Noise mapping for the management of urban traffic flows (original) (raw)
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Urban noise mapping: The impact of traffic noise level in the environmental noise pollution
2020
The European Union proposes noise protection measures adopted in accordance with European legislation, emphasizing environmental noise pollution as an important environmental problem. The legislation imposes European Directive 2002/49/EC, which aims to establish a common basis for addressing noise problems in Europe through noise maps which are a powerful tool for controlling the population exposure to environmental noise. In this paper, a noise map generation based on using the vehicle flows on four boulevards that enclose a living area in the center of Skopje, the capital city of North Macedonia is described. For this purpose, statistics on the flow of vehicles on the boulevards are provided by Traffic Management and Control Center. The noise simulations were created using a noise propagation model in IMMI as simulation software. The initial map was additionally validated by performing short-term measurements at the intersections of these boulevards in order to come to a conclusion of the impact of the traffic noise pollution in the overall environmental noise situation. The advantage of having this map representation of traffic noise allows for a more accurate view of the actual environmental noise circumstanes in the city center, determining more quickly the causes of high noise levels and, consequently, any mitigation action required.
NOISE MAPPING AS A PLANNING TOOL FOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES
More than a hundred Portuguese municipalities are now working on, or have recently finished, their first noise map at a municipal scale. According to the noise regulations (DL 292/00) this is a legal obligation, in the framework of municipal land use planning, which must be fulfilled by all municipalities – a much wider range of application than that defined by the European Directive 2002/49/CE. The national administration has been partially financing these noise mapping projects. The first edition of the noise map, typically based on a computer model and describing the present noise situation of the municipality, should be seen as the first step to build a true noise information and management system, based on the computer model initially developed. Based on the experience of around 80 municipal noise maps, this paper focus on municipal noise mapping in the framework of land use planning, showing examples of its application as a very useful tool for municipal planning, in coordination with environmental management. The examples cover a wide range of situations: from the highest to the lowest population density areas in Portugal, countryside areas where noisier neighbouring districts (e.g. with an airport) have a dramatic influence on land use restrictions and other situations which are used to illustrate practical problems and ways of dealing with them in an effective way.
Noise mapping as a tool for urban planning
This paper discusses the findings of an earlier analysis of environmental noise pollution in the north section of the Green Line in the city of Curitiba, involving information about the objective aspects of the measured equivalent continuous sound pressure levels generated by vehicle traffic on this main thoroughfare. An assessment is also made of the environmental impact the avenue produces in a noise sensitive area. Only the main factors that determine road traffic noise, i.e., heavy vehicle flow, road conditions, and average speed of vehicle traffic, were considered in the noise maps developed here. The noise levels recorded on this road exceed the levels recommended by current legislation. This study demonstrates that taking only one control measure does not suffice to counteract noise efficiently. Instead, a plan involving various measures taken jointly is needed to effectively mitigate the problem.
Noise mapping of major roads in Milan District
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2008
The paper deals with noise map calculation, according to the first deadline of the END (Environmental Noise Directive, 2002/49/EC), for Milan District major roads. The roads with more than six million vehicles passages per year have been estimated to cover 405 km out of 1090 km total. Noise emission has been calculated from peak hour flow data for each segment of the whole road network and from some local traffic direct measurements. A statistical method to assign mean flow values to each road segment has been used, according to Italian reference periods. These data enable to use an acoustic model on a wide area with several line sources in order to obtain noise propagation maps of L den and L night indicators. A procedure to estimate people exposed to different noise levels, as required by the END, has been also studied. Through a geographic information system it has been possible to intersect population input data (demographic density for different areas, buildings use type and buildings volumetric data) and noise mapping data. Every step of the procedure has been carried out complying with WG-AEN Good Practice Guide recommendations, on the base of the best available data in Milan District.
NOISE MAPPING FOR URBAN ROAD TRAFFIC AND ITS EFFECT ON THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
A major source of noise in an urban agglomeration is the road traffic. In order to analyze the effect of the noise on the population, the local authorities need noise maps, created depending by each major noise source. Data necessary for estimate the noise generated by the road traffic are: vehicle numbers and vehicle speed, by category, and data related to the road segment: traffic flow, road surface construction and gradient. The final result – noise map – is strongly influenced by the accuracy of input data. This paper presents a method for road noise mapping, from the beginning (data acquisition) to the end (printing and evaluation of population exposure), an original approach that gives accurate results.
The important problem is protection of population from high noise. This problem was discussed in the article. Also in the article was showed the necessity of the noise maps of the city for making correct management decisions is proved. There are presented data on the change in the number of vehicles on the territory of the European Union and Russia, information about noise levels in the territories along the roads in the cities of Russia, the algorithm for generating noise maps of the city. There were estimated noise levels generated by vehicles, in the Central part of the city of St. Petersburg for two scenarios: first on the basis of field studies on the composition and intensity traffic, second – on forecast of limiting vehicle traffic. Conclusion: restriction of movement of vehicles can reduce impact, noise, and values of the maximum concentrations near streets with restricted movement, but at the same time can increase the negative impact of the near streets, where will be redistributed transport stream. The decrease in the maximum ground level concentrations and levels of noise for such a big city like St. Petersburg will contribute to complex of environmental measures: improving fuel, classes environmental performance of vehicles, the development of the road network with traffic organization based estimate of environmental consequences of the proposed activities.
