Road Traffic Noise for Asphalt and Concrete Pavement

Traffic noise has been recognized as the greatest source of noise pollution. This paper aims to assess roadside noise levels on asphalt and concrete pavements and evaluate the suitability of the existing traffic noise prediction models. Stretches with asphalt and concrete pavements on Skudai-Pontian Highway was selected to observe traffic noise during peak and off-peak periods together with observation of traffic flow characteristic. The finding showed that observed traffic noise falls in the range of 79 and 89 dBA with most of the higher noise found during the peak period for asphalt pavement and off-peak period for concrete pavement. A comparison of observed noise with 5 traffic noise models found that the Penang noise model pattern is almost close to the observed noise. Regression analysis was performed to develop a traffic noise model in order to predict noise generated by different types of pavements in different traffic conditions. All traffic noise models were found to be competent to predict the present traffic noise. Thus, it can be concluded that the pattern for traffic noise for different types of pavements is not similar under different traffic conditions and a new traffic noise model for a specific condition is needed for the better prediction of traffic noise. (paper)