S M I L E Towards Sustainable Urban Transport Policies. Recomendations for Local Authorities CataloPGgeuubildice liTnraens sfpoorrt Road Traffic Noise Transporte Público Abatement Transporte Público Sustainable Mobility Initiatives for Local Environment Guidelines for Road Traffic Noise Abatement Table of Contents PAGE Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 3 Part 1. Overview and information parameters Overview of research results .................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction to the European Environmental Noise Directive................................................................... 7 Findings and suggestions for successfully planning noise abatement measures .................................... 8 Part 2. Guidelines for noise abatement planning principles Integrating noise abatement planning into the planning process............................................................ 14 Overall plans to combat road traffic noise.............................................................................................. 14 Non-technical issues: organisational approaches .................................................................................... 15 Non-technical issues: strategic approaches ............................................................................................ 16 Noise abatement opportunities available to local authorities.................................................................. 17 Initial situation: what is the first step? how should priorities be set?...................................................... 18 What approaches are contained in a set of measures? .......................................................................... 19 Reducing traffic density promoting public transport .............................................................................................................. 19 encouraging cycling and walking...................................................................................................... 20 traffic management and parking ...................................................................................................... 21 Reducing the percentage of heavy goods vehicles designating HGV routes.................................................................................................................... 22 road management, e.g. by-pass roads .............................................................................................. 23 Speed reduction / traffic calming measures............................................................................................ 24 Renewal of public transport and (heavy) goods vehicles ........................................................................ 25 Changing the road surface improvements to roads .................................................................................................................... 26 improvements to tram tracks............................................................................................................ 27 Noise screens noise barriers.................................................................................................................................... 28 sound-proof windows ...................................................................................................................... 29 Urban planning...................................................................................................................................... 30 Evaluation of measures.......................................................................................................................... 31 GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 1 Part 3. Selected examples of effective noise abatement measures in European towns and cities Reduction of traffic density: Noise reduction in the city of Annecy Michel Delleur, City of Annecy, France ........................................................................................................ 32 Percentage reduction of heavy goods vehicles: Outcomes of the HEAVEN pilot trial in Beusselstrasse and conclusions to be drawn for air quality management and noise abatement planning Bernd Lehming, City of Berlin, Germany...................................................................................................... 33 Speed reduction and traffic calming measures: Looking at noise in Breda - combating traffic din with 'black' and 'red' Ghislain J.A.L. Rooijmans, City of Breda, Netherlands.................................................................................. 35 Renewal of public transport: Improving noise pollution in the city of Parma: evolution from 1998 to 2003 Emanuelle Moruzzi and Pietro Vignali, City of Parma, Italy.......................................................................... 38 Changing the road surfaces: Acoustic road surfaces: experiments in the city of Valencia Ramon Isidro Sanchis Mangrinan and Alfonso Novo Belenguer, City of Valencia, Spain .............................. 40 Noise screening: Noise abatement in Vienna: examples from real life/praxis Wolfgang Khutter, City of Vienna, Austria .................................................................................................. 41 Good examples on decreasing annoyance from traffic noise Thomas Hammarlund, City of Göteborg, Sweden ...................................................................................... 