Be quiet, NJ! It is not a beautiful noise coming out of Jersey City

I grew up in the Bronx and was indifferent to the ambient noise that surrounded us. In the summer, with no air conditioning and the windows wide open, you could hear every sound of the streets and to an extent you became impervious to screams, sirens, car backfires, firecrackers, whatever the sound was.

You are familiar with that noise; it becomes the background for sleeping or napping or just sitting in a chair.

When we moved to the suburbs and that street noise was gone, I had a tough time adjusting to the peace and quiet of chirping birds, a passing car that may go by every 10 minutes instead of every 10 seconds.

Once I got acclimated to the calm dulcet tones of the suburbs, I was at peace.

Hearing the city is now a tough adjustment. According to a new study by Steel Guard Safety Products, Jersey City ranks as the third nosiest city in the country. Newark comes in at a noisy No. 4 and Philadelphia is No. 8.

This study points out that the Environmental Protection Agency states that ambient noise can affect mental health and cardiovascular function.

The study was a result of data collected from the EPA, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, and other noise pollution data.

The study conducted on the top one hundred cities in the country included data on population density, construction projects, traffic density, number of flights per day, air pollution and unbelievably, number of late-night bars and venues per square mile were all incorporated into the results.

Congratulations go to Jersey City and Newark, which both have more public transportation per square mile than any other city in the country by a factor of two. That is a big claim and weighted heavily in the rankings of both cities (Jersey City No. 3 and Newark No. 4 4 overall)

Jersey City has an amazing average of 37.4-minute one-way commuters with over 3,100 cars per square mile per day. While the 187 public transportation vehicles per square mile gets a golf clap from the EPA, it also contributes to the strong noise population that helps increase Jersey City’s rank.

Newark, noted for over the 1,000 commercial flights a day at Newark airport, the surrounding highways and street noise that make Newark No. 4 as the nosiest city in America.

With 625 flights a day coming out of Philadelphia airport, 13% of the square population made up of parking spaces, 2700 public transportation vehicles in motion and 457 construction permits for every 100,00 people it is no wonder that the City of Brotherly Love ranks eighth as the nosiest city in the country.

For those of us who live in the city, we take the noise for granted. For those of us who do not noise might add heavily to our stress level.

Be quiet, New Jersey!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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