Maximum noise levels in road traffic noise

Greece, as well as other developed countries, is facing the growing problem of road traffic noise. It stands for a severe problem in the urban areas of the country, including the city of Larissa. The root cause is the huge increase in traffic volume and the lack of adequate urban infrastructure planning. Estimation of the level of road traffic noise is usually conducted using acoustic meters. It is widely accepted that most of the cities’ population is exposed to high noise levels due to controversial traffic capacity. Moreover, high noise levels are strongly related to phycological and neurological diseases. Thus, it is of utmost importance, the road noise levels to be lower than dictated by relevant specification limits. To develop better noise-environment policies, relative research should focus on the measurement of in-situ noise levels, so as appropriate for each case corrective measures to be taken. The present paper examines the noise levels of a center road of the 5th Greek city, in terms of population, compared to worldwide adopted noise specification limits. The clear aim stands for finding the percentage of road noise that exceeds commonly accepted threshold values, namely limit values of European Union and World Health Organization. The results of this research strongly indicate that measured noise values override upper limit values in a certain extent.

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The Impact of Thin Asphalt Layers as a Road Traffic Noise Intervention in an Urban Environment

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132212561 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (22) ◽

pp. 12561

Author(s):

Ablenya Grangeiro de Barros ◽

Jarl K. Kampen ◽

Cedric Vuye

Keyword(s):

Noise Exposure ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Low Noise ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Comfort Level ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Acoustic Measurements ◽

Noise Levels ◽

The Impact

Low-noise thin asphalt layers (TALs) are a feasible solution to mitigate road traffic noise in urban environments. Nevertheless, the impacts of this type of noise intervention are reported mostly regarding noise levels, while non-acoustic aspects influencing the population perception are still little-known. This study investigates the implementation of TALs in two streets of Antwerp, Belgium. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured via noise modelling and acoustic measurements of road traffic noise. A reduction of 2.8 dB in noise exposure was observed in Lden and Lnight, while SPB measurements showed decreases up to 5.2 dB on the roadside. The subjective impacts of the TALs were evaluated via self-administered surveys and compared to results from control streets. The annoyance indicators were positively impacted by the TALs implementation, resulting in annoyance levels similar or lower than in the control streets. The TALs did not impact the reported physical complaints, sleep quality, and comfort level to perform activities.

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The Performance of CRTN Model in a Motorcycle City

Mathematical Problems in Engineering ◽

10.1155/2015/369620 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ni Sheng ◽

Zherui Xu ◽

Min Li

Keyword(s):

Prediction Models ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Mean Difference ◽

Motor Vehicles ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

The World ◽

Vertical Distributions ◽

Predicted Values

The Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN) model is one of the first traffic noise prediction models in the world and has been widely used in many Western countries. However, its performance in a motorcycle city has not been well assessed. This study aims to examine the accuracy of the CRTN model in predicting traffic noise in an Asian city with over half of motor vehicles being motorcycles. The performance of the CRTN model in predicting both roadside and vertical distributions of traffic noise levels is assessed. The results show that the performance of the CRTN model is satisfactory in predicting roadside traffic noise levels, with anR2of 0.832 and a mean difference of +0.52 dB(A) between the measured and predicted values. The performance of the CRTN model is also satisfactory in predicting vertical distribution of traffic noise levels, with anR2of 0.836 and a mean difference of +0.28 dB(A) between the measured and predicted values.

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Local determinants of road traffic noise levels versus determinants of air pollution levels in a Mediterranean city

Environmental Research ◽

10.1016/j.envres.2010.10.013 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 111 (1) ◽

pp. 177-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

Maria Foraster ◽

Alexandre Deltell ◽

Xavier Basagaña ◽

Mercedes Medina-Ramón ◽

Inmaculada Aguilera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Pollution Levels ◽

Mediterranean City

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Modeling the Influence of Roundabout Deflection on Its Efficiency as a Noise Abatement Measure

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13105407 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 5407

Author(s):