42 Urban planning: Acoustical planning procedures: lessons learnt in the city of Modena Daniele Bertoni, City of Modena, Italy ........................................................................................................ 43 Organisational and strategic approaches: Dynamic mapping for road traffic noise in Paris Alexandre Puchly, Yann Françoise and Gerard Thibaut, City of Paris, France................................................ 46 Madrid's awareness campaign against noise pollution Placido Perera Melero, City of Madrid, Spain .............................................................................................. 47 Integrated approach: The Celle noise abatement plan: a brief description of measures taken Helmut Knabe and Jörg Frohnert, City of Celle, Germany .......................................................................... 48 Appendix List of participants ...................................................................................................................................... 50 GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 2 Introduction Noise contributes greatly to diminishing city dwellers' pollution in order to create a more habitable urban quality of life. In particular exposure of people to noise environment. levels above 65 dB(A) can cause severe health problems. The guidelines and associated recommendations are Road traffic is a main source of noise in urban areas, based on the following four elements: accounting for about 80 % of total noise pollution. •a survey conducted in 86 towns and cities in EU Against this background, the European directive on member states and eastern European accession environmental noise requires local authorities to assess noise levels in their local environment, to fulfil common countries; noise indicators and to produce action plans in order to •a Task Force working group comprising noise experts prevent or reduce harmful effects of environmental noise. from Denmark, Germany, France and Italy, who both In this context this publication as part of the SMILE project individually and collectively provided valuable input in deals primarily with the issue of road traffic noise. The elaborating the guidelines based on their expertise, main focus of the 'Guidelines for road traffic noise knowledge and experience, in the course of four abatement' is an identification of innovative activities meetings held between May 2002 and June 2003; directed towards reducing noise due to urban traffic; •the European workshop entitled 'Guidelines for Road practical principles are elaborated with the aim of Traffic Noise Abatement' which was held in Berlin on 20 pointing out existing potential for noise abatement and 21 October 2003; measures in a field for which local authorities are responsible and can therefore more easily take action. •policy guidelines giving recommendations for planning, This publication aims to present and to disseminate managing and implementing noise abatement innovative and successfully implemented examples of strategies at local level. noise abatement planning in selected European towns By means of this publication those involved hope to and cities. contribute to on-going activities of the European The main objective in these guidelines is to facilitate Commission in order to improve the built environment putting into practice planning for noise-reducing and enable a better quality of life for the inhabitants of measures in the following fields: European towns and cities. •reduction of traffic density; reducing percentage of Compilation of these guidelines can be attributed to the heavy goods vehicles; reduction of speeds; renewal of members of the Task Force working group, in particular public transport and (heavy) goods vehicles; changing to: road surfaces etc.; noise screening; sound-proof windows and urban planning. •Dr. Daniele Bertoni, City of Modena, Italy Non-technical issues, organisational and strategic •Guillaume Dutilleux, Centre d'Etudes de Techniques de approaches, are equally relevant and are also outlined: l'Est, Strasbourg, France •an organisational approach is essential for integrating •Hugo Lyse Nielsen, noise expert, Copenhagen, Denmark noise abatement planning into current planning •Gertrude Penn-Bressel, Federal Environment Agency, processes at local level and cooperating with Berlin, Germany stakeholder and the public within a city. The strategic approach should ideally aim at linking a local noise •Christian Popp, Lärmkontor GmbH, Hamburg, Germany policy with policies at regional, national and EU level. •Catherine Serve, Centre d'Etudes de Techniques de l'Est, In outlining the topics described above, the guidelines are Strasbourg, France directed towards giving decision makers, experts and All the partners in the SMILE project would like to thank professionals working in this field readily-available practical information on initiating new ideas and everyone who contributed to the survey, during the inspiration or furthering existing activities and thus European workshop in Berlin and in any way towards successfully to plan and implement noise-reducing elaboration of the guidelines, for their fruitful and measures according to a municipality's local needs and significant collaboration. demands. The instruments and overall concepts presented The SMILE consortium are designed to provide valuable benefits for citizens seeking approaches with regard to fighting urban noise GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 3 Part 1. Overview of research results In order to gain an overview