Anonymous wrote:I live on New Hampshire Avenue NE and actually it's no big deal. We have a yard and a garage. We replaced the windows on the front with noise cancelling windows. You can't hear the traffic from our back yard. Actually, the biggest issue is rush hour.
I used to live on the highway in Chevy Chase, MD and that was much worse even though there was a noise cancelling wall. It was terrible.
Anonymous wrote:We had a house on a fairly busy road. It was in a different city (not DC) and the street wasn't DC-level busy, but it still had frequent traffic and buses every 10-15 minutes. It wasn't awful, but we did look for a quieter street the next time we bought. Little things like not hearing the buses or just being able to walk across the street without worrying about traffic were just so much better at the house on a quieter street.
I wouldn't want a house on most state-named streets in DC, personally.
Anonymous wrote:We rented a short term apartment on Wisconsin Ave. during a renovation. It was so loud with police sirens, ambulances, fire trucks. None of us could sleep at first, but we eventually got used to it. I felt like I was living back in NYC. We really appreciate our quiet street now.
Anonymous wrote:We live on Eastern Avenue in DC, and we barely hear the road in the backyard or inside the house. The front porch is loud, but we have a great backyard, and our has more than doubled in appraised value in 15 years.
Anonymous wrote:I live right on Western Avenue. Fenced backyard, so the busy road in front was not really an issue when kids were small. It is only busy during rush hour on weekdays when, pre-pandemic, everyone was out or on their way in/out. Regular traffic noise is not much of an issue. With good windows, only trucks, buses, sirens are noticeable. With sound insulating windows it would be better. The only time the street traffic bothers me is late at night-early morning when I'm in the front bedroom and early or late buses are running, or the occasional emergency vehicle with siren goes by. I sleep with white noise machine for that and manage fine. We spend most of time in the back of the house, where the street noise is barely noticeable. Sometimes I worry about car fumes, but we don't open the street-facing windows and have shrubs & tree buffers in front of and around the house. And other than weekday rush hour, the traffic is actually fairly light. It was the house we could afford at the time we bought in an otherwise great location. I have no regrets. The only thing I would change, if I had the budget, would be to get the expensive noise-cancelling windows for the front bedroom.