Saša Ahac ◽

Maja Ahac ◽

Josipa Domitrović ◽

Vesna Dragčević

Keyword(s):

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Model ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Design Phase ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Noise Abatement ◽

Early Design ◽

The Road ◽

Abatement Measure

Challenges that emerge in roundabout design are mostly related to space constrictions and provision of appropriate deflection around the central island. This can result in speed profiles on roundabouts that might reduce their potential as a noise abatement measure. Because of this, the impact of a roundabout on noise levels and its applicability as a traffic calming device and a noise abatement measure should be investigated in the early design stage, by modeling noise levels. In this paper, the following hypothesis is tested: vehicle movement trajectories, defined during the fastest path performance check in roundabout early design phase, can be used as the road traffic noise sources when modeling noise at roundabouts using static noise model. This procedure (1) simplifies the preparation of the noise model, (2) results in a model that is closer to the real-world in terms of traffic flow conditions, (3) allows the noise calculations in the early stages of roundabout design, and (4) includes the influence of roundabout deflection on calculated noise levels. The abovementioned simplifications of the road traffic noise modeling process should encourage the optimization of roundabout geometry in terms of its noise reduction capabilities in the preliminary design phase of these intersections.

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Statistical Road-Traffic Noise Mapping Based on Elementary Urban Forms in Two Cities of South Korea

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13042365 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 2365

Author(s):

Phillip Kim ◽

Hunjae Ryu ◽

Jong-June Jeon ◽

Seo Il Chang

Keyword(s):

Urban Form ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Urban Morphology ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Essential Information ◽

Urban Forms ◽

Noise Map

Statistical models that can generate a road-traffic noise map for a city or area where only elementary urban design factors are determined, and where no concrete urban morphology, including buildings and roads, is given, can provide basic but essential information for developing a quiet and sustainable city. Long-term cost-effective measures for a quiet urban area can be considered at early city planning stages by using the statistical road-traffic noise map. An artificial neural network (ANN) and an ordinary least squares (OLS) model were developed by utilizing data on urban form indicators, based on a 3D urban model and road-traffic noise levels from a normal noise map of city A (Gwangju). The developed ANN and OLS models were applied to city B (Cheongju), and the resultant statistical noise map of city B was compared to an existing normal road-traffic noise map of city B. The urban form indicators that showed multi-collinearity were excluded by the OLS model, and among the remaining urban forms, road-related urban form indicators such as traffic volume and road area density were found to be important variables to predict the road-traffic noise level and to design a quiet city. Comparisons of the statistical ANN and OLS noise maps with the normal noise map showed that the OLS model tends to under-estimate road-traffic noise levels, and the ANN model tends to over-estimate them.

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Road Traffic Noise on the Santa Marta City Tourist Route

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11167196 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (16) ◽

pp. 7196

Author(s):

Dámaris A. Jiménez-Uribe ◽

Darwin Daniels ◽

Zoë L. Fleming ◽

Andrés M. Vélez-Pereira

Keyword(s):

Traffic Flow ◽

Noise Level ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Time Of Day ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Sampling Point ◽

Heavy Vehicles ◽

Noise Levels

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of vehicular traffic on the environmental noise levels of the Santa Marta City tourist route on the Colombian coast. An analysis of vehicle types and frequencies at various times of the day over nearly a year helped to track the main sources of environmental noise pollution. Five sampling points were selected, which were distributed over 12 km, with three classified as peripheral urban and two as suburban. The average traffic flow was 966 vehicles/h and was mainly composed of automobiles, with higher values in the peripheral urban area. The noise level was 103.3 dBA, with background and peak levels of 87.2 and 107.3 dBA, respectively. The noise level was higher during the day; however, there were no differences between weekdays and weekends. The results from the analysis of variance showed that the number of vehicles and the noise levels varied greatly according to the time of day and sampling point location. The peak and mean noise levels were correlated with the number of automobiles, buses and heavy vehicles. The mean noise levels were similar at all sample points despite the traffic flow varying, and the background noise was only correlated for automobiles (which varied much more than the heavy vehicles between day and night).

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