Pat Greenhouse / Globe Staff

All along Route 128, homeowners petitioned policy makers for sound barriers to dull the sound of traffic. The state spent millions to build the barriers.

At left, labor foreman Albert Pacheco guided a concrete-centered panel (hoisted by a crane) toward the channels of I-beams. Workers constructed 8,850 feet of sound barriers in three locations along I-95/Route 128 in Lynnfield, on Friday, August 17, 2007.