies to make an informed purchase. If you are mostly indoors you can probably remedy some of this by paying a few hundred bucks a year on nice big air purifiers and HEPA filters or adding them to your building HVAC etc, but it's still best avoided.
I lived about 1 mile away from the freeway and it was fine till the city came along and cut down all the trees along the freeway, then it sounded like it was in my back yard. I began to hate where I lived as the noise never stopped.
The noise is one thing. You can get used to it. It’s the volume of black dust! Inside and outside your house!
I live a mile away and can’t hear it at all… guess it depends on what’s between the house and the highway. Edit: should also clarify, there’s a few different words for “highway”, which could assume that the multi-lane, high-speed road sits above regular traffic. I use freeway/highway interchangeably, but my freeway does not sit above regular traffic, it is on the ground, and there are bridges that go over it. The bridges are surrounded by hills. Maybe that really helps with road noise (but I know another reason my state prefers them on the ground is due to winter weather; winter precip doesn’t accumulate as fast on freeways that are on the ground, especially compared to bridges and overpasses).
I live maybe less than a quarter mile from I-90 Windows make all the difference. When my windows are shut I can't hear it at all. Might be triple pane? They're definitely at least high quality double pane. They were a selling point of the house for sure.
I had a few "must haves" on my list * A flat property * Two car garage * Not on a through way * Not in the flight path of airlines * Not next to highways There were highways a few miles away but they didn't seem noisy so I bought the house. I could hear the traffic only when the wind was blowing in my direction but otherwise, no problem. Over the years, the population boomed. Now I can hear the traffic all the time, especially during rush hour. And I can hear the emergency sirens for the near daily rush hour traffic accidents. I replaced the 30 year old windows with triple pane windows which greatly reduced the noise. But it's nothing compared to the idiot neighbors who leave their extremely loud barking dogs out most of the day (by law, they can't have the dogs barking before 0700 or after 2200)
My house is one block from a rail yard. I'd rather live directly next to the rail yard over a highway.
Same, I grew up with a train that ran about a quarter mile from our house, used to put me to sleep.
We had Amtrak and freight trains running through the middle of our back yard. Would wake up, realize it's a train, and go right back to sleep.
Do you like to go outdoors into your yard? If you do, walk away from that house. You are right to be concerned about the air quality. Asthma is common among people who live near a highway. You said the noise is OK to you--but I think that will wear on you over time. I once lived on a major intersection, it was terrible.
The noise could be okay on a Monday but then you go the next day and it's horrendous. It's crazy it's all about where the breeze or the wind is blowing it makes a huge difference. I tell people who thinking about being this close to a major highway go there every single day and hang out for 2 hours . Monitor the noise level see if you can stand it. Some friends moved near a highway they saw the house on the weekend when it was quiet. She was losing her mind she said I'm going insane I can't take it. No amount of insulation and new windows helped and they were never able to sit outside. They sold the house at a loss
I live about a half mile from a major interstate, and sometimes you can barely hear it, and sometimes it is quite loud. I don't know if it is the wind, bouncing off clouds, atmospheric pressure, or what, but it definitely changes.
It's the Humidity. We have a railyard in town, some nights you don't even notice. Some nights.......... They're in my living room eating my snacks.
coulds have a major impact on it. My parents live not even that close to a freeway and it goes from almost inaudible to fairly noticibale on low cloud cover days.
The noise could also be considerably louder for half of the year if they live in a place that loses its tree leaves in the fall.
Yep, I was about to say this. Knew somebody that bought a house that was, unknown to them, near a small/local Nascar race track. (It's hard to describe but basically it didn't register how close it was because the road was kind of U-shaped and it was on the other side of the U and back some... and they were still over a mile away) They couldn't hear anything in the summer during the day, or even during events because the trees blocked it. As soon as the leaves dropped, it was like a thunderdome in their living room. Though at least that was limited to when events were running and not 24/7 like highway traffic.
Same deal here. We had a smoke spot across a river from drag racing strip. Winter was crazy for how much louder it was. What was muffled during summer was sounding like a whole runway during winter. (about half a km from the next spot, smoke spot was about 250 meters from the drag spot) Used to think I was hearing a ghost train during winter nights because they are about a km out from me downhill, how am I hearing train this has a thick and valleyed forest between me and the tracks, closer to me and up the deeper valley walls) Learned later about humidity, air pressure, sound waves and temperature, sound waves and travelling over water, travelling under cloud cover and it all starting make sense.