Comparative assessment of road traffic noise through 2D noise mapping: A case study of an urban area
Frontiers in sustainability, 2022
Noise pollution has risen to a worrying degree in all zones of the city (residential, commercial, industrial, and silent) because of the rapid rise in urbanization, industrialization, and other connectivity of transport systems in all zones of the city. It has always been challenging to identify noise hotspots where immediate remedial measures are required. In addition to providing the propagation of noise in the X and Z direction, D noise mapping is an essential method for identifying regions where noise levels may reach a hazardous level. Thus, the comparative examination of all residential areas inside a city provides a clear picture of noise exposure. The main focus of this study is to carry out comparative analysis of noise exposure level of selected locations such as residential commercial, industrial and silent area of Delhi city using D noise maps. For noise monitoring, Sound Level Meter (SLM) Larson & Davis in compliance with the standard procedure of CPCB is used for monitoring peak tra c hours of working day and night. After that, using sound PLAN (acoustic) and MapInfo Pro,-D (Desktop GIS) noise maps were developed, visualized, and analyzed. According to the findings, residential areas have been recorded as having the highest levels of noise, followed by commercial and silent zones, and industrial areas have been seen to have the lowest levels of noise. The high noise level in residential area may be due to heavy tra c volume and road surrounded by high rise buildings. Whereas minimum noise has been observed in industrial area because the industries along the major roads have been surrounded with parapets and trees. As a result, only a small amount of industrial noise entered major highways/roads. Additionally, D noise map revealed that the surrounding structures of road (high rise buildings, brick walls, grilled boundaries, trees etc.) significantly influence propagation of noise in all directions. These maps may also be utilized by decision makers in the process of formulating noise control strategies or implementing corrective measures. KEYWORDS noise monitoring, sound level meter (SLM), urban area, road tra c noise, D noise mapping Frontiers in Sustainability frontiersin.org Alam et al.. /frsus. .
Limits and advantages of Good Practice Guide to Noise Mapping
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2008
The Pisa Noise Mapping Project has recently presented to the public what turned out to be the first noise map for road traffic in Italy, developed taking into account the Good Practice Guide version 2 (GPG2) of WG-AEN and the main results of the IMAGINE project. This paper will discuss the results of this noise map, relative to road traffic, in terms of L den and L night and their uncertainties, obtained by comparing the calculated values with a set of noise measurements taken across the territory. The uncertainties so defined were compared with the ones predicted by GPG2 considering, in particular, two different ways to model the source. To do this, input traffic flows were assigned first by taking direct measurements and performing a road classification and then, at a second stage, using a static traffic model (the latter method should give less uncertainty, according to GPG2). The expected change in uncertainty will be discussed, together with advantages and disadvantages of the two different choices. A comparison of exposed population with other EU realities will be also presented.
Urban advanced noise indicator mapping relying on street categorization and measurements
NOISE-CON ... proceedings, 2023
In order to more accurately estimate health outcomes related to environmental noise exposure, indicators beyond long-term equivalent sound pressure levels might be needed (such as statistical levels, number of events, psycho-acoustical indices, etc). In urban noise mapping, predicting these more advanced noise indicators is especially challenging. In the current work, an open source noise mapping code (NoiseModelling) is combined with a simplified dynamic traffic estimation model. However, in most cities, traffic data availability is poor, especially in low traffic streets. To overcome this issue, the noise mapping procedure developed here assumes no direct access to traffic information and fully relies on Open Street Map (OSM) street categorization. These street categorizations were then assigned sets of plausible traffic compositions, counts and speeds; various scenarios were explicitly simulated. In a next step, these traffic scenarios were weighted to best fit a set of 29 noise indicators on 23 measurement stations deployed in the city of Barcelona, during various periods of the day. It was shown that this procedure leads to adequate assessments of a wide range of noise indicators.
DYNAMAP project: Procedure for noise mapping updating in urban area
2017
The main goal of Dynamap project, as for the urban case study, is to produce a dynamic noise map within a given area of the city of Milan containing about 2000 road arches, by using 24 continuous measuring stations. This map will be dynamically updated at an interval varying from 5 minutes to 1 hour. The reliability of the mapping process for a complex urban context is related to the fact that the vehicle flow patterns are supposed to be very regular, in function of the use of different roads. In the first phase of the project, nearly 100 road arches have been monitored for a period of at least 24 hours and have been statistically aggregated in two clusters, depending on their noise level profiles. Then the analysis of the distribution of a non-acoustic parameter -which depends on the vehicular flowsallowed to attribute a specific noise profile to a road not present in the database. The total amount of road arches has been finally divided into six groups to better distinguish the di...