Author: Richard K. Romick-Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Acoustical engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 112
Book Description
The objective of this study is to access and quantify the prediction means for traffic noise. Of particular interest is the noise reduction behind noise walls, referred to as the shadow zone. The study measured traffic noise at four sites in the metropolitan Chicago area with noise barriers. These four sites were modeled with both STAMINA 2.0 and FHWA Traffic Noise Model (TNM) 1.0. For these four sites, TNM predicted the observed traffic noise more accurately than STAMINA. In general, STAMINA overpredicted the traffic noise relative to the measured values. The second objective of the study was to access the state-of-the-art of top treatments for noise walls. Top treatments are an addition to a traditional noise wall to increase the effectiveness without significantly increasing the cost or height of the noise wall. It appears that top treatments are not well enough developed for consideration in Illinois at this time. The last objective was to develop a means to help educate the general public about traffic noise and noise wall characteristics. To meet this objective, two means were developed. The first was a home page that provides great flexibility due to the hypertext format. The second was a tri-fold brochure to serve as a handout at public meetings or as a visual aid for one-on-one discussions.