Asthma is a huge concern. Kids who grow up within ~~1000~~300 feet of a highway have WAY higher incidence of developing asthma.
Don’t know if you have pets or kids, but the anxiety of them getting out and onto the road is another reason it’s a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
Shades of Pet Cemetery.
Sometimes, dead is bettah
It all started with a skid on the pavement
Watch out Gage!
Growing up, a close friend of our family lived near a highway, also about 20 yards away. There was a bad semi accident, and one of the trucks had a chunk of wheel come off violently, striking and killing his three year old son playing in the backyard.
I just started crying. How utterly senseless and devastating.
Fences are amazing but expensive. Then you still have to worry if you have an escape artist for a pet. I am lucky that our senior is content with her 200 sq ft of privacy fenced area in the L of the back of our house to poop in.
Absolute deal breaker. If you're okay with constant road noise especially trucks then go for it. Also don't forget in Winter when the trees are bare, you'll not only hear it more, you'll see it more. Don't do it.
> If you're okay with constant road noise especially trucks then go for it. We bought a house on a busy road. I thought I was fine with the noise. But it just kept getting worse. Instead of getting used to it, it just got under our skin more and more. Never again.
I have lived on a highway, not an interstate but a state highway. It was way louder than I ever would have imagined. Semis blowing by at high speed or using loud jake brakes, the highway was one of the single biggest contributors to us wanting to move. If the house isn’t perfect you can usually remodel, fix, add-on to make it how you like. One thing you cannot fix/change is location.
When I moved to my house on major hwy 7 years ago it was quiet in the afternoons after 6. Now it’s constant loud trucks and cars. People going 60 in a 40 and passing on curves they shouldn’t . I’ve watched too many single car accidents within 100 feet both directions. Thankfully so far they have always ended in neighbors yard. But we get people turning around in our driveway at least once a day. And I live about 5 minutes from town. Deal breaker for me if I get to ever move again.
We lived next to a downhill bend on a truck route. The jake brakes made me nuts.
Exact same thing, they even had a sign at the top of the hill for no jake brakes, it didn’t help lol.
I spent eight years in an apartment that backed up to a two-lane road carrying truck traffic at all hours. Eventually just tuned it out because I was single and broke and had no choice, but it was a consideration when I remarried and my wife and i started our house hunt. We live near an interstate now but it's almost a mile away, and is basically just an unobtrusive white noise generator that gets attenuated pretty heavily by trees and topography. There are whole neighborhoods not far from here, though, that some of the houses back up to about thirty yards from said interstate and you can see them clearly as you drive by on it. You couldn't pay me enough to live that close.
Air pollution should be a concern on top of the noise. Deal breaker.
Then that should also rule anyone out of living in any metro area as well. Living in the center of a major metro area would be worse than living in a small city next to a highway. Just some perspective…
Depends on the overall air quality. Living within a hundred yards of a busy highway is worse than most areas of most cities. Exceptions of course for highly polluted cities like Delhi. Or if you live next to a busy highway also in a city
Is there actually a study that says living right next to a highway in a rural area has less pollution than away from a highway in a large metro?
It would be too variable for that to be a useful study unless it’s limited to one city and the surrounding areas. Like Houston vs Amsterdam for an extreme example; Houston is way more car dependent and therefore the emissions would be much higher.
Well yeah, nobody ever said that living in a high density metro area is environmentally healthy or comparable to a small green city living.
Big cities are by far more environmentally friendly than tons of small towns and subdivisions. The closer and more walkable stuff is, the fewer resources have to be spent to get to it. The suburbs in particular are some of the most disastrous areas in terms of environmental impact.
I'm not talking about the impact on the environment, I'm talking about the environment around you. Air pollution in metro areas is a lot worse than in small rural cities, that's what you breathe in.
Deal Breaker for me. I can't deal with noise. Once lived in a condo unit next to a playground and it was awful. Didn't stay there long. But people are different. Many live next to highways, train tracks, airports, etc
I moved into an apartment in a small walkable area of Austin (the triangle) years ago and the only unit available faced the children’s play scape. I didn’t expect it to bother me, but I was 22 and went to the bars until 2am on weekends…. And kids like to play at the playground pretty early in the morning. Learned that quickly. At least I was 3 floors up.
