Noise exposure from road, rail and air traffic in the Netherlands, 2002
Most noise exposure occurs near roads, railways and flight paths to and from Schiphol airport. Of these sources, traffic is the one that causes most nuisance.
Schiphol airport and roads are main sources of noise
The map shows where the road, rail or air traffic results in higher noise exposure. The highest values are found in the vicinity of roads, railways and flight paths to and from Schiphol airport. The localised nature of noise means that the busiest roads and railways with the highest noise exposure can be seen separately.
- Noise nuisance in the Netherlands by source, 1990-2002
- Schiphol: Schiphol: Interactive noise and safety atlas
Noise can result in health problems as well as nuisance.
More and more noise in the Netherlands
The area in the Netherlands where there is relative quiet for longer periods of time is decreasing. The reasons are increasing mobility and transport, expansion of residential housing areas, infrastructure, industrial estates and the 24-hour economy.
However, it is not generally the case that things have got noisier everywhere in recent decades. Noise levels have actually fallen for a lot of housing located alongside national infrastructure (national trunk roads and railway lines) and near airports. In part, this is the result of specific policy such as the construction of noise barriers alongside roads and railways or a ban on the use of very noisy airplanes. In addition, trains, trucks, and airplanes in particular are now quieter than they were twenty years ago. This is the result of the deployment of new technology, which is generally developed for reasons other than a reduction of noise nuisance. An example here is the noise reduction as a result of the use of quiet asphalt (= very open asphalt concrete).
Current policy determined by the Noise Abatement Act
The Noise Abatement Act (Wet Geluidhinder) of 1979 sets out the current policy (TK, 1979). It includes various limit values for noise from road and rail transport. For noise from traffic on the national trunk road network, the limit value is 65 dB(A) measured at the outer walls of existing housing. The environmental quality standard used for new housing is 50 dB(A).
Amendments to Noise Abatement Act in 2004
In 2001, a new bill was submitted to parliament: the Modernisering Instrumentarium Geluidbeleid (Modernisation of Instruments for Noise Policy Bill). It was rejected. To implement the bill, the government would have had to spend approximately 2 million euros on noise abatement measures. This amount was not taken into account when the budget was drawn up. It was therefore decided to implement the current Noise Abatement Act in phases so that the basic elements of the new bill will be implemented after all.
At present, an amendment to the Noise Abatement Act is in the preparatory stages. This amendment will be submitted to the Council of State for its recommendations in early 2004 and introduced in the course of the same year. The amendments deal with, among other things:
- Mandating municipal councils for the procedure for higher values. This makes it easier for municipalities and provincial authorities to make more specific local arrangements with a less demanding procedure (deregulation).
- In certain conditions, the maximum limit values can be disregarded. High levels of noise exposure will, in these cases, have to be compensated adequately in other areas.
- Amendment pursuant to the implementation of the European directive for environmental noise (EU, 2002). This directive requires the European member states to make data about noise exposure public in the form of noise maps no later than 2007. An important consequence of this amendment will be that the noise exposure level Ltwenty-four hours currently used in the Netherlands will be replaced by the level required by Europe: Lden (day, evening, night). This new noise exposure level is consistently slightly lower than the present twenty-four-hour level. The standards in the present legislation will be adapted accordingly.
