Abstract
The environmental impact of roads and their traffic is a complex problem, where impact assessment procedures are often difficult, and in some cases controversial. Impact assessment is often undertaken by simplification. Road traffic noise has been used as a surrogate for a range of environmental impacts. The scale of environmental disturbance caused by road traffic has been investigated in many developed countries, where some 10 to 40% of urban populations were found to have been subjected to unacceptable noise levels from road traffic. However, little attention has been given to traffic noise assessment and prediction in developing countries.