Yup! We had a playscape behind the building next door. Lived on the first floor and part of our unit was slightly underground. Kids would nonstop draw on the outside of our bedroom windows with mud as they were near the ground. Living there was shit becayse of the kids, we wanted to move to a 55+ community so bad after that but we were in our 20s. Lololol
Yes. Look up the studies of childhood asthma and proximity to highways.
While you are at it, look at cardiac incidents related to proximity to highways.
and neurodegenerative disorders in both children and older adults
Hi! I have an interstate behind my backyard. You tune it out over time. We actually didnt hear it during any of the walk throughs. Now, the only time I hear it is if someone goes on the side and hits the bumpy lines (I don't know the real name for those). I have 3 dogs and a garden, and I still spend a lot of time in my backyard. But my house is in a very ideal location, good school district, and the layout and backyard are my favorite thing about it. Some noise is worth it to me.
rumble strips
Thank you! 😂
As do we. We don’t butt up against it, but we are in a community that does, and it’s only about 200 feet from us, if that. All these people citing air quality must not live in a city, because I guarantee the people living in the big city 10 miles south of me, NOT off the highway, are dealing with more pollution than we are. It probably helps that there is very rarely stop and go traffic on the highway close to us, because we live on the edge of the urban growth boundary, and beyond us is rural. The road we live off of is louder than the actual highway. It’s white noise. I still hear the birds chirping and the bees buzzing. Our trees along the highways here are also evergreen. The air quality here is better than anywhere I’ve lived. Also, idling cars generally create more pollution than cars in motion. I would love to live somewhere quieter, but this house is my dream come true and I’m sticking with it.
We’re the same way. I think we’re ~200ft and up a hill from a 6 lane highway, but we have trees the whole way and a fence. We moved in February and you could definitely see the highway through the trees but now that there’s leaves it mostly blocks the view we have over the fence. The only noise we really hear are horns, motorcycles and other loud vehicles, but we also are in a fly zone so have airplane noise too; but as others have said you mostly learn to tune it out. However we chose the house because the neighborhood is very well established with lots of original owners still here for 25 years and lots of kids that grew up here moving back to raise their own families. We have pools and tennis courts, some of the best schools in the county, and the house hit most of our wants/needs list otherwise. Plus we were able to negotiate for a good price due to the location as the highway has been a large deterrent for potential buyers.
Same situation. Everyone else for the most part is there..
If you really like this house, I wouldn’t let it deter you, unless it’s a very, very busy highway. Where I live, we mostly have evergreens separating the highway from us. My community is about 20 years old, and the people who have lived here the entire time are doing just fine, health wise. Pollution doesn’t just come from highways. I once lived several miles off a highway in Southern California, and the air pollution butted up against the mountains and created more pollution a few miles away than on the actual highway itself; so it’s also about geology and the environment you’ll be living in. Our highway is a major interstate, but it only has traffic when there’s an incident, so that helps. Our air quality is great, too.
Also, there is a fence between us and the interstate. I don't worry about my dogs getting out and running for it. I also don't have trees between me and the road besides the trees in my neighbors and my yard. I would think if you have a tree barrier it would help a little bit to (at least outside of winter).
I have a giant yard that backs up to the hwy. the city provides 15ft solid wall fencing so I don’t see it but I can hear it (obviously) however the city also provided insulated windows. So in the house, I don’t hear anything. Outside, I notice when I pay attention— otherwise it’s basically white noise to me. I haven’t noticed the dust everyone else has commented on? But again, the walls might be helping with that. I live in a major city so no matter where I go, there’s SOMETHING. I’m happy to not be near a fire station, school, factories etc… even as someone who is very noise sensitive, white consistent noise like a hwy is easy to tune out while slamming construction or obnoxious neighbors would grate on my nerves so I knew what I was able to live with. it’s all a compromise.
1000% a dealbreaker. First, just the noise and pollution of the existing highway. Second, they could decide tomorrow to start a multi-year, loud, smelly, dangerous road work project and, guess what? That 20 yards of existing buffer could very well be right-of-way and they could expand the highway closer to your property. Run away. Run far, run fast.
