Acoustical impact of roads on medium-sized mediterranean coastal towns

Abstract

In the littoral region near Barcelona, roads belonging to the national network go through towns. Among the problems that this situation causes on the urban quality of ltfe is a high degree of noise pollution. By-pass roads (under construction) will modtfy acoustical maps of medium-sized cities by changing all circulation itineraries inside the city and increasing urban ltfe quality by reducing noise pollution. As an example, we present our study carried out in Matard, a city located 30 km from Barcelona on its north side. The high trafic noise is compared to the predicted acoustic level when a new by-pass road comes into operation.