Spitz and many of her neighbors who have been lobbying the state for a sound barrier for over 10 years gained hope last week when Mitt Romney announced a new Mass Highway program to build two new sound barriers every year.

But it turns out that Waban will probably be left out of the process.

That's because, though neighbors have been writing letters, meeting with state officials and working closely with state legislators, the state says it has no plans to reverse its earlier decision that building a sound barrier on the southbound side of Route 128 between Route 16 and Route 9 isn't cost-effective.

The reason, officials ruled, is because the barrier would have interfered with the ecology of the Charles River and forced MassHighway to take park land and modify a bridge.

In 1989, the state made a list of 53 locations along I-93, I-95/Rt.128 and I-495 that could be eligible for a sound barrier. Since then, MHD has only built four barriers. Projects on the list "have moved with a speed akin to a glacier, much to the frustration of communities adjacent to noisy highways," said MHD Commissioner John Cogliano in a statement.

Of the 53 locations on the list, 44 still haven't been studied, two have and three are slated for construction next year. Under Romney's new program, every year, the state would build two Type II sound barriers, which are built on a voluntary basis by MHD. Type I barriers are required whenever MHD widens a road resulting in traffic exceeding a certain decibel level.

Newton has one other location on the MHD priority list, an area on Route 128 near Grove Street and DeForest Road that's 16th in line to be studied. The northbound side of the road between Route 9 and Route 16 is also in line for a study, though that sound barrier would only affect the Wellesley Hills side of the highway.

But just because a location is on the list doesn't mean it gets a barrier, said MHD spokeswoman Judith Forman. Because sound barriers compete for funding from the general construction budget, which is used to fund roads and bridge construction and repair, they have to be cost-effective.

"There's no guarantee," Forman said. "[Sound barriers] do not prove feasible in all areas."

Such is the case with the Newton location, she said, which was studied in 1999 and deemed unfeasible.

Saying it would be too difficult to get the environmental permits needed for construction and that the costs of the project would have exceeded the usual cost for a sound barrier, a little over $2 million, the state closed the case on Waban.

And Forman said now it was unlikely the state would revisit the study. "We spent significant time and money on the initial study and it doesn't affect enough people for the environmental costs ... [areas] that show the best impact with the least amount of problems are going to be the ones [where sound barriers are] built," she said.

But some residents say this isn't going to stop them from writing more letters.

According to a "partial timeline," put together by Rep. Kay Khan, conversations with MHD about the Waban sound barrier began in 1996 and involved her offices and those of Sen. Cynthia Creem, former Sen. Lois Pines, Congressman Barney Frank and Mayor David Cohen.

Khan documented 18 letters from her office to MHD commissioners and Metropolitan District Commission officials, six meetings with them, Newton city officials and Waban neighbors and five conversations with other lawmakers.

Khan, who has championed sound barrier issues on both Route 128 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, said that while MHD has been responsive to their calls, their decision to pass over Waban was "annoying," because the highway affects a lot of houses there.

"I think it's good for us to bring it up again with the new administration and see if they can rethink it," Khan said. "They definitely owe it to the folks in the area to take another look at the study."

Sona Petrossian, another resident of East Quinobequin Road, said neighbors feel the highway's proximity brings down their property values. She's invited MHD officials to barbecues at her house and keeps a file full of correspondence between neighbors and the agency.

Petrossian and Spitz both say the noise from Route 128 has become progressively worse, starting when the Big Dig project began diverting traffic onto the road eight years ago.

"As the noise and traffic increase, it's more difficult to have a normal life," Petrossian said.

Residents say they became even more livid about the issue when MHD shelled out $11 million to purchase the Pillar House property in 2001, but couldn't come up with a smaller amount needed for a sound barrier.

"This community was irate," said Petrossian. "There's no recourse ... it made this neighborhood lose faith in state government."

Petrossian said Khan's office has worked to shed attention on the neighborhood concerns. But Spitz says she plans to vote for Khan's Republican opponent this fall, Greer Tan Swiston, who she's already contacted about the sound barriers.

Swiston criticized the state for not communicating with neighbors. "We need to bring the voice of Newton up to the State House," she said. "But we also need to bring information back down to the community ... this neighborhood has felt blindsided."

Sarah Andrews can be reached at sandrews@cnc.com.