Noise is something that people living in every city in the world have to deal with. The sounds of a passing trolley or an El Train speeding along metal tracks are sounds that are distinct parts of our lives in the Riverwards. Things have been this way for the better part of a century. By the early 1930s, cars were becoming more accessible to the public, therefore more people were driving on outdated roads. Things began to change.

According to an article published on phillyroads.com, as early as 1932, The Regional Planning Federation, which precedes what is now The Delaware Regional Planning Commission, began examining the possibility of a “Parkway” along the Delaware River. After many studies, construction began on two separate lengths of highway, one in Delaware County and one originating in Northeast Philadelphia, to extend into Bucks County.

 According to the article, by 1969, the section north of Center City that slices straight through the heart of the Riverwards was open to construction. This stretch of highway would forever alter our neighborhoods. Residents soon found their windows right up against one of the busiest highways in the country — Interstate 95.

 Spirit News interviewed three different groups of people who all have one thing in common: they all live under or directly next to I-95. They come from three different walks of life, but they’re lives are brought together by the never-ending drone of the highway.

 We’ll start in Northern Liberties, approximately where I-95 begins to split for I-676. Spirit News met with Steve Vaiani, Leila Miller and her fiance, Dan Kishbaugh. They’re young adults who find themselves in an interesting living situation in the last house on the 100 block of Brown Street. According to the group, their landlord has known for at least the past 10 years that one day I-95 construction will consume his property. States use eminent domain laws to acquire property from private citizens for public works projects like highway expansion.

 According to Kishbaugh, his landlord received several letters from PennDot over the years warning of the highway expanding to his property. The three current tenants all knew this was a possibility when they moved in, but have managed to make the best of living with the fact that they will have 30 days to vacate to premises when the time for construction comes.

 Vaiani and Kishbaugh are both musicians and night owls, so being able to play as loud as you want at hours where most neighbors would dial 9-1-1 is a big plus for them. Miller agrees, pointing out that she has become used to the constant sounds from the highway.

 “Because of the noise from 95 and the El right next to us, we can be as loud as we want,” Miller said. “Unless there’s like a major accident right behind me, I don’t notice it.” Miller’s bedroom is adjacent to I-95 and is so close that they occasionally pick up staticky CB radio transmissions from truck drivers stuck in traffic. “Where I sleep my head comes to the wall right along 95, where 95 splits. It’s constant[ly], people [saying], like, oh shit I’m in the wrong lane,” Miller said.

 As properties are being renovated in the immediate areas of Fishtown and Northern Liberties, the house where Miller and Co. live has remained largely unchanged. According to them, the landlord fixes issues with the house, but has not updated their home for the simple reason that the looming cloud of demolition hangs over their heads.

 “Since the landlord knew the house is going to be knocked down, the house hasn’t been updated,” Miller said. “If something gets broken it gets fixed, but it’s not being remodeled.”

 According to the tenants, the section of highway adjacent from them is a popular spot to get pulled over. “A lot of people get pulled over there,” Kishbaugh said.

 “I see the blinking lights reflecting,” Miller added.

 This has also made their property the subject of police searches. According to Kishbaugh, a man attempting to flee the police jumped into a tree in their backyard and fled, drawing police into their yard to search. According to the tenants, police searched their property another time when a subject possibly threw weapons or narcotics over the guardrail during a traffic stop. Then there’s the litter. “There’s a lot of trash,” Kishbaugh said.

 According to Kishbaugh, parking under 95 is a bad idea and he’s replaced four or five windows on his last car due to break ins. Kishbaugh, Miller and Vaiani understand that they will most likely only get 30 days notice before they have to vacate their home, but are grateful for the time they spent living there and joke about their experiences.

 We found some other folks who reside in close proximity to the highway. They are also happy with their living situations, but their lives under I-95 are much different than Miller, Kishbaugh and Vaiani.

 Spirit News recently contacted Abby Anderson of Salvation of Sorrows, Inc., an outreah organzation dedicated to helping less fortunate folks in the community. Her organization recently put on a homeless outreach event for homeless veterans to receive a meal and a haircut.

