Jubilee Los Lunas residents sound off on noise wall request

Several residents of the Jubilee Los Lunas community showed up at the most recent Los Lunas Village Council meeting to hear a report on a recent traffic noise study for a proposed noise abatement wall to be built along the north end of the development, adjacent to N.M. 6 west of I-25.

In a presentation during the June 12 council meeting, Public Works Department Director Michael Jaramillo and engineer Jonah Ruybalid, of Albuquerque-based Molzen Corbin, said a study conducted in October of 2024 showed a noise abatement wall is not currently warranted and will not be warranted in the future either.

Jubilee residents and home owners association leaders disputed that assertion and also disagreed with the methods used in the study as well as the time of day it was done.

“So what Jonah and his team did was they separated the area out into eight different locations where they measured noise levels,” Jaramillo explained. “These are decibel levels here ranging from I think it’s 54.8 up to 61.3. The infrastructure design directive from (the Department of Transportation) provides a level of 67 decibels before noise abatement is required or recommended. Right now in 2025 the results are showing that a wall is not warranted.”

Jaramillo said Molzen Corbin did a projection “20 years out for 2045,” along with traffic counts that showed a rise in decibel levels. Those levels still fell below the 67 decibel limit set by the DOT.”

Jaramillo also reported the village currently has $1.5 million dollars granted by the state for the project; however, the total needed to complete the wall and all work related to it is closer to $4 million, he said.

While speaking in support of the sound barrier, Jubilee HOA representative Peter Dodds argued the study, which was conducted between 2:30-2:45 p.m., was not done at a time when the traffic noise was at its worst, and said the study results were “not valid.”

Dodds went on to make three requests of the council: The study “with noise measurements and traffic counts collected during the worst hourly noise level.” He also said the HOA “opposed to any effort to redirect the $1.5 million appropriated for a sound barrier between Highway 6 and the Jubilee development.”

Finally, Dodds said the study “was done in a one-size-fits-all manner.

“What separates the Jubilee community from its neighboring communities is that Jubilee residents are seniors aged 55 or more,” he said. “The purpose of the sound barrier is to protect elderly and vulnerable Jubilee residents who due to their advanced age are at an increased risk on Highway 6 that degrades human health.”

Several Jubilee residents also testified the noise levels were detrimental to their wellbeing and disruptive.

Resident Lynn Yeski and other residents said the peak noise levels on N.M. 6 can be heard much earlier in the day.

“If you really want to hit the peak noise level, come out there at 6:30 in the morning ‘til about 9 o’clock when those trucks are barreling down that highway …” she said. “I mean that’s enough to wake you up every single morning.”

No decision was made during the meeting, and Mayor Charles Griego asked staff to schedule a workshop to get public input on the project.

“We’ll get started on it and, like I said, there’s a lot of questions they have. We’re willing to answer those questions.

There is some DOT influence on this to kind of say, ‘Hey, we’re open but you need to look at a few things if this was to be moved forward,” Jaramillo said.