Near a highway there is so much noise for homes though, I'm always shocked people find that acceptable. I checked a home near a highway and I couldn't even open the window due to the noise
Depends on what you count as 'near'. Adjacent to, yeah, it's noisy. Highway noise travels, but not that far. Textured walls and trees and bushes help reduce the distance that noise travels as well.
Oh sure, the places I'm talking about were maybe 100m from two highways. It was insane.
I can't even imagine the amount of dust and air pollution you get in your home by opening the window
