Families living under a motorway say they couldn't imagine living anywhere else and for them, the noise is not a problem.
The homes on a street in Port Talbot sit under the busy M4 that stretches from west London to south west Wales. The motorway, which runs over the town on 45ft-high concrete pillars, is known locally as "road on top of the town" after the giant flyover was built in 1966.
While the living situation may be some people's idea of hell, current residents say it has never been a negative thing. Joanna Care lives in the house she was brought up in with her husband Ritchie and their four-month old daughter Evelyn, reports WalesOnline.
As a child, Joanna would spend most days with her sisters and their friends building ramps and riding their bikes under the flyovers.
Even on Christmas Day, the group would all meet up under the motorway to show off their new skateboards and bikes while their parents' kept an eye on them.
Joanna said: "This is where I've always lived. It's never been a negative thing for me. My parents remember it being built as they were living here at the time.
"Obviously, the construction company had to get my parents' permission to have it going through their garden. I don't think anybody would have been particularly happy about it. The garden at one point used to go down to the river.
"Of course, you’d have them all working in the garden and when maintenance was involved, they’d have to come into the garden to do all of that. I actually remember men coming into the garden to do maintenance, they’d be up there in their trucks maintaining the underside and things like that."
While the noise of near-constant traffic is drowned out in the dining room of Joanna and Ritchie's house, the constant hum of traffic towering above can be heard as you walk into the long garden.
Joanna has grown used to the traffic and is not bothered by the sound but husband Richie grew up in a quiet area near Sandfields. and says the noise is all he ever hears despite living in the home for 10 years.
He said: "I grew up on a beach, where you'd have the outdoor space to play football or go surfing.
"This is a far cry from what I'm used to. Even today, I can’t get used to the motorway in regards to the sounds. Four o’clock every morning, the lorries start doing their jaunt and then I wake up. Whether I go back to sleep or not is a different thing.
"But I just can’t get used to the noise - whether the windows are double glazed or even triple glazed, it doesn’t matter. I’m just used to serenity. I didn’t realise I was so sensitive to noise until I started living here."
Further down the road, health care support worker Gabrielle Gillings lives on the street with her two sons, Lennox, 6, and 21-month-old Keane. The sound of the traffic passing by on the motorway above is just normal part of their day-to-day life.
She said she realises the noise would most likely annoy those new to the area, but as she's always lived near the motorway she isn't bothered it.
She said: "I wanted to still live in this area and I wouldn't want to move away from here. For me, this is just the norm and I enjoy living here. You don’t hear as much in the morning, but in the night you can still hear the traffic.
"I think I’m just kind of used to it after living here for so long. I think if you were a new person in the area and you had never lived by a motorway before it would cause some problems. It could be very annoying for some, like living next to a railway. But for me and my boys, it's what we're used to."
But the unique setting has its challenges as it has also attracted fly-tippers and antisocial behaviour, Joanna and Ritchie said.
But the couple still hope to raise their children in the area and recreate the magic of Joanna's childhood.
Joanna added: "I’d love if I could raise our child with the same childhood I had here. I have so many good memories here. My sister will come here sometimes and say: ‘Gosh, this still feels like home’.
"That’s the beauty of it, that I’ve been able to keep our childhood home. It would be nice to stay, because we've had brilliant times here and I hope she will have that too."
The road, which saw 200 homes knocked down to accommodate it, helped cut down the travel time from Cardiff to Swansea by 20 minutes.
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