of the situation and activities Cities’ size according to number of in the field of noise abatement planning in local inhabitants authorities, a research study was carried out. For this purpose a questionnaire was sent to selected to European towns and cities. The focus of the questionnaire was centred on road traffic noise as local authorities can act Cities up to 100,000 inhabitants 12 on their own in this field. In addition, a principal criterion Cities > 100,000 inhabitants 19 was that the measures had to be or have been implemented, as the overall objective of the survey was to Cities > 250,000 inhabitants 23 identify concrete examples which were put into practice, particularly as noise-reducing measures are very often not Table 2: Cities’ size according to number of inhabitants implemented. It should be noted that some towns and cities may be active in only one of the categories for Though the overall number of dispatched and returned measures listed below, whilst other combine their efforts, questionnaires cannot to be seen as representative in carrying out a bundle of measures. terms of numbers, however, the cities provide a well- balanced mixture of small, medium-sized and large municipalities based on numbers of inhabitants, as shown Number of dispatched and returned in table 2. Thus it can be assumed that the varying structure of the participating cities give a valuable questionnaires overview concerning implemented noise-reducing measures, enabling transferability of measures to other 66 dispatched European local authorities. European Union 43 (65%) returned 20 candidate countries 11 (55%) Type of measure implemented or action 86 total 54 (63%) taken in road traffic noise abatement 0 20 40 60 80 100 % Table 1: Number of dispatched and returned questionnaires applied Reduce traffic density 37 12 not applied/ Evaluation comment no comment Reduce percentage of HGV 23 26 In total, 86 questionnaires were dispatched to local Reduce speed 36 13 authorities, of which 66 were sent to municipalities in EU member states and 20 in accession countries. There was Renewal of PT vehicles a total of 54 responses, 43 from member states and 11 and rolling stock 22 27 from candidate countries. The overall return rate of questionnaires was 63 %, showing that almost two-thirds Change road surface 32 17 of the local authorities responded to the survey and indicating a high level of awareness for traffic-related Noise screening 33 16 noise issues. Sound-proof windows 21 28 Urban planning 31 18 0 25 50 75 100 % Table 3: Type of measure or action implemented for road traffic noise abatement GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 4 Evaluation comment Evaluation comment The majority of cities are pro-actively realising measures in Most commonly 'events and citizen fora' and 'information fields such as 'reduce traffic density', 'reduce speeds' and campaigns' as well work with 'mass media' are used for 'urban planning'. So it appears that traffic-related noise participation and information. In addition, specific questions are easily integrated in current planning consultation and dialogue processes such as targeted processes or will be integrated into new processes, meetings with residents, local shop owners’ association, including road maintenance, urban renewal or revision of special training for technicians are used as well, as an existing land use plan. The issue 'reduce percentage of indicated by the large proportion of 'other' approaches. HGV' seems to have a much lower priority, even though It is necessary to point out that, depending on the scope re-routing of HGV can be seen as a comparatively or range of measures and actions planned, e.g. re- inexpensive and very effective measure. designing a main road or urban rehabilitation in an inner Measures such as 'changing road surface' and 'noise city, these various instruments are often combined: firstly, screening' also have high priority. The high percentage for to raise awareness for the noise issue and secondly, in the first issue seems to indicate that changing road order to involve as many members of the public as surfaces often includes replacing uneven surfaces, e.g. possible, aiming at a high level of acceptance for the cobblestones, by smoother asphalt surfaces in the course proposed plan or measures. In general it can be noted of on-going road maintenance; on the other hand, low- that the Internet is playing an increasing role as an noise road surfaces are rather expensive. instrument for information purposes in the category 'others' (miscellaneous). Noise screens such as barriers or earth banks are often constructed along roads with high volumes of traffic, e.g. inner city sections of a motorway, a main road/fly-over Evaluation of measures and actions linking the centre with a motorway, or along railway lines. 'Sound-proof windows' are mostly introduced in noise- sensitive areas, e.g. residential housing along main arterial Survey/enquiry 20 29 applied routes where there is no space to build noise barriers, or not applied/ in specific buildings such as schools. In many cases Calculation 23 26 no comment barriers and sound-proof windows are co-funded by Measurements 36 13 regional or national administrative bodies. 