Far and fast? Sounds like they need to find a highway..
Look at I-95 in Chester, Pennsylvania to see what that looks like.
Even if you could live with the noise and/or pollution, you're taking on a house that will be inherently harder to resell and which will be more limited in its appreciation ceiling. Decide if those are downsides you want to take on.
Not really. It depends on the area. 200 feet off a highway (like OP’s prospective house) is much easier to sell than directly off one.
I couldn't do it. I live on a 35 mph road and that's too much at times.
I live on a 25 where they drive 35-50 and it's too much at times. At least our house is very well insulated.
Yup live at the corner of a 25 mph road and it gets loud in the winter. Especially with all the oil trucks. My home is also over 150 ft away from the road. Can’t imagine a busy highway what the noise would be like! Probably deafening!
Housing prices in my area are nuts (Ontario, Canada). Our house is very close to the 401 (busiest highway in North America for those that don’t know) and is also on a major road. Everytime the 401 gets shut down for an accident our road is backed up with transports and other traffic. If our housing market was better it would’ve been a dealbreaker but we got an amazing deal on our house and it checked off all the boxes except for being in a high traffic area. It’s a perfect spot for a yard sale or a roadside stand though!
I used to live in a house in a rural area and you knew there was a bad accident on the highway when you started hearing semis driving down the skinny two lane road behind us. And then not being able to turn at the t-intersection and blocking everything. There's a reason they tell them not to use that detour.🙄
>I think I could get accustomed to the noise Plenty of posts in this sub from people that thought this, but then made a post how the noise is driving them crazy and how to do they fix it. Would be a deal breaker for me. It took me ~8 months to find my current house because I refused to even be near a busy street, let alone backing up to a highway. Now I sit in the middle of a neighborhood with plenty of buffer to the closest street that isn't a main thoroughfare. Nice and quiet, just how I like it!
Deal breaker for me. I'm far enough away from a route regularly used by semis that it doesn't bother me inside, but constantly hear them slowing down while outside. No way I could sleep through that noise closer.
Depends on the traffic level. I lived next to a railway switch yard and a 4 lane US highway, they were less than a mile apart and I live in the middle. There was a huge highway less than five miles away that went the same places, but not through the center of the towns. Trains didn’t bother me and the road not well used so it wasn’t an issue. Moved to a large city, back fence was on a four lane divided street that was heavily traveled from 5AM till 3AM. We had to put us a sound fence, bushes and sound deadening windows.
Yes all about how much traffic and how big the hwy is
I used to live 200 yards from a highway, a mile from another. I couldn't really hear them inside but the noise outside was 24/7. After I moved it took me a long time to get used to zero outdoor noise. I don't think I could go back to highway life.
This is me. Lived off a major highway in the Detroit suburbs where it intersected with a north-south road. Motorcycle races on the freeway at night all summer long (they on the Lodge with it!) was the worst. But all year long the road surface produced pretty loud traffic noise that moved in waves and actually reminded me of when I lived off the Pacific Ocean in CA for short time. After I moved from the Highway House, the first night in my silent neighborhood I couldn't sleep due to the sound of all the crickets at night. Now I'm used to the relative silence and could never go back to that speedway sound.
Oh yeah I heard many late night motorcycle races. At my current house I felt like I was being loud just walking around at night since it's so quiet.
I thought it would be alright inside, outside I knew it would be heard. So I built a new build house a few hundred feet from a freeway, there was only one lot between my house and the freeway (but it was the backyard of the other lot). Actual experience was that the outside was loud as expected. The inside, downstairs wasn't bad since there was concrete walls between properties and couldn't hear much. Upstairs though, especially in the master bedroom, I could hear everything. The only things between the road noise and me was an exterior wall, and even with upgraded insulation, road noise was awful and trucks were the worst. I tried many things to block out the noise (white noise, Bose sleep buds, earplugs, etc..), but all these things made me sleep like shit just like the road noise. I stayed for 2 years and listed it right at the 2 yr mark. Thankfully this was around 2020/2021 and ended up making about 100k in the equity after 2 years... Took off some of the sting of losing my 2.5% rate. But I'm way happier in the new house that came after in a much better location. Sometimes it takes a hard lesson to learn that sayings are sayings for a reason... And "location, location, location" is an absolute truth.
absolute deal breaker.
