1. Five Good Reasons to Conduct Long Term Noise Measurements for Traffic Noise Studies
Paul Burgé, INCE BD.CERT, URS Corporation

2. Long Term Noise Measurements for Traffic Noise Studies:
Continuous measurement over at least 24 hours
Preferably at highway fence line or some other secure location clearly dominated by traffic
Separate measurements for each side of highway (if study considers receiver locations on both sides)
Separate measurements for sections of highway with significantly different traffic patterns (congestion, traffic mix, peak hour, etc.)
Generally 5 to 15 minute intervals

3. Typical 24 hour measurement Location

4. Typical Long Term Traffic Noise Measurement

5. Typical 24 hour traffic noise measurement

6. Typical 24 hour traffic noise measurement

7. Reason #1 Empirically identify loudest hour and level.

8. Reason #2: Identify appropriate periods to Conduct valid short term noise measurements.

9. Reason #3 Estimate loudest hour levels for short term measurements at times other than loudest hour.

10. Reason #4 Establish other important noise metrics.

11. Reason #5 Establish relative influence of highway noise in the presence of other contributing sources

12. Bonus Reason #1: It’s Cheap!
If more than a few short-term community noise measurements are planned, it will cost little conduct a a long term measurement.
Bonus Reason #2: It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!
It’s always better to have long-term data to help answer unforeseen future questions, or to contribute to potential future research.

13. Questions?