Here’s some wacky advice, but well worth it in my mind. Two years ago my wife and I bought a house that is on a hill several blocks North of the 56 in Carmel Valley. My wife was paranoid about freeway noise, and we went back to the house several times during the day, and it was within my wife’s tolerable limits. This was in mid-October. After we moved in, we discovered that the worst noise is at night, when it is cold and the noise travels farther. Especially at this time of the year. Even though the traffic is lighter at night, the noise given off is greater. Visit the neighborhood of the house sometime around 11pm, park on the street near the house in question, turn off your engine. Roll down your windows or better yet get out. That will give you a sense of how bad it can get.