Absolute deal breaker. It’s terrible for your health in all kinds of ways
If you’re still on the fence, resale is tough and if the area starts going bad with crime it might start on that street making it even harder to sell. Been there done that, good neighborhood when I moved in, took a $30,000 hit and 6 months to sell after I was involved in 3 instances of crossfire and my wife was almost car jacked. I was happy to pay a $30,000 fee to get the hell out.
Yes. You can deal with noise, but not the pollution from exhaust and tires.
I'd be very hesitant. The amount of brake and tire dust generated is non-trivial. When I had a plane, my hangar faced a medium busy street. Th amount of dust generated was tremendous and it was nasty stuff.
I once lived near a major freeway. I went insane. It was continuously so loud that I started having auditory hallucinations.
As someone that used to live next to a very busy road, I did not realize how much collateral stress it put on us as a family until we moved away from it. It will bother you, albeit in insidious ways, that you don't realize.
Scary
Ever heard the phrase death by A thousand cuts? That's what living beside a highway is like.
A friend of mine bought a house on a service rd that runs next to I-75 in the rural-suburbs of Detroit. His front door is 60 yards from the freeway. He would go to the house on random days and times to hear the noise and it was never that bad. He bought it. Then summer came around and the next exit up the freeway is a concert venue that backs up traffic before events. The gridlock traffic was loud. People honking, yelling, getting out and pissing in full view of his living room window.. all that was louder than just normal travel. Then when the concert gets out they use his service road as an auxiliary exit which backs up his single lane road and they are even louder leaving the venue. So yeah... May seem nice but you need to spend a lot of time to make sure you covered everything. He didn't..
If he sells, he should put it on the market in the winter.
Or if during concert season, put a second sign with “if you lived here, you’d be home by now!!” on it.
I had an apartment that overlooked an interstate highway. You can only pretend that road noise is the ocean for so long. Even three floors up I could still smell the exhaust, etc.
I’d need information on noise and crime(easy getaway, easier to be robbed)
It’s a dealbreaker until it isn’t. Housing is so expensive where we were and we had to make some sacrifices. One of them was proximity to the freeway. We ended up buying and honestly, got used to the noise. Pollution is another discussion but if you’re worried about noise level, you might get used to it and not notice at some point.
It was a hard no for me. Absolutely non negotiable. I have pets, I am terrified enough where I live (dead end accessed by backroads) of them getting loose and getting hit, never mind near a highway or busy road.
100% deal breaker wouldn’t even look at the house. I am far more concerned about noise pollution than air pollution, the noise will never stop.
The vast majority of microplastics in the environment comes from [tires](https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/us/microplastic-pollution-car-tire-trnd/index.html). Besides the noise, that's what makes it a real dealbreaker.
Also, the shit that comes off tires is one of the most toxic substances for salmon species. I'm not saying people are salmon, but something that toxic to a fish is probably not doing a person any favours either.
When I was a kid one of the houses we lived in was right of of 65 and honestly it was nice because we were away from people (also had woods around us) but it wasn't a pain in the ass to get in to town for groceries/school/work because the main road was RIGHT there. As for the air quality I will let the people that actually know what they are talking about do the explaining but I would imagine it would be better near a bunch of trees versus in town where there is hardly anything.
It wouldn’t be for me, personally, but I know it would be for a lot of people. I grew up in the city and twice lived on a direct route to the hospital (like… same street.) One house for 19 years and one for 6. I think you can get used to most amounts of noise. I’ve lived by the train tracks too and stopped noticing train noises after like two or three weeks. Having said that, the air quality might be bad and depending on which highway this is and where it runs, semi trucks and their brakes can be loud as fuck.
I have a friend who lives near a freeway. They have windows they specifically installed for sound reduction, planted a large hedge. They run air filters. Most importantly they almost never go outside of their house. They really like the hermetically sealed vibe , so it works just fine for them. I need windows open and spend most of my time in my yard so I couldn’t do it.
Air pollution and noise pollution. Plus my personally feeling obligated to care for or keep an eye out for the neighborhood’s pets not somehow running through my yard towards the highway, or otherwise feeling obligated to handle the bodies. It’s not like it’d be my responsibility but I would notice and not be able to ignore it, especially since I’m not too bothered by handling dead animals and most people are.
