On Jul 10, 12:06*pm, infiniteMPG wrote:
We live in a fairly rural area and there is a nearby interstate (about
4/10 mile as the crow flies) that the sound has never been an issue
with. *Recently they have started clearing the land between us and the
interstate to make room for condos and shopping plazas. *With the loss
of the trees, the increase in traffic due to the population growth
(west central Florida) the sound has increased dramatically. *We were
wondering if there was anything we could do directly in our yard, to
our house, or around the area to reduce the noise? *Are certain trees/
plants better at blocking sound then others? *Of if there was any
approach we could use to the devlopers to have them build a sound
barrier on their new stuff (reduction in property value due to noise,
etc)?

Any suggestions would be gladly welcomed!

It won't help you now, but this reminds me of the following advice:

"If you buy a house for the view, you better be able to afford the
view."

Nothing sucks more than to buy a house with a view of the lake over a
gently rolling field only to have the owner of the field put up a
billboard or a warehouse a few years later.

The house I grew up in was across a narrow street from some woods
owned by a college in NYC. Over the years, tennis courts, a baseball
field and other athletic features replaced the woods. Still, not so
bad - for all the years we lived there, the worst we had was a large
grass covered field across from our house.

I drove through the old neighborhood last year - the view now consists
of a 7 story glass and steel building, less than 100 feet from my old
front door. My Dad was so glad he sold the place a few years before
the building went up.