Abstract
In almost all urban contexts and in many extra-urban conurbations, where road traffic is the main noise pollution source, the use of barriers is not allowed. In these cases, low-noise road surfaces are the most used mitigation action together with traffic flow reduction. Selecting the optimal surface is only the first problem that the public administration has to face. In the second place, it has to consider the issue of assessing the efficacy of the mitigation action. The purpose of the LEOPOLDO project was to improve the knowledge in the design and the characterization of low-noise road surfaces, producing guidelines helpful to the public administrations. Several experimental road surfaces were tested. Moreover, several measurement methods were implemented aiming to select those that are suitable for a correct assessment of the pavement performances laid as mitigation planning. In this paper, the experience gained in the LEOPOLDO project will be described, focusing on both the measurement methods adopted to assess the performance of a low-noise road surface and the criteria by which the experimental results have to be evaluated, presenting a comparison of the obtained results and their monitoring along time.
Highlights
Transportation noise is an environmental stressor that causes sleep disturbance and annoyance
The LEOPOLDO Project In Tuscany, the LEOPOLDO project [5] was planned in order to develop innovative noise mitigation techniques to be used in action plans for road infrastructures, based on a new type of pavement layers: the project implementation is part of the required environmental policies to mitigate road noise pollution implemented by the Tuscany Region and other European Community member states, in accordance with the Directive 2002/49/EC [6]
Results obtained in the LEOPOLDO project recently lead to the Tuscany Region Guidelines, useful to local administrators for choosing and engineering the most suitable surface to be used as mitigation action on local urban and extra-urban roads [13]
Summary
Transportation noise is an environmental stressor that causes sleep disturbance and annoyance. The latter is the most frequently ascertained effects of noise for people living in urban areas. When low-noise road surfaces are used as mitigation actions combined with other actions, as for example traffic planning, it is necessary to have suitable methods to assess the effectiveness of the road surfaces. These methods have to be applicable in all contexts, even where the surrounding conditions are very different from those requested by standards. During last years a great effort was made by some international research projects
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