Authors:
Taisir Khedaywi; Nabil AlKofahi; Lila Alomarri;
Abstract:
Traffic noise has been recognized as environmental pollution in many cities. This study aims to develop a
statistical model that can estimate road traffic noise as a function of traffic volume (passenger cars, medium
vehicles, heavy vehicles), speed, number of lanes, pedestrian volume, parking type (on-street and off-street),
grade of the road segment and temperature to study the impact of these variables on the noise level. Thirty sites
were selected in urban areas for arterial and ring roads in Irbid city. These sites were categorized as: traffic
signal intersections, roundabouts and sections. The model shows that heavy vehicle volume is the main
influencing factor that affects the noise level. Also, increasing the number of lanes by one lane in any approach
will increase the noise level by 0.50 dB (decibel). Holding other factors constant, the model shows that the
increase of (1 km/hr) in speed will increase traffic noise by 0.15 dB. Results show that the present and predicted
noise level in the future (2030) is high and exceeds the maximum allowable limit (60 dB) for all sites. The
developed model compared with the British method [Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN)] was found to
be compatible.
Keywords:
Traffic noise, Traffic noise model, Predicted noise, CRTN