The ACT government will reseal a section of Bowen Drive after residents of a Barton apartment complex claimed recent road work had increased traffic noise.
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Landmark Apartments residents were angered over the use of the cheap chip resurfacing of a 400-metre stretch of road in front of the complex in February last year.
According to the ACT government the same treatment is used in about 80 per cent of the road resealing by Roads ACT.
The Landmark executive committee called for the road surface to be smoothed and the speed limit lowered because the work had increased traffic noise.
Residents say while they bought into the development aware it was on a carriageway, road noise was not a problem until the resealing work was completed.
A study carried out for the government this year showed the noise generated was within the acceptable limits in the ACT.
Landmark resident Ian Pearson said the complex was a sanctuary for the residents with landscaped and well-manicured gardens and views of the lake. But "the tranquillity of our sanctuary" was affected when the government rolled out a cheap chip seal treatment for the road.
He said the Landmark executive committee and individual residents had contacted the government about the noise problem and associated safety issues with the 70km/h speed limit on the road.
While they had received replies no decision had been made to fix the problem. "You get this feeling that you're fighting city hall," Mr Pearson said. "I don't know if they're waiting for a catastrophic accident before they act."
Executive committee member Graham Neil said reducing the speed limit would be a cost-friendly way of limiting the noise generated by the traffic as there would be no vehicle acceleration along that stretch of Bowen Drive.
Territory and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury said that after complaints received by the department a trial would be carried out on Bowen Drive with a new sealing substance.
''Microsurfacing'', a bitumen emulsion aggregate, would be tested at several locations in the ACT.
Bowen Drive will be the first site to undergo the new form of resealing but the speed limit on the road will not be lowered.
"The expectation is that it will reduce noise," Mr Rattenbury said.
He said on Wednesday that he had yet to inform the Landmark residents of his decision after his letter to them, dated July 19 and received by the residents on Tuesday, which said Roads ACT had no plans to resurface the road.
