Traffic noise pollution assessment along the major roads of Kurukshetra city, India

In this study, A-weighted noise levels were recorded for the entire day (24 h) at each site along the major urban roads of Kurukshetra city in India. The traffic flow (volume and composition) was also recorded simultaneously. Thereafter, the relevant noise and traffic descriptors were computed to assess the traffic noise pollution. The equivalent 2-hourly traffic noise levels, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>e</mml:mi> <mml:mi>q</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , exhibited a somewhat cyclic pattern having noise crests and troughs over the 24 h in the case of all the four studied urban roads, thus identifying the peak and lean noise hours. The equivalent day time noise levels ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mi>D</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ) and night time noise levels ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ) were in the range of 68.06 – 80.73 dB(A) and 44.12 – 70.91 dB(A) respectively, exceeding the permissible levels as per Indian standards and WHO guidelines at all sites, except <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> at two sites. The day-night average noise levels with 24-h’ base time, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>D</mml:mi> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , was above WHO limits of 70 dB(A) barring five sites. The proposed relationship between <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>D</mml:mi> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and passenger car unit (PCU) per hour has the potential application in estimating noise levels from traffic flow data with a high coefficient of determination of 0.8774. The noise climate ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> <mml:mi>C</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ) and traffic noise index ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> <mml:mi>I</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ) varied from 21.62 to 46.01 dB(A) and 116.16 – 187.53 respectively.