While well established techniques for the prediction of freely flowing traffic noise have been readily available for some time, the problem of dealing with traffic noise at intersections has hitherto been neglected. Several years fundamental research at ARRB has resulted in a body of theory which describes this phenomenon. The theory, which is based on aggregating the noise from individual vehicles passing through the intersection, culminated in a model which predicts noise time histories, histograms and indices at various locations around the intersection. Empirical evaluation of the model is outlined. Having established the model to be both robust and accurate, a user-friendly, personal computer package user-friendly, personal computer package incorporating the theory was developed. This package provides predictions of traffic noise around a signalised intersection and will run readily on conventional (IBM based) personal computers. It is accompanied by good documentation. The package was released during 1989 via a series of seminars in all capital cities except Darwin. These seminars, which were funded by the Australian Environment Council, launched a package which is finding application in areas such as road design and environmental impact assessment (A).
Abstract