0 25 50 75 100 % The 'renewal of PT vehicles and rolling stock' requires Table 5: Evaluation of measures and actions by assessing effectiveness of an activity before and after the implementation process major investment, so it currently seems to have a lower priority for many local authorities as it can be achieved only on a long term basis. Evaluation comment The majority of towns and cities surveyed makes Forms of information and participation assessments of measures or actions regarding their noise- reducing effects. In many cases this is carried out by of involving people affected, measurement. However, some towns and cities also carry out calculation of the before and after situation. associations and organisations Sometimes this is done additionally to measurement related to specific action, e.g. to minimise noise impact for future development of a newly-built housing area, or Others 35 14 in the implementation process of a large urban rehabilitation project, measurements are made during on- going construction and work phases. Enquiries such as Mass media 21 28 surveying residents are also used but not as frequently as the other methods. Opinion polls 5 44 Criteria used to set priorities in Events and 29 20 implementing planned measures citizen fora Information Cost-benefit 10 39 applied 27 22 aspects campaigns Numbers of not applied/ people involved 22 27 no comment 0 25 50 75 100 % Level of noise 35 14 exposure applied not applied/no comment 0 25 50 75 100 % Table 4: Forms of information and participation of involving people affected, Table 6: Criteria used to set priorities in implementing planned measures associationsandorganisations GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 5 Evaluation comment Evaluation comment The majority of towns and cities surveyed uses noise In table 8 reactions to measures of the groups considered exposure levels as criteria to set priorities for action. Some are summarised, and it is clear that they vary considerably. local authorities also take numbers of people affected as The reactions of local government and people affected an additional indicator. Cost-benefit aspects are are very positive. The reactions of environmental groups, considered only by a few local authorities as an politicians and the population in general are still positive. instrument in setting priorities for implementation of However, at the political level 'undecided' or 'no rating' measures and actions. responses are at the same level as positive reactions. Thus it seems there is need to improve awareness for noise issues among these decision makers. Financial support from national Industry and commerce as well as retail seems rather governments or other institutions hesitant regarding their evaluation of noise abatement planning as positive reactions are low and 'no rating' or 'undecided' responses predominate. applied not applied/ Summary Received 14 35 no comment The research element may be summarised as follows: 0 25 50 75 100 % •there is a high level of awareness for traffic-related noise issues in local authorities; Table 7: Financial support from national governments or other institution •small, medium-sized and large municipalities are engaged in work on implementing noise-reducing Evaluation comment measures; •predominent fields of action are 'reducing traffic A large number of cities have received funding from density', 'reducing speeds' and 'urban planning' which regional, national and European sources, as indicated in can be easily integrated into current or new planning table 7. In most cases the funding is provided for specific processes; actions or projects, such as co-funding for road maintenance on a national road, purchase of new PT •in the case of participation and information, 'events and vehicles, implementation of sound-proof windows and citizen fora' and 'information campaigns' as well work noise barriers. Other issues include providing technical with 'mass media' are commonly used; assistance and/or research through external funding. •to assess the 'before and after' situations, measurement and calculation are carried out; Reactions to the realised measures •priorities for action are identified by the use of noise level exposure and/or numbers of people affected; •funding from regional, national and European sources is Others 9 3 1 36 obtained mostly for specific action or projects; Population in 21 7 21 •in principle, reactions towards noise abatememt general measures are positive, however, there seems some need Involved people 32 4 16 to improve awareness for noise issues among local political decision makers. In addition, better Environmental 26 2 3 18 communication with retail, industry and commerce organisations appears necessary as these actors will be directly Industry and 11 14 24 affected by implementing traffic management commerce measures. Retail 9 14 1 26 Local government 34 2 14 Politics 25 4 21 0 25 50 75 100 % positive negative undecided no rating Table 8: Reactions to the realised measures GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 6 Introduction to the European Environmental Noise Directive In June 2002, DIRECTIVE 2002/49/EC of the European inhabitants, for roads that carry more than 6 million Parliament and of the Council relating to the assessment vehicles per year, for railways with more than 60,000 and management of environmental noise entered into train journeys per year and for all civil airports with more force. The environmental noise directive (END) aims to than 50,000 flights per year, by the summer of 2007. establish a common approach, and thereby prevent or •In a second phase, 'strategic noise maps' must be reduce the harmful effects of environmental noise. This created for agglomerations with more than 100,000 aim is to be achieved