A comparison of tyre/road noise generated on NSW pavements to international studies

A study of the tyre/road noise generated by 20 pavements surfaces representing a wide range of construction materials, techniques and surface textures constructed in NSW was undertaken and compared against the results of similar studies of 75 pavements constructed overseas. A range of more than 14 dB in passby noise levels was reported over the pavement types investigated with the NSW data being consistent with international data for similar pavement types. In general a range of low noise asphalts were found to return the lowest overall noise levels followed by concrete pavements that had minimal surface texture. Dense grade and stone mastic asphalts, and exposed aggregate concrete were found to perform better than randomly transverse tyned concrete pavements. Longitudinally tyned concrete pavements are not a design that is used in NSW however in international studies they were found to return noise levels similar to that of dense graded asphalts. Uniformly tyned pavements and those which generate acoustic energy in discrete frequency bands were found to be amongst the loudest pavements.