As anyone who's lived under a flightpath, near an elevated train track, or next to an electronica band of questionable talent can attest, noise pollution in this fair city is something of a problem. And while no one seems to be canceling garbage day, it appears city officials are attempting to alleviate one auditory scourge—they're mulling over rules that would require contractors to use new, quieter electric jackhammers when drilling the hell out of the sidewalk.
The Times reports that contractors have started using electric jackhammers that boast as much as a 15-decibel difference, making construction safer and more tolerable for workers and passersby alike. And now, the Environmental Protection Department will work with a noise task force to create a new construction code that could require contractors to use quieter jackhammers, at least "during nighttime construction activities."
Currently, according to the Times, jackhammers have to top out at 95 decibels from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. The new code would drop that down to 85 decibels. "New York City is constantly looking to improve and update the regulations as technology becomes more available, and is certainly more willing to give the development of the technology a nudge," Eric M. Zwerling, a member of the task force and the president of the Noise Consultancy, told the paper.
Some contractors are arguing that the electric jackhammers aren't as powerful as the louder, angrier ones. "We’d love it if it was comparable, but in the heavy construction environment it just didn’t work," Felice Farber, a spokesperson for the General Contractors Association of New York, said. But others say they're just as effective, in addition to significantly alleviating hearing damage suffered by workers and appeasing neighbors plagued by constant drilling.
But don't worry, New Yorkers, we'll be complaining about jackhammers—and every other urban noise that annoys us—no matter how muted they may be in the future.
