Where did all of this business about reasonable and feasible traffic noise abatement begin, and how can it best be incorporated into today's environmental impact assessment process? These questions prompted a third: How can the decision-making process be improved when it comes to determining when traffic noise abatement is reasonable and feasible? Historically, the consideration of reasonable and feasible traffic noise abatement can be traced to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) directives issued in 1973. Following more than two decades of application by state highway agencies, FHWA issued a report in 1992 that questioned what criteria should be used to determine reasonable and feasible traffic noise abatement. This report prompted the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to assess its process related to reasonable and feasible abatement. After nearly a decade of adjustment and tweaking of the current process, FDOT has developed an alternative methodology. This quantitative method could be used to assess noise abatement reasonableness and feasibility and help to remove the appearance that subjective abatement decisions are being made. The quantitative methodology that FDOT developed would reduce the appearance of subjectivity by applying a series of quantifiable criteria that use numeric values to produce a summed value. When the summed value is compared with an established range, it would indicate whether noise abatement is reasonable and feasible for the given situation.
Abstract