The assessment and control of road traffic noise: A comparison between Irish and Australian policy

To address the problem of environmental noise, the European Commission issued Directive 2002/49/EC which requires relevant authorities to prepare strategic noise maps and action plans. While the Directive has had a significant impact on EU Member States, outside of Europe it has had no discernable impact. This paper presents a review of the approach adapted in Ireland to the management of road traffic noise and compares it to current practices in Australia; with particular emphasis on New South Wales, i.e. we compare the approaches on an EU Member State (Ireland) with a non-EU State (Australia). In Ireland, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has been defined as a noise mapping body charged with the responsibility of preparing strategic noise maps for the national road network in accordance with the Directive. Subsequent to the transposition of the Directive, the NRA issued guidelines on the treatment of noise for national road schemes in 2004. In Australia, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) recently released its updated Road Noise Policy document outlining a policy for acceptable road traffic noise limits. This paper summarizes the strategies adopted by both jurisdictions and lessons learnt from each approach are explored, leading to suggestions for potential improvements to the current noise assessment and control strategies of both States.