 “You’ve got to have faith that life will repair itself and I’m on a mission,” Anderson said. It was there that she met Rosanne Terrell, a homeless US Army veteran living under I-95 in South Philadelphia. We reached out to Anderson, who reached out to Terrell. Spirit News was granted access to her campsite located under I-95 in South Philadelphia, near the Walt Whitman Bridge.

 “See that carcass right there? I don’t know what that was,” Terrell said pointing to the skeleton of what appeared to be a humongous opossum or raccoon. “We have baby birds up there,” she said pointing to the steel beams holding up the highway. As we spoke with Terrell, a raccoon ran full speed along the peak of the hill right behind us. It was like being in a strange park in the middle of the concrete jungle.

 According to Terrell, she was born at 3rd and Cambria, but grew up in South Philly. Following a few rough shakes in life, she now resides with her significant other, their dog “Noodles” and her brother Andrew Welsh, who is also a veteran. “At 42 I learned how to use drugs, 42,” Terrell said. “Mind you before that, I was Suzy Homemaker.”

 Their site is at the base of an incline under the highway, tucked away in the back of a parking lot. There was a mop leaning against the fence and Terrell even had a semi-private bathroom tucked away in thick brush with the view blocked by an oversized T-Mobile sign. “I mop the floors here because of the mud,” Terrell said. “This is still our home down here.”

 Welsh has been living on the streets for most of his life and has called the area near the Walt Whitman Bridge home for some time.

 “I used to sleep in cars when I was a kid, so this ain’t nothing for me,” Welsh said. At one time he was a machine operator in Port Richmond and according to him, he works one to two days a week doing cleanouts and demolition work. Though he’s financially poor, Welsh is grateful for what he has. “Just cause we’re down here, doesn’t mean we don’t got nothing,” Welsh said. He does miss doing laundry. “The only thing bad about this is clothes,” Welsh said.

 Terrell says that she is an avid reader and enjoys a good book as she falls asleep to the sound of passing vehicles. She longs for human interaction and and one of the things she misses is meeting new people. “People don’t talk to me,” Terrell said. “I’m not dirty on the inside.”

 Despite of her situation, Terrell still feels grateful for what she has and compassion for those less fortunate. “At least we have a home. Just think about the people living on the ground,” Terrell said. “You know what, it’s home right now, and I’m strong. I’m as far down as we can be, but it’s nothing but up now.”

 A week after visiting Terrell and Walsh’s home, Abby Anderson reached out to Spirit News with an update. The recent tropical storm flooded the campsite and most of the residents’ belongings were destroyed. Salvation of Sorrows, Inc. is helping Terrell and Welsh get back on their feet.

 Leila Miller and Rosanne Terrell both described the noise from the highway as something that reminded them of being home and told Spiri News it was, for the most part, something they could fall asleep too. That isn’t the case for Dan Dugan of Port Richmond. He’s dealing with another noisy problem that comes along with the resurgence of the I-95 corridor. Dugan’s property is the last house on Lehigh Avenue and butts right up against one of PA’s most expensive road construction projects.

  Dan Dugan is a slightly eccentric grandfather who wants to make sure he has a safe place for his grandson to live. The same goes for his next door neighbor, Bob Taylor. Dugan contacted Spirit News having some issues with the construction crews operating across the street from his nicely manicured side yard.

 We recently paid Dugan a visit at his home and we were joined by Taylor. After being offered a glass of water, Dugan placed the glass on his table and drew attention to the fact that the water was rippling just like the classic scene from “Jurassic Park” where the Tyrannosaurus Rex is vibrating the Earth with its footsteps.

 “They wanted to put a seismometer in my basement,” Dugan said. “I said I got a water cooler and when they jackhammer the water goes back and forth. I don’t need a seismometer.”

 During another interview, we noticed what felt like very small tremors shaking the house from time to time. Dugan did not flinch.

 Dugan’s woes began when his sewer pipe cracked. According to him, the crack caused flooding in his basement. Dugan has lived in the house since the late 1970s and believes this damage was caused by the highway construction, specifically the pile driving across from his property.

