A SMALL group of residents living beneath the M5 have shared their daily challenges – including coping with the heat and noise from the motorway towering above them.
The Bristolian homeowners, who live under the flyover bridges at Avonmouth Docks, describe a daily life of constant roaring traffic and even falling debris.
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In 2023, a study estimated that 116,116 vehicles use the M5 motorway each day, which runs for 163 miles from West Bromwich to Exeter.
Speaking to Somerset Live, Jackie Payne, 66, reveals how she moved into her home under the M5 five years ago and is now desperate to move away.
She said: “We want to move somewhere quieter. We can’t open the windows because you can’t hear the TV.
“I have got about six fans in the front room because it gets so hot. When the lorries hit a particular drain it makes such a noise.
“We can’t sit in the garden because you can hear it and hear the lorries all day – it gets on my nerves. I come from a village.
“I would go out into my garden and all you could hear was the cows mooing.”
The bridge itself also causes Jackie a number of worries, ranging from a lack of natural sunlight to fearing an accident from above.
She said: “It blocks the sun to the front room and we get litter in the garden.
“I am always worried that a lorry will crash through the barrier.”
Another resident, Philip Jacobs, 84, remembers what life was like before the bridge was built above Avonmouth.
He moved to the suburb when he was just eight years old – before the M5 bridge had even been planned – and was there when it was built.
He said: “I was doing shift work as a lorry driver at the time, often working at night, and the noise was unbelievable – I couldn’t get any sleep.”
Over the years, Philip and his wife Carol, 69, say they are now used to the noise of the traffic but, like Jackie, hate the lack of light that comes through from the bridge.
Philip said: “There is a lot of noise, but I have got used to it.
“The bridge blocks the sun and it’s an eyesore. It is convenient for people driving, that is how the world works.”
One of his neighbours, Joan Seoker, 86, has lived in her home for more than 40 years and said that double-glazed windows have been a godsend.
She said: “We have got double glazing. We don’t take any notice of it anymore. We got used to it.”
Another local, Kelly, 40, spoke about the dangers of items and debris falling from the bridge – thrown over the side by people above.
She added: “People throw things from the bridge, which is a problem for the kids.
“Our conservatory was smashed twice by laughing gas canisters three years ago.”
This comes as a defiant family who refused to sell their family home before it turned into a roundabout said life “gets busy” sometimes.
Clwyd Howatson, 65, feels fairly at home hearing hundreds of cars whizz past his pad on the Denbigh bypass in Denbighshire, Wales.
And elsewhere, a former McDonald’s employee has revealed a drive-thru secret that could help hungry Brits avoid an awkward situation.
Drivers can be understandably frustrated by long waits and order mix-ups but they need to be careful when airing their complaints.
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