It’s the dust that’s the deal breaker for me. I’ve lived on busy streets before and I can always get used to the noise, but I hate that when I leave my windows open everything gets covered in a fine layer of black road dust. If you don’t clean regularly, the dust builds up into an oily goo that is difficult to remove.
And you know that crud is going into your lungs too
My mother-in-law's house was by a small highway. TxDot needed to expand the highway for hurricane evacuations, and now they own every single one of her trees since they're on the new easement. They're just not allowed in our yard to do anything about them.
An on ramp for sure. I used to live next to one and the acceleration of loud cars was really irritating. I think it depends on your lifestyle. Someone who always has their tv on or music playing - someone who doesn’t have a lot of backyard parties - probably won’t care. But imagine holding your child first birthday party in your backyard and you’re recording video of them eating their slice of cake and HOOOOOONK VROOOOOM is picked up. That would suck. But maybe 20 yards is far enough that isn’t an issue. I can’t comment on the air pollution aspect. I imagine if that highway gets backed up for periods of time that could be bad.
Been there, done that. Do not recommend. Your house will be dirty with vehicle exhaust if you keep your windows open. Noise, of course. Not just regular traffic but sometimes drag racers, trucks, noisy motorcycles, in the middle of the night, too. My kid had asthma and respiratory issues frequently when we lived in an apartment like that. The foliage will help, but I don't think that it will completely mitigate the problems.
Road pollution is nasty - what’s in the air as well as what settles in your home and on everything. My daughter used to wash her screens monthly otherwise they’d get so dark, she couldn’t see out her windows.
Not only are there all the concerns people have already mentioned but constant background noise is not healthy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_from_noise Also consider how many people in this thread (me included) would never buy a house that close to a major road. It will be extremely hard to resell that house in the future.
Too much noise for me. I'm up against a state road where everyone does 50mph in a 35. I soundproofed my windows and it's fine now after many years. But a highway is a whole different level of noise that I couldn't live with.
That close is definitely a deal breaker for me, and I think many people. The noise is only part of the problem. I live about a quarter mile from a highway and we can still hear road noise from it, if you're going to be less than 100 feet away you will absolutely hear it and will likely want to look at noise insulation. In many areas the morning rush starts to build up well before the sun is up. There is also random crap that gets tossed from cars or falls out of trucks that can easily make it into your yard. You'll be picking up random garbage regularly, and anything outside will get dirty more quickly. There is also pollution from exhaust. The air quality will be greatly reduced both outside and inside of your home. There is also pet safety to consider. If you have outdoor cars then they're in grave danger being that close. If you expect to have a dog outside even if your yard is fenced there is a risk of escape. The same applies to young kids playing in the yard.
Yes, and arterial streets. I barely like that I'm on a semi-busy street (during rush hour) but that seems the only way to get something affordable and walkable in a HCOL city.
Deal breaker. Noise, pollution, safety.
Yes. Highway noise sucks and it'll affect resale value. Now, if you get an appropriate discount on the purchase price, and the highway noise is generallyike white noise, it's alright. It really depends how much distance you have between the highway and your property and what barriers are between them eg trees, wall, fence, open land et.
Yes. The environment would crush my soul.
Deal breaker for me. I did wind up buying a house in a neighborhood that is one property removed from a busy 2 lane road. I can hear road noise on my patio but not in the house, unless someone has a super bass stereo or an exhaust for a-holes. I’m happy with it. I looked at a house that was right next to I-5 and I didn’t make it past the driveway. I opened the car door and noped right out of there.
I grew up near one, and it never bothered us. But my bedroom was on the other side of the house. And the way it was situated, around 300 yds, with a forest between us
Excessive noise is a deal breaker. We looked at houses that were perfect except for the fact that you could hear airplanes flying overhead constantly or hear the constant whoosh of cars nearby. Hard pass. I want to be able to have the windows open or sit outside without constant noise. Sure, I didn't anticipate dogs barking but at least that stops.
I remember reading an article in Germany about the Black Forest. It was dying years ago because of the asbestos from the brake pads. Can you imagine? Of course it’s changed now. But I thought that was interesting.
