There is a new light rail route being built in my area. You can easily see where the train tracks will be going by looking at the RE for sale maps. 
So many homes not selling for 2 or more months while the other areas experience price wars.
No way. Plus as others have said you never know when your property will be swallowed up by the next road “improvement”.
If you’re really tempted, rent a hotel room at a place next to the highway for a few days and see what you think.
And when you are there–listen at different times of the day.
Silence at times…this isn’t so bad…I can easily handle this…not bad at all…and then at two in the morning it’ll be semi trucks roaring past. so loud you can’t drown it out with the pillow over your head.)
(Trains at least have some consistency.)
Also, stay at least a week, so you can hear the difference between weekdays and weekends at all hours.
It will likely be noisy as heck, and the big diesel rigs are very loud, especially when they downshift and they are around 24/7. Plus it is likely that the smell of the diesel exhaust will drift into your yard as well, the wall won’t prevent that. My house is not close to the local state highway or the interstate highway,the state highway is probably a little less than half a mile with trees in between us and them and other houses, and occassionally we will get jarred by sounds from it , the interstate is even further away and at night, especially in winter, we can hear it, I can only imagine what being next to it is like.
I live on a rural state highway with a house back a short lane and slightly uphill. It’s awful!
It was not this way when we built 20 years ago. The state has repaved multiple times, but they are now using a new road surface–some type of micro-gravel that packs down into the road surface. It was previously asphalt and much quieter. The noise bothers me even with the windows shut. There is also much more traffic than 20 years ago. Compare the road noise inside your car cabin on a concrete highway vs. an asphalt surface.
Our master bedroom is 2nd story facing the highway. We like the windows open. We have moved into the 9x13’ bedroom on the east side to buffer the noise.
My uncle lives on a different state highway, same state. The state took 1/3 of his land to build up the highway. Paid him minimally and re-built the highway in such a way his land floods every time it rains a couple of inches.
Easements on a highway are a PITA too. Any and all utilities have access in the easement–for mine it is 50’. They tear it up with big trucks, leave ruts. Can’t plant on that land–just mow and maintain it.
Now we are part of a potential “wind zone”. Attorney realtors have left messages trying to install the huge windmills on my property. If they go in on the 300 acres that are my front view, I’m gone. I don’t want the flicker, the noise, and the red flashing lights all night.
We are about a mile from the freeway. The noise is more of a drone, but it now goes 24/7. When there’s a major accident, I swear the traffic helicopters park themselves directly over our house.
When the weather is nice, we are outdoors. Being right next to the highway would be a huge detraction and undoubtedly reduce resale value.
The light rail will run on my side of the freeway, so I’m fairly certain it will only get worse. (We will sell before the major rezone hits the property in back of us. Lesson is that it can be ok today, but it can all change for the worse tomorrow.)
Traffic noise and volume of vehicles tends to continue increasing in most areas. The areas in our city that were near relatively quiet roads are not near busy highways with 3 lanes of traffic in both directions going pretty much 24/7. As was posted upthread, often the govt will buy additional land for minimal prices and add another lane or a breakdown lane, bringing the traffic ever closer to your home.