using a bundle of measures: inhabitants, for roads that carry more than 3 million •introducing harmonised noise indicators vehicles per year, and for railways with more than 30,000 train journeys per year, by the summer of 2012. •harmonising the calculation methods for determining noise levels •Action plans must be created for the relevant areas within a period of twelve months, in cases where the •harmonising the procedures used to create noise maps criteria (such as limit values) determined by the and action plans for noise reduction individual MS have been exceeded. •providing information to the public on the •The public must be informed about any relevant environmental impact of noise activities. Furthermore, public participation is a required The END contains the following detailed provisions: element of the action plan preparation process. •It introduces the noise indices L (the average value of •Data on the estimated number of citizens exposed to den the noise level over 24 hours with weighting factors of certain noise levels must be sent to the Commission. 5 dB(A) and 10 dB(A) for the four hour evening period and the eight hour Table 1: Timetable for the creation of noise maps and action plans night period respectively) and L (the night Area / source to be mapped Strategic noise maps by Action plans by average value over the eight hour night period), to be used for strategic Agglomerations noise mapping and reporting to the • >250,000 inhabitants 30 June 2007 18 July 2008 Commission. Member States (MS) may • >100,000 inhabitants 30 June 2012 18 July 2008 transfer up to two hours of the Major roads evening period to either the day or • >6,000,000 vehicles / year 30 June 2007 18 July 2008 night period, thus enabling them to • >3,000,000 vehicles / year 30 June 2012 18 July 2008 take climatic and cultural differences Major railways into account. • >60,000 train journeys / year 30 June 2007 18 July 2008 •Noise indices can be determined in • >30,000 train journeys / year 30 June 2012 18 July 2008 accordance with national regulations Major airports during a transitional period. The results • >50,000 flights / year 30 June 2007 18 July 2008 must then be converted into the harmonised noise indices. If no national regulations exist, the 'interim methods' indicated in the END are to be used. The transitional period ends when the harmonised calculation procedures for L and L enter into force. den night •MS must provide information to the Commission concerning all relevant limit values, and convert them if necessary into the European harmonised noise indices. •In an initial phase, 'strategic noise maps' must be created for agglomerations with more than 250,000 GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 7 Findings and suggestions for successfully planning noise abatement measures This presentation both reflects and summarises outcomes Actions Efficiency of the Task Force working group discussions, identifying possible problems and pitfalls in this area, based on their • technical standards of vehicles / tyres expertise, knowledge and experience, with the aim of (prognosis for the year 2005) -2...-3 dB(A) helping towns and cities starting new initiatives and/or • traffic calming, 30 kph -2...-3 dB(A) modifying on-going activities, as well as trying to avoid • steady driving 0...-3 dB(A) unintended or unexpected effects in the process of noise • lorry bans -1...-3 dB(A) abatement planning. • reduction of the number of vehicles by Overall, the following issues will be outlined: 20 % -1 dB(A) 50 % -3 dB(A) 90 % -10 dB(A) •psychological effects: are small reductions in noise • shift from private car to public transport worth the effort? depending on technical standard and occupancy of the vehicles +6...-9 dB(A) •experiences gained from traffic calming • redistribution of road space e.g. bus lanes -1...-2 dB(A) •noise screening • noise barriers +3...-15 dB(A) German Noise Reduction Goal: -13 dB(A), •changing road surfaces in order not to exceed 65 dB(A) during day time in residences in the neighbourhood of all urban roads •reduction in property value due to noise •protecting quiet areas Table 1: Abatement of Road Traffic Noise •disadvantages of bypass roads probably result in greater noise reduction, however in the •possibilities for reducing costs initial stage it is often only possible to put one of these measures into practice. •maintenance costs of measures Laboratory-based research using artificial sounds like •step-by-step approach ‘constant white noise’ has led to results where many of •information and communication the people involved did not think it would be worthwhile to reduce the average sound level of traffic noise by less than 3 dB(A), as no one would notice the difference (see Psychological effects: are small diagram 1). reductions in noise Diagram 1: Momentary Sound Level and Average Sound Level worth the effort? 70 A problem common to most Decrease of LAm by 1 dB: is it audible ? noise reduction activities is that noise can only be 60 reduced in the short term using small steps. Common low cost measures include 50 reducing speed limits, night time lorry bans, and deviating Reduction of the sound level of 'white noise' (experimental conditions in the laboratory) through traffic. Taken individually, these measures 40 result in noise reductions ranging from 1 to 3 dB each (see table 1). A combination 30 time (min) of these measures will 10 20 30 40 50 GUIDELINES FOR ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE ABATEMENT PAGE 8