Asthma is much more common if you live next to a road, and I absolutely wouldn’t do that if you have kids because it can mess them up for life. It’s also just generally dirty, you’ll get nasty dust all over everything. The resale value of the house is always going to be lower for the same reason.
Absolute deal breaker. Pollution, noise and dust never ending.
You’ll get accustomed to it. But whenever I visit friends that live near a highway it’s always something that I can’t unhear. It’s a dealbreaker for me
100% sold my house because of the busy road.
Dealbreaker, I know people who live by 2 different 2 lane highways, if you're not on flat land where they just go by always at the same speed, and don't have to accelerate up a hill or near any kind of corner then "maybe' but, you'll be amazed how many cars and trucks are super loud when they accelerate and how many loud motorcycles go by and even cars with deer whistles or trucks with knobby tires, how loud it all is. Have had to stop speaking until offending noise moves out of earshot. If the price is lower than similar nearby houses not on that highway you know why.
There is no way I would choose that. When I go outside, I want to hear nature, not traffic.
100 percent deal breaker. you may eventually get used to the noise, but your air quality will allways be sub par living that close to it. especially if it has heavy traffic.
I’m half a mile from a highway and I can’t stand the noise
Re-sale may be an issue. I had a house on a busy street. When I went to sell (25 years ago), I had three different realtors tell me it would be worth 30k more if the house was any where else. This was a small house, in a small town with a busy through street. 30k was 25% more.
I used to live two miles from the freeway, and while I got used to the noise, I never got used to the constant very fine black grit that covers everything. You can keep your windows closed year round, of course, but it still settles on everything everywhere else.
I would never
Don’t do it. Don’t talk yourself into it.
Moved next to a highway 7 years ago. Said I’d get used to it. I did not. If you enjoy being in your yard, or opening your windows don’t do it
I lived next to a highway once, and I never got used to the noise.
Wouldn’t be an issue for me. My work backs up to an interstate and (other than the occasional truck shifting down) I barely notice it. It wouldn’t be ideal, but I’d say it’s far from a deal breaker.
Yes. Brake dust, noise level, exhaust fumes.
Walk away or you'll be basking in regret after
When you take children into their first weeks, months, & yearly checkups, one of the standard lead exposure questions is “do you live near a Hwy?”
Yes
APSOLUTLY... no way in flipping hell would I subject myself to that kind of punishment
It’s going to depend on how busy the highway is. An interstate or well used highway, no way. Something in the country that doesn’t get a lot of traffic… Sat at a house last weekend that’s off the highway. In the 30 minutes we were there there were 5 vehicles that passes, I don’t think any were heavy trucks and we were 1/2 way between 2 pretty small rural towns. Even if you quadruple the traffic during the week thats only 20/ hour. We haven’t taken it off the list - 12ac that backs to river and great trees.
Need to better define highway. I live on a state highway. It’s one lane in each direction, 40mph speed limit, and slows down going into town just past my house. Our house is also about 150 feet from the road. Yes, there’s road noise and it’s occasionally obnoxious but I’ve pretty much tuned it out and I’m also the type of person that likes background noise. Sometimes I visit family who live deep into some back road and the lack of any activity is weird to me. I also like being able to go into town quickly without an extra few minutes of meandering by car or even longer on foot. Air quality is a concern but I don’t suspect my current situation is any worse than living in town on a slow road. Obviously worse than living on a back road. To answer your question. If my house was closer to my road, I wouldn’t have purchased it. If my road were 55mph, I wouldn’t have purchased. But my specific situation is just fine for me.
Yep. The fumes are toxic.
By highway, do you mean 2 lane, 4 lane, or interstate? My current house sits about 200 yards back from a fairly busy 2 lane highway but I am currently sitting in my kitchen beside the window facing the road with traffic going by and the cars passing is a low hum... no louder than a fan in the background. However, my house was built in 1960 of cinderblock, has had vinyl siding and related insulation added in the '90s, and has noise blocking windows installed. I barely hear the jets and planes fly by unless they are doing mach speed treetop drills directly overhead. I live within a couple of miles of a military air base. The noise is a lot louder if I am out in the yard, but it isn't a deal breaker for me. If it were a constantly busy 4 lane or an interstate, I probably wouldn't unless there were other incentives like a fantastic price or it being my dream home within my budget. Edit: if you go for it, invest in a high-quality air purifier. Keep it going in your house year round to mitigate any of the risks. We have one going all the time.
