Mark Doogue doesn’t bother to yell for his sons when he wants them to stop playing in the backyard and come inside; he knows they won’t hear over the roar of traffic on nearby Route 3 — just yards away on the other side of a low retaining wall and sagging chain-link fence.

“It’s too loud; I have to go down and get their attention by waving my arms,” Doogue said. “When I mow the lawn, I can hear the cars over the lawnmower — that gives you an indication of how loud it is.”