This synthesis report describes current practice in mitigating nighttime construction nuisances such as noise, vibration, light, and dust. Roadway construction work is increasingly done at night to mediate traffic congestion; however, this trend also increases the potential for disturbing adjacent property owners. This report will be of interest to DOT construction, design, and project engineers, and to those responsible for community relations. Administrators, engineers, and researchers are continually faced with highway problems on which much information exists, either in the form of reports or in terms of undocumented experience and practice. Unfortunately, this information often is scattered and unevaluated and, as a consequence, in seeking solutions, full information on what has been learned about a problem frequently is not assembled. Costly research findings may go unused. valuable experience may be overlooked, and full consideration may not be given to available practices for solving or alleviating the problem. In an effort to correct this situation, a continuing NCHRP project, carried out by the Transportation Research Board as the research agency, has the objective of reporting on common highway problems and synthesizing available information. The synthesis reports from this endeavour constitute an NCHRP publication series in which various forms of relevant information are assembled into single, concise documents pertaining to specific highway problems or sets of closely related problems. This report of the Transportation Research Board stresses the importance of informing project neighbours and establishing cooperative relations with the community as a first measure of successful mitigation. Examples show how project design can address construction nuisances by locating and sequencing construction operations to minimize their impact. Current practices used in source control, path control, and receptor control are described and documented in examples from the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) project and projects in Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah. Appending materials provide sample specifications for mitigation of noise and dust control. To develop this synthesis in a comprehensive manner and to ensure inclusion of significant knowledge, the Board analysed available information assembled from numerous sources, including a large number of state highway and transportation departments. A topic panel of experts in the subject area was established to guide the research in organizing and evaluating the collected data, and to review the final synthesis report. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within die limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As the processes of advancement continue, new knowledge can be expected to be added to that now at hand. (A)
Abstract