Highway Causing House to Shake

January 19, 2021 8:35 PM

My house has started shaking constantly from trucks on the highway near my house, I have contacted my state's Department of Transportation and they seemed to want to help, but things appear to be moving very slowly. What else can I do?

I've lived here about ten years, and have a wife and kids. About a week ago the house starting shaking dramatically from the trucks passing on the highway near my house. It sounds like trucks are hitting something with a loud banging sound, followed by the house shaking. I feel nauseous and sick from it, not to over dramatize it but I feel like I am suddenly in a constant war zone or like there are constant small earthquakes occurring.

I called MODOT here in Missouri and after speaking with someone, they had an engineer call me a couple of days later. The engineer seemed nice and explained that the highway was already in need of repairs in a project with bidding taking place next month and repairs occurring in the months thereafter. To add to it, there is heavier traffic than normal due to bridge repairs occurring on another highway and truck traffic being diverted.

After explaining how bad it was in my house she agreed to have the site examined sometime in the next week and see what they could do temporarily. I got the feeling that even though she seemed to want to help, this wasn't going to be done super quickly.

Is there anything else I can do at this point to push this for resolution faster? I am worried about my own sanity and also the structure of the house, so as a follow up question is this causing long term damage possibly to my foundation or my house in general? Should I be contacting my insurance company or an attorney in all this? This is such a strange problem, I don't feel like I know what to do and I can hardly sleep to even think straight...

posted by rfbjames to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Hmm- sorry you're experiencing this. I think I'd start with attempting to gather some documentation- can you start recording sound and vibration? (Thinking two devices one recording each - and a notebook where you jot down what you are experiencing)

Incidentally - if the issue is so bad you can't sleep or think straight could i suggest getting a few nights in s hotel?
posted by arnicae at 9:38 PM on January 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I would keep in contact with your MoDOT contact. Realistically, having someone check out the situation, recommend a solution, then implement the solution is going to take some time even if they are moving fast for them. But if they understand this is actually creating an ongoing hazard, things could/should speed up considerably. Following up with them regularly (daily?) is going to help them understand that.

Beyond that, getting your local state elected officials involved can help light a fire under MoDOT's behind. In Missouri you'll have a State Senator and State Representative. You can look up both of them at this page. Elected officials/staff can often help light a fire under MoDOT and get some results. They may be able to help speed things up considerably, too, especially if they understand the situation is causing an ongoing situation for a constituent.

Finally, you can always contact local news media and get them to do some reporting on the situation.
posted by flug at 9:54 PM on January 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

I am sorry you have to deal with this.

Agree that documentation suggested above is a good suggestion. Maybe also a camera recording where the camera is on a table or whatever pointed at a constant point to capture the vibration? Maybe with a glass of water like in Jurassic park?

You should also call your local elected officials- town/county/state reps/national reps.
That’s what they are there for and they should have constituent services at every office to help you speed the process along.

Also, might any of your neighbors be experiencing this problem? Could be worth comparing notes, if you can get in touch with them by knocking in the door or dropping a note in their mailbox?

Ugh. Our crumbling infrastructure is a big deal and it’s so maddening!!! Getting the media involved is something to consider as well.
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:58 PM on January 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Agree with wowenthusiast that it would be helpful to find out whether any of your neighbors are experiencing the same issue. If you can tell MODOT "15 houses in this neighborhood are experiencing serious vibrations" that carries a lot more weight than a single complaint.
posted by mekily at 10:27 PM on January 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

To add to it, there is heavier traffic than normal due to bridge repairs occurring on another highway and truck traffic being diverted.

I'm curious if the issue seems to primarily be that the roadway condition has deteriorated. Did they put some sort of metal plate there to cover over a pothole, for instance? If so, maybe they could do a different "in the meantime" fix. Or did a heavier kind of truck get diverted to a route past your house? If so, could they recommend a different alternate route.

In general, maybe you could try to get a better understanding of what's going on that caused the change and then use that to try to brainstorm other stopgap solutions.
posted by slidell at 11:45 PM on January 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Go all through the house and basement and take pictures of all the walls and ceilings and tile. A friend's street got dug up and the vibrations caused her foundation to crack, among other things. The city ended up having to compensate her when she was able to prove that the cracks in foundation, etc., were not there before the roadwork. In her case it was easy because the house had just had major permitted and documented renovations.

Security cameras in fixed locations might also be worth it as the could document the shaking.
posted by mareli at 7:16 AM on January 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks so much for all the advice coming in, this site never fails to impress me not only with quality answers but also with strangers just taking the time to really care.

I reached out to my state senator and they are going to look into what they can do. I took video this morning of my house to try to document damage. I also took some Jurassic Park video of the vibrations shaking water in a cup! I'm trying to start documenting as much as I can. My youngest son has been complaining about stomach pain from all this shaking, which is helping light a fire under me to try to do whatever I can to get it addressed.

Sadly the friendly elderly neighbor next to me and also next to the highway directly passed away during this covid crisis. I don't know who owns the house now and there hasn't been even a for sale sign yet. The neighbor behind me moved in during this crisis and sadly we never got to know her beyond a wave here and there. Everyone else is a little further away from us down the road. I am a little wary of knocking on doors at the moment but think I will write up something and leave it in all the neighborhood mailboxes. I'm going to try the road engineer again as well.

We are going to stay at a hotel next weekend just to get a break. We are a little wary of it during covid but we have some free time available. Budget is also an issue long term. We would move in with my wife's parents but that would be impractical with my wife's job and distance. We might not have a choice if this continues to degrade worse.

Thanks again, I'll continue to take any further advice, it's all appreciated so much. Maybe we will truly make it to infrastructure week under the new administration thankfully :)
posted by rfbjames at 9:36 AM on January 20, 2021

Is your neighborhood on Nextdoor? It's not a great social media site in general, but for talking to locals about specific problems it can't be beat. Chances are there are already people talking about the problem there.
posted by little king trashmouth at 2:06 PM on January 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

That sounds like a huge amount of shaking, and I live in a 180 year old house next to a highway that was recently reconstructed with driven piles. They should be able to bring a machine to measure the vibration and there is some threshold standard for “acceptable”.

Is the highway at ground level, on columns, or on a built up hill? Has anything changed between your house and the highway?
posted by sepviva at 7:22 PM on January 20, 2021

Response by poster: I was not familiar with Nextdoor, it was good advice. I signed up but while it doesn't look like many people are active...maybe my post on there that I am making will start a conversation with those on it.

I was informed that, after calling my state senator, they came out late today to do some emergency patching. They apparently found already a large patch where the metal underneath was coming through the road and trucks were hitting amazingly on the opposite side of the highway. The good news is that they stated they fixed that. The amount of shaking has decreased by 50% but it is still pretty bad. I'm guessing there is more damage but the road engineer thought that was enough to fix it. She agreed to go back out tomorrow and do another evaluation since the shaking hasn't been more eliminated but I am concerned they are not going to do more.

When I talk to her tomorrow I am going to use the advice sepviva you gave about there being an acceptable level and a way to research that. The highway is on ground level, and there is even a small hill and some trees between myself and the highway. I have lived in this house for 13 years but never experienced any shaking at all until this started. I'm super worried about this being a fight for them to do more but will continue on...thanks again all.
posted by rfbjames at 8:08 PM on January 21, 2021 [3 favorites]