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Chapter 1: Introduction

Noise pollution is a growing concern in the United States. Transportation engineers have tried to balance mobility, safety, and comfort for years in designing new facilities and rebuilding existing roadways. Until recently, traffic noise was remediated through construction of noise wall barriers or purchase of right-of-way buffer zones where feasible. Recently, a few States have begun looking at source control issues in an attempt to supplement or replace walls and buffers. A major contributor of highway noise is at the tire/pavement interface, which means that quieter tires or quieter pavements could lead to substantial reductions in traffic-generated noise. Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas are among the lead States investigating the noise-reducing properties of gap-graded or porous mixes. To accelerate the learning curve, an international scan sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) was completed on the topic of quiet pavement systems.

This scan involved visiting and investigating innovative pavement surfaces in various European nations identified as leaders or innovators in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of low-noise pavements. Transportation professionals from Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom met with the team. After presentations based on a list of amplifying questions sent to each host country in advance, a lively and probing exchange of questions and ideas ensued. Issues discussed ranged from high-level policy issues to specific noise-modeling equations and measurement techniques.

Although a preliminary desk scan identified many of the research reports that document the initiation, implementation, and innovation of quiet pavement systems, the onsite visits proved invaluable in meeting the overall objectives of the scan. The scan will ultimately benefit the U.S. highway industry by identifying how this technology can be introduced into the United States without the trial-and-error expense that has already begun to allow optimization of the systems in Europe.

Background

In the United States, many State and Federal transportation agencies have established the strategic goals of protecting and enhancing the environment, improving customer satisfaction with the transportation system, and making transportation improvements an asset to the community. Highway traffic noise is an increasingly important issue in many metropolitan areas and has the potential to negatively affect all of the previously mentioned goals. For some projects, highway traffic noise is the issue of highest concern to nearby residents. In fact, for all major capacity-increasing highway construction projects, a highway traffic noise analysis is required. Tire/pavement noise represents 75 to 90 percent of the total noise generated by passenger vehicles, and it could be a significant amount (yet to be determined) of the noise generated by trucks. Reductions in tire/pavement noise levels could reduce the overall traffic noise level substantially, reducing the potential requirements for expensive noise-abatement measures. While technologies now available in the United States provide modest (2-to-4-dB) noise reductions, new and innovative approaches to this problem have the potential to provide substantially greater reductions.

Scope

The purposes of this scan were to document the state of the practice in design, construction, maintenance, and monitoring of quiet pavement systems, and identify new and innovative practices that may be evolving from past experience with existing systems. From April 30 to May 16, 2004, the U.S. study panel visited nations that have successfully used new and innovative pavement technologies that result in substantial reductions in tire/pavement noise. In addition, the panel sought information on noise measurement methodologies and monitoring systems.

Team Sponsorship

The panel was cosponsored by FHWA and AASHTO. It was composed of 14 members representing FHWA, AASHTO, academia, and public sector professional associations.

Topics of Interest

General topics of interest to the team included issues relating to noise policy, pavement and mix design, construction techniques, maintenance problems, modeling and measurement of tire/pavement noise, and innovative research planned or underway. Specifically, the team had an interest in onsite visits to various projects, including the following:

Specific questions that amplify the panel’s interests in these topics are included in Appendix C.

European Hosts

Before the scan trip, a desk scan was initiated to identify countries that had demonstrated materials and processes that, if studied further, may prove useful in improving U.S. practices. Desk scans are limited, office-based, information-gathering projects designed to supplement and further define scan topics that have been approved. The authors corresponded primarily by electronic mail with established contacts in Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as with several North American colleagues.

Table 1. Organizations and locations visited.
Location Hosts and Participants Dates
Denmark
(Copenhagen)
Vejteknisk Institute/Danish Road Institute (DRI) May 3, 2004
Denmark
(Roksilde)
DRI
(Site Visit)
May 4, 2004
Denmark
(Copenhagen)
DRI May 5, 2004
The Netherlands
(Delft)
Dienst Weg-en Waterbouwkunde (DWW) Rijkswaterstaat, Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat
(Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management)
May 6, 2004
The Netherlands
(Apeldoorn)
DWW
(Site Visit)
May 7, 2004
France
(Paris)
Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport, Housing, Tourism, and the Sea; Road Administration-Office of International Affairs; Direction de la Recherch et des Affairs Scientifiques et Techniques (DRAST); Service d'Etudes techniques des Routes et Autoroutes (Sétra); Laboratoie Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC); Colas; Appia May 10, 2004
France
(Nantes)
LCPC; VIARME
(Site Visit)
May 11, 2004
Italy
(Rome)
Autostrade perl'Italia S.p.A.
(Site Visit)
May 12, 2004
United Kingdom
(London, England)
Highways Agency May 13, 2004
United Kingdom
(Crowthorne, England)
Transport Research Laboratory, Ltd. (TRL)
(Site Visit)
May 14, 2004
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