Edmonton needs plan to curb traffic noise, report says

The city of Edmonton will explore ways tomanage noise from speeding traffic, after a pilot project revealed that vehicles on two main corridors were going so fastthey were likelyas loud asa jet plane landing on a runway.

In a test between Oct. 4-17, 2016, the city placed noise-monitoring equipment at four locations in Edmonton:

• 124th Street from Jasper Avenue to 118th Avenue
• Jasper Avenue from 109th Street to 124th Street
• Groat Road from Victoria Park Road to 107th Avenue
• 109th Street from Jasper Avenue to High Level Bridge

Two test locations Groat Road and 123rd Street at Jasper Avenue turned out to be the noisiest.Vehicles at those locations registeredup to 90 decibels, which is closer to the level of a jet than a vacuum, for example.

Noise from traffic on the average city street is 60-65 decibels, the report states.

Eric Fadden, wholives near Southgate Centre, close to Whitemud Driveand 111th Street, told CBC News he thinkstraffic noise in his neighbourhood is louder than it is downtown.

He said it gets especially loudafter peak hours.

"We get people racing up and down the Whitemud freeway in the evenings," he said. "After the rush hour traffic is gone and the freeway's opened up, you can hear the crotch rockets and the louder motorcycles and hot rods in the summertime."

• Province should pay for sound barriers for noisyHenday,councillorssay

Walter Stadnyczuk, a resident of Windsor Park near the University of Alberta, said he has grown accustomed to local noise from ambulances, firetrucks and helicopters landing at the nearby hospitals.

But it's the motorcycles that really irritatehim.

"The river valley, actually, coming up Groat Road to the top of 87th Avenue, it acts like an amplifier," he said."And you can hear it quite loudly through the whole area."

Stadnyczuksaid he thinks police and bylaw officersshould give out more tickets for noise infractions.

"Once the word gets around that they're enforcing a lot of this, a lot of that would be curtailed," he said.

In total, the city identified 18 areas where noise complaints from vehicles were higher than normal.

Whyte Avenue was not of them.

The city report said that was "likely due to the number of signal lights and the amount of traffic that keeps speeds slow."

The report also points out that the pilot project was done inOctober, notduring the spring and summer when "modes of transportation, weather, lifestyle and traffic patterns would likely be different."

City administration suggests combining education, technology and enforcement in a strategy to curb traffic noise.

• Education key to muffling noisy vehicles, citycouncillor says

Other methods may include digital noise displays and automated enforcement technology.

The report shows that "traffic calming measures" such as speed bumps, curb extensions, raised crosswalks and road narrowing on non-arterial roads help reduce traffic noise.

City council is scheduled to weigh the noise management options at a community and public services meeting on Wednesday.

@natashariebe