What is meant by providing “feasible” highway traffic noise abatement?
Feasibility deals primarily with objective engineering considerations (e.g., can a barrier be built given the topography of the location; can a substantial noise reduction be achieved given certain access, drainage, safety, or maintenance requirements; are other noise sources present in the area, etc.). Safety, maintenance, and drainage concerns for noise abatement measures should be addressed during preliminary and final project design. These issues should be part of the feasibility determination and can usually be resolved through use of good design practices. Also, noise barriers are infeasible when they are unable to obtain a substantial noise reduction. The minimal substantial reduction allowed is 5 dB. States define what a substantial reduction is. Some require an average of 5 dB noise reduction for all impacted receivers while others require at least one receiver to achieve a substantial reduction of 7 or 10 dB. Please access our Highway Traffic Noise Analysis and Abatement poli
