LANSING - The Lansing City Council unanimously voted Monday night to suspend the city’s noise ordinance for the upcoming construction on Interstate 496.

The waiver allows the Michigan Department of Transportation to allow a construction company to do demolition and construction between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week and non-demolition activities from 9 p.m. to midnight. The only exception would be on Sundays when only non-demolition activities would be allowed between 6 a.m. and noon.

MDOT will also be allowed to request special waivers from Lansing Mayor David Hollister to allow construction and non-demolition activities between midnight and 6 a.m. as long as residents are given at least 48 hours notice.

The construction, set to begin in spring 2001, is a project to improve the entire I-496 corridor including reconstructing 32 bridges, repairing nine miles of roadway and adding a third lane between Pennsylvania Avenue and U.S. 127. The waiver of the noise ordinance will allow the project to be completed in about five months.

Council Vice President Sandy Allen said she was grateful MDOT was willing to work with the council to reduce the amount of inconvenience caused to area residents.

“This is going to be nothing less than a nightmare next year,” she said. “(MDOT is) very aware of the neighborhoods that will be impacted. (They will) accommodate those people who will be impacted.

“I’m very impressed by this.”

This is one of the few projects that is close to residential areas, Councilmember Carol Wood said.

“When you look at some of the other projects that MDOT has worked on, there hasn’t been so many residents in such close proximity,” she said. “There will be a respite on Sunday of non-demolition work. It still facilitates MDOT in getting their project done in a timely fashion.”

Wood said many residents she’s talked to are more concerned about problems like traffic and dust than noise.

“How will this mean for me getting back and forth to work? Where will construction workers park?,” Wood said. “Part of the contract will be that the construction company is responsible for making sure that dust is kept down.

“The majority of the people that I talk to of course like to see the noise not go on ’til midnight, but when it comes down to the length of the project versus what they have to put up with