PORTSMOUTH — Dealing with the noise from passing trucks and cars on nearby Interstate 95 is part of everyday life for students, teachers and staff at New Franklin School.

“There is a constant hum, which at times can be a rattle and rock and roll, depending on the size of the truck that goes by,” said Joanne Simons, the principal of New Franklin School. “Sometimes it’s not too bad, other times it can be really loud, but it’s a constant part of life here.”

Because teachers sometimes held their classes outside during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, “we had to buy portable Bluetooth headsets and speakers or the students couldn’t hear the teachers over the sound of the traffic,” Simons said.

It’s constantly an issue inside and out of the school, to the point where some teachers won’t open their windows so students aren’t distracted by traffic noise, she said.

Students don’t often complain, Simons said.

“They don’t because it’s something that they’ve heard since they started kindergarten here, it’s something the kids kind of get used to,” she said. “It’s the sound of New Franklin.”

The truck noise that New Franklin deals with has parents, city officials and residents calling for sound barriers to be erected along the I-95 corridor in order to protect the quality of life in several neighborhoods throughout the city.

“I feel that the sound barriers could make a tremendous and dramatic impact on the New Franklin way of life here,” said Simons, who has been principal at the school for seven years. “I just really feel the sound barriers would be incredibly helpful to our ability to instruct our students, for their learning. There could be a great benefit.”

Former city mayor Robert Lister is one of a group of residents and officials who plan to attend the last public hearing Monday in Hampton on the draft 2023-2032 Ten-Year Transportation Improvement Plan.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the Seashell Ocean Front Pavilion Room at 170 Ocean Blvd. in Hampton.

Previous story:Portsmouth leaders urge push for sound barriers

It’s the last time the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Intermodal Transportation will hear public comments on the draft Ten Year Plan, which Portsmouth residents and officials believe should include sound barriers for the entire I-95 corridor.

The commission is made up of the five state Executive Council members and the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation 

Lister, who also served as Portsmouth's superintendent of schools, stressed the importance of getting people to turn out for Monday’s public hearing so state officials can hear about the importance of sound barriers.

“People used to think this was just an issue for one neighborhood, Pannaway Manor, but it’s a serious issue for multiple neighborhoods all along I-95, and for the kids at New Franklin School,” he said this week. “This is definitely a quality of life issue for all the people dealing with this in the city.”

Pannaway Manor residents have been pushing the state to install sound barriers between the highway and their homes for as long as 30 years.

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But they have been joined for at least the last decade by residents living in the New Franklin neighborhood and others along the I-95 corridor, who also say traffic noise is hurting their quality of life.

Lister and others blame that on increased traffic on I-95, particularly truck traffic, which he estimates has increased “tenfold in the last five to 10 years.”

“Portsmouth is a great city, a great place to live, but I don’t want to see this problem drive anybody out of the city. That would be such a shame,” Lister said.

He too worries about residents, particularly students and other children, dealing with the fumes from trucks and cars passing by.

“I’ve heard from so many people who just want to be able to leave their windows open on summer nights without hearing the truck traffic or being able to use their back yard,” he said. “I hear that people can’t go out in their front yards and even have a conversation because it’s so loud.”

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His third-grade grandson attends New Franklin School and when Lister walks him home, “you can barely have a conversation because it’s so noisy.”

The noise from the I-95 traffic is now constant, he said.

“At night it used to slow down, but not anymore,” he said. “You can hear the trucks all night coming off the high-rise bridge as they’re downshifting.”

He hopes the DOT and Executive Council “are listening to us because they’re hearing from a lot of different people about what they’re dealing with.”

“This is people dealing with a real problem that’s hurting their quality of life,” Lister added. “We’ve got to do something about this.”