PEDESTRIAN RESPONSE TO ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE FOR MEDIUM SIZE CITY IN INDIA

Abstract

Level of vehicular noise pollution is one of the major factors to choose pedestrian mode of transportation among other modes of transportation. Transportation systems and their related outcomes are responsible for ensuring safe travel options, including walking people of all ages and different abilities. This study will provide an opportunity to quantify the environmental impact in terms of noise level for future development and planning of pedestrian infrastructure in India. It will also help in modal shifting towards walking, improvements in energy efficiency, and the impact of specific contaminants on health. Exposure of high noise level can cause annoyance and severe stress on auditory and nervous system of pedestrians. Most of the Indian cities have noise level above than acceptable limits because of rapid urbanization with increasing number of vehicular traffic. The objective of this study is to study response of pedestrians towards noise pollution in Roorkee at different locations based on different land use. Roorkee is a medium size city with a population of 2.73 lakhs (Roorkee Metropolitan areas, 2011 census), situated in Uttarakhand, India. It is a city with large number of educational institutions and sizable numbers of student population. Noise level study has been carried out at ten locations on NH-58 near Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. Noise data was collected at an interval of 30 seconds. Design implications for future improvement of pedestrian infrastructure have been presented in this paper considering traffic noise as an environmental factor. It is expected that the study outcome shall be useful in understanding positive effect of low traffic noise encouraging increased usage of pedestrian facilities within urban transport network.