The present paper concerns two independent evaluation studies of the American FHWA Traffic Noise Model (TNM) that have been undertaken in Victoria and Queensland. Following well established scientific procedures, traffic noise measurements and TNM predictions have been conducted at a range of sites in and around the Melbourne and South East Queensland areas. Analyses of these data have allowed determination of estimates of the accuracy of TNM under typical conditions of particular interest to both VicRoads and Queensland Department of Main Roads. Comparable, but somewhat differing outcomes were obtained by the two studies. These are presented and explored in some detail throughout the paper. Overall, the results indicated that TNM is a reasonably good predictive model that appears to be generally suited to the types of Australian conditions included in the two studies. Further research into the effects of pavement type, especially chip seals, on the performance of TNM was found to be warranted. (a)
Samenvatting