CHARLOTTE, N.C. — UPDATE: On Thursday, CDOT said a contractor is no longer allowed to do chipper work overnight while residents are sleeping, according to a new mandate.
That contractor can now only do work during the day.
A loud drilling noise has been keeping neighbors who live near the Hawthorne Street bridge in Elizabeth from sleeping at night.
They said the construction noise has been bearable over the past few months, but they said the new equipment being used this week has kept them up.
The existing Hawthorne Street bridge over Independence Boulevard is being replaced as part of the city's LYNX Gold Line project. The entire project won’t wrap up until 2019.
Charles Pinson said he doesn't mind the construction on the bridge, but this week, it became a problem for him.
He heard the constant sound of a jackhammer from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
“It’s been like a war zone out there,” he said. “It just sounds like big guns going off all night.”
He even took video Tuesday night from his apartment at Elizabeth Square.
“When I stepped out on the balcony, there were about six people out on their balconies,” he said. “They were all recording and yelling."
CDOT officials said residents were notified about the increased noise on Dec. 8 and 12.
Officials said the jackhammer and other noises from torch cutting are necessary to remove the bridge's steel girders.
That work is critical to the demolition of the bridge.
“I’ve been curious why they are out there at two in the morning, not out during the day, ever,” resident Aimee Daigle said.
CDOT officials said work is done at night because they have to close Independence Boulevard.
They can’t shut the boulevard down during the day because of traffic.
CDOT officials have delayed the project and plan to notify residents Wednesday night.
They will start using the jackhammer again on Jan. 2.
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