 Dugan filed a complaint with James J. Anderson Construction Company, Inc (JJA). According to their website, the firm does heavy highway construction and have worked for various PA transportation agencies including SEPTA, PennDot and The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

 JJA referred Dugan to their contractor Hill International, Inc. who then referred him to PennDot and finally 177th PA District Congressman John Taylor. Dugan believes he was being played. “You’re playing the shell game to find the peanut,” Dugan said, referring to the classic switch-a-roo boardwalk game.

 Eventually JJA sent out some experts to investigate the problem. In a letter addressed to Dugan and dated March 10, 2015. James Vena, Controller, Vice President of JJA writes:

 “After considering the claim that you have presented to us, and having discussed the matter with our construction engineers, we do not believe that the damage you sustained to your underground drain line was the result of our work. For these reasons, I must deny your claim.”

 According to Vena, his construction engineers believed a clogged roof drain was likely the cause of crack and advised further complaints be taken up with PennDot. Meanwhile Dugan says estimates to repair the damage ranged from $3,500 to $10,000.

 Dugan then discovered he had a new, much more deadly problem. He’s says that members of his family smelled gas from within their home. Dugan called PGW to reassure his family that nothing was wrong. Dugan says that when the gas worker held his meter up to the pipe coming into his basement from outside, he could hear the monitor making noise and he realized there was a gas leak.

 “I didn’t have a problem until you ruptured my gas line,” Dugan said, directing his comment to JJA. He says the pipe was cracked where it entered his house through his foundation. PGW had to replace it and installed a new meter as well. Dugan was extremely concerned and believes vibrations from the construction were to blame. “The water leak? Fine my basement gets flooded. But [with] a gas leak, the house blows up, people get killed,”  Dugan said. “I can’t afford to take a chance that [the construction is] going to blow up somebody.”

 Now Dugan is back to playing the same shell game, only this time he’s been very vocal with Congressman Taylor, who is also the Majority Chairman of the House Transportation Committee. Dugan believes money influences the political system in Philadelphia, especially when projects like major highway construction, are involved.

 Spirit News looked into Congressman Taylor’s campaign donors, and found that JJA was in fact one of them. We searched www.campaignfinanceonline.state.pa.us, which is a state run website where anyone can find records of contributions to politicians who must legally report where the money came from.

 In a report dated Nov. 1 2012, Rep. Taylor received a contribution of $3,000 from James Anderson. The address for this individual was also provided in the document. Rep. Taylor received $2,500 from Anderson in April 2013 and $1,500 in June 2014.

 The amount of money and frequency of donations seem to be going down. Spirit News found documentation of another donation from James Anderson after Rep. Taylor became Chair of the House Transportation Committee. The report dated Apr. 23 2016 shows James Anderson donating $5,000 to Rep. Taylor. It is important to state that Rep. Taylor has not violated the law by accepting this money.

 Despite repeated phone calls and attempts to get comment from Rep. Taylor on his contributors and Dugan’s concerns, Spirit News was unable to reach anyone from Rep. Taylor’s office in time for this story’s deadline.

 Dugan and his next door neighbor, Bob Taylor, who is not related to the State Rep., are most concerned about their grandchildren.

 “We bought next to the highway, you’re going to get the noise, but the dust,” Taylor said. “Silica dust is very bad, that’s my main concern.” “Damage to the property is damage to the property, but we both have grandchildren and they play in the yard.”

 According to OSHA, silica dust is a hazardous material found in concrete and various construction materials. It is known to cause fatal lung disease, silicosis, lung cancer and kidney disease.

 Bob Taylor says that dust from the concrete demolition is covering his property and claims that his quality of life has gone down. “You go out in the yard, you could wipe the table four times in the summer time,” Taylor said. “You can’t open your windows. The dirt is amazing. I keep going back to the kids. What are they breathing in?”

 Both Dugan and Taylor say they are sleep deprived. “Sleeping is rare,” Taylor said and if you ask Dugan he’ll jokingly tell you he hasn’t slept since the construction began. He works overnight and arrives home just as things are often getting noisy. “They say this isn’t affecting your house, it’s in your imagination,” Dugan said. “I’m getting goofy I think.”

 For now, the shell game continues for both men. Dugan recently managed to get a small victory. He filed a complaint after a construction vehicle cracked his sidewalk. He’s going to get a new sidewalk when the project is complete in 2019 or 2020.