2 lane highway
A dealbreaker indeed!
yes
Good windows and some white noise could help
I’m about 40 yards from a two lane main rd, given only like 3 roads into town but it’s a small town. In order to sleep at night I have to have a sound machine blasting or knock a few back, so yes it would be a deal breaker. I would recommend spending a day or night just in a car with the window up on the street you’re considering. See if you really can get used to it. Then imagine friend and family coming over to bbq or watch the game? Btw I have some nicely filled evergreens blocking all the road besides my driveway. Any speeding a hole or big truck could wake me out of my sleep. Triple pane glass windows too.
100%, not a fucking chance. A buddy bought a place about 1/2 mile from a rural interstate... He planted a bunch of trees and I guess it seemed okay. But things changed and he had to move. It was impossible to sell the place. He may still own it for all I know. Just don't. Living near the highway is super annoying, bad for your health, etc... And you'll keep that shit forever.. [like luggage](https://youtu.be/LSPehKy4mUc?feature=shared)...
Yes. I live two miles from an interstate as the crow flies, and I can hear cars zip along if the wind is right and there's no birds singing that day on my property.
Lived by a major bridge for 20 years. After a few months you only notice 3 things. Sirens, Harley's with modified exhaust, and silence if the bridge gets closed. If you have a Harley with a modified exhaust fuck you from the bottom of my heart.
My first house backed in to a 6 lane highway, but they built hills along the sides to direct the noise upwards and away from houses. It really was not an issue and I had good access to said highway which was super convenient. It really comes down to how well was it built and do you have an opportunity to build a sound barrier fence if needed.
I’d read up on the air pollution that kicks up from tires on the freeways. The particles are tiny and they can get in the lungs and also cross the blood brain barrier. I wish I was being overly sensitive about it but yeah, it’s true. If you potentially have other options, I’d suggest staying away from a home near the highway.
No no no. That’s too close. It’s the motorcycles and trucks that are the worst.
Yes, I would never live there.
When looking for houses where I want to settle. I will often see some priced affordable and wonded why. Then I click and see they are very close to a highway or busy two lane road. Nah, I'll pay a little more for peace and quiet.
Lotta dust. I used to live in a rural area but it was right off a main trucking route. If I kept the front door and windows open, by the end of one day, there'd be a layer of dust on everything. You wouldn't really notice it. But, after you cleaned, the next day boom there it was. And of course, you have to configure. Also breathing all that in. Then there's the noise....
Absolute dealbreaker for me.
Id never buy a house near a highway! Noise, air quality, backed up traffic or accidents or some one running out of gas and potentially walking into your yard trying to get help/gas/off the highway etc NOPE.
For me - it would all depend on the type of traffic. A NYC type highway CONSTANTLY full of cars and commercial traffic and a highway in Southern NJ are two totally different animals. My would be step brother has a home that backs up against a highway. I've been there several times over the weekends and never noticed anything. Its a very nice middle class home as well (by my standards), and I wouldn't hesitate to be where he is.
The worst part for me about living with an "Expressway" (2 lanes in each direction, and a suicide lane) in my backyard, isn't the normal sound of traffic. I can deal with the sound of cars driving back & forth. It's the late night (after 11pm) drag races that go along with a straight stretch of road with minimal stoplights on it. Between the Camaro/Mustang crowd (which I grew up in) to the turbo import cars, and motorcycles are the worst! For that reason, I will never again live next to a highway or busy street. Unfortunately, I'm going to be stuck here for another 10 years or so. Hmph.
My house backs up to i65 and is almost exactly like you describe. We’ve lived hear 4 years and I don’t hardly notice it anymore.
Love my access to two freeways near me. I have a dead end wall at the end of my block and only hear the nearby train at night.
Don't do it. What if a truck has an accident and spills some hazardous chemicals right by your house.
I'd also be concerned about hobos
Yes it raises autism risk
If you’re deaf, no issues
Aside from the smell and air quality.
You can change the house itself but you can’t change the location. The noise might be ok now but it probably won’t be ok in the future. I, personally, would pass on the house.