HOUSTON – The price of progress for some southeast Houston families is sleepless nights. Only Local 2 was there, at three in the morning, when METRO took on a pretty noisy construction project right by a cluster of homes. But when we started asking questions, METRO decided to stop burning the midnight oil.
An hour and a half of sleep each night is not enough for Erony Pratt. But with construction crews working all night outside her home, that is all the sleep she's been getting.
"It's not fair to make this horrible noise," said Pratt. "It ruins my day because I lose my sleep."
The Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority Rail extension project runs along Wheeler Avenue near University Oaks Boulevard. When Pratt couldn't take another night of noise she walked outside to ask workers to stop.
"I asked one construction worker, one of the supervisors, and he said we need it for about five more hours," said Pratt.
Pratt didn't want five more hours that night or the many more nights to come so when her plea didn't work, Pratt called Local 2.
We took the complaint to METRO spokesperson Margaret O'Brien-Molina, who said METRO hired a third party construction contractor to do the work and that company chose the hours.
"It was not a good operating plan in that instance," said O'Brien-Molina. "The contractor thought it was appropriate, not thinking they would be creating enough noise and disturb residents. It did disturb a resident and it won't be done again during those night hours. The rest of the work will be done during the day."
Pratt thankfully welcomes the silence at night.
O'Brien-Molina said the rail extension project is in its final stages, about 89 percent complete, so soon residents won't hear the noise day or night.