Noise barriers and very open asphalt concrete in the Netherlands, 1975-2000
National developments
A total of approximately 450 km of noise barriers have been positioned next to national trunk roads. Approximately 20 km more are built every year. In total, there are 110 km of noise barriers next to railways. More than the half of the roads (approximately 3,000 km) in the national trunk road network now consist of very open asphalt concrete.
Developments by province
Only a very limited section of provincial roads have noise features such as noise barriers or embankments or very open asphalt concrete. The provincial authorities therefore hardly make any use of these options for reducing noise exposure from traffic. South Holland has positioned most features. The province of Zeeland has a policy opposing very open asphalt concrete. The provincial authority is responsible for these measures on provincial roads.
Policy
In order to reduce the number of situations where there is noise exposure from road and rail transport that is well in excess of the statutory standard, the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment has provided an annual budget of 15 million euros for the construction of noise barriers.
The Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management almost always uses very open asphalt concrete on the national trunk road network when the existing road surface needs to be replaced. This 'quiet' asphalt was initially developed because of beneficial properties other than noise reduction (for the purposes of road safety), but it has also proved cost-effective in terms of cutting back noise from road traffic.
The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment therefore introduced a subsidy scheme in 2001 to encourage municipal authorities to use 'quiet' asphalt for municipal roads. In 2001, almost 15 million was available under this scheme. The budgets have now been allocated for the construction of approximately 110 km of 'quiet' surfaces on municipal roads.
Technical note
In the context of the monitoring and evaluation of government performance, the Association of Provincial Authorities (IPO) questions all provincial authorities annually about their environment policy. Monitoring government performance
References
- IPO (2002). Interprovinciale rapportage Milieu, Water, Landbouw en Natuur 2002. Association of Provincial Authorities, Lelystad. This report contains an extensive set of provincial data about the environment, water, nature and agriculture for the year 2001.
- V&W (2000). Jaarrapport Weggegevens 1999. Rijkswaterstaat, Dienst Weg- en Waterbouwkunde, Delft.
Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium
- Monitoring government performance
- Introduction to noise nuisance: sources, policy and measures
- Noise nuisance in the Netherlands by source, 1990-2002
- Noise nuisance: severe nuisance, 1993 and 1998
- Area and dwellings in the Netherlands exposed to noise levels above 50 db(A), 2002
- Noise exposure from road, rail and air traffic in the Netherlands, 2002
