Gerringong upgrade Princes Highway Review of Environmental Factors APPENDIX J - NOISE AND VIBRATION ASSESSMENT JUNE 2010 ISBN XXX RTA/Pub. 10.117J Princes Highway Upgrade Prepared for Roads and Traffic Authority Prepared by AECOM Australia Pty Ltd Level 11, 44 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000 11 May 2010 DEV06/04-NV-AECOM Rev-3 © AECOM Australia Pty Ltd 2010 The information contained in this document produced by AECOM Australia Pty Ltd is solely for the use of the Client identified on the cover sheet for the purpose for which it has been prepared and AECOM Australia Pty Ltd undertakes no duty to or accepts any responsibility to any third party who may rely upon this document. All rights reserved. No section or element of this document may be removed from this document, reproduced, electronically stored or transmitted in any form without the written permission of AECOM Australia Pty Ltd. Noise and vibration assessment – Gerringong upgrade Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 5 1.1 Overview 5 1.2 Site description 6 1.3 Noise monitoring for construction and operational noise assessment 8 1.4 Noise monitoring instrumentation 8 1.5 Monitoring locations 8 1.6 Road traffic noise measurements 8 1.7 Traffic volume counting 9 1.8 Background noise measurements 9 2.0 Noise criteria 10 2.1 Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water road traffic noise criteria 10 2.2 RTA procedures and practice notes 10 2.2.1 Maximum noise levels 11 3.0 Construction criteria 13 3.1 Construction noise management levels 13 3.1.1 Construction noise management levels 14 3.2 Construction vibration criteria 16 3.2.1 Human exposure to vibration 16 3.2.1 Building exposure to vibration 16 4.0 Modelling methodology 18 4.1 General 18 4.2 Traffic volumes 19 4.3 Ground absorption 19 4.4 Traffic source strings 19 4.5 Road surfaces 19 4.6 Calibration 20 5.0 Operational noise assessment and recommendations 21 5.1 Operational noise assessment 21 5.2 Operational noise recommendations 39 5.3 Maximum noise level assessment 43 6.0 Construction noise and vibration assessment and recommendations 44 6.1 Construction noise assessment 44 6.2 Noise mitigation measures 46 6.2.1 General noise mitigation measures 46 6.2.2 Special construction noise mitigation measures for residential locations likely to be adversely affected 46 6.3 Construction vibration assessment 47 6.4 Construction vibration mitigation measures 47 7.0 Conclusion 48 Appendix A Acoustic terminology A Appendix B Site layout B Appendix C Monitoring locations C Appendix D Noise logging results D Appendix E Traffic flows E Appendix F Road traffic noise contours F Appendix G Indicative location of ptoential noise attenuation G Appendix H Noise contours H Noise and vibration assessment – Gerringong upgrade 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Overview The Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW (RTA) is proposing to upgrade the Princes Highway between Mount Pleasant and Toolijooa Road – the Gerringong upgrade (the proposal). The proposal is part of the RTA’s program to upgrade the Princes Highway between Gerringong and Bomaderry, providing increased road safety and traffic efficiency in the South Coast region. The proposal would include the following key features: Construction of 7.5 km of two lanes in each direction between Mount Pleasant and Toolijooa Road. Grade-separated interchange at Rose Valley Road incorporating four-way traffic access to and from Gerringong via a two-way service road and overbridge spanning the South Coast Railway at Fern Street. Grade-separated interchange at Belinda Street providing four-way, flood free traffic access to and from Gerringong and incorporating a two-way service road connecting to Willowvale Road. Bridge structure spanning a realigned Crooked River, incorporating Bailey’s Road and an existing cattle underpass. Northbound climbing lane between Rose Valley Road and the top of Mount Pleasant. Southbound climbing lane for approximately 800 m from Belinda Street on ramp. Property acquisition and the setting of corridor boundaries for the provision of future widening to six lanes (three in each direction). Extensive drainage structures maintaining cross drainage flow in the low lying area of Omega Flat. Incorporation of the provision for future widening now where the design is constrained by topography and alignment eg the ‘slot’ and bridge structure at the Rose Valley Road interchange. Other design features would include areas of cuts and fills, less significant drainage culverts, local road and private road access treatments and cattle underpasses. The proposal is expected to cost in the order of $230m and would be funded by the NSW State Government. Subject to funding, construction of the proposal is anticipated to commence in early 2011 and is expected to take up to two years to complete. This report has been prepared to supplement the Review of Environmental Factors for the proposal and presents the findings of the noise and vibration impact assessment and the results of an investigation into reasonable and feasible construction and operation noise mitigation methods. The scope of the construction noise and vibration assessment is as follows: Background noise measurements are used to establish the construction noise objectives in accordance with current legislation and guidance. Identification of noise sensitive catchment areas likely to be affected by construction noise and vibration. Calculation of noise and vibration levels likely to be associated with the construction works at sensitive receptors and evaluate the extent of resulting impacts. Consideration of the impacts that may result from the proposed construction and mitigation measures to reduce adverse impacts where appropriate. Noise and vibration assessment – Gerringong upgrade Page 5 The scope of the operational road traffic noise assessment on existing residences is as follows: Identification of appropriate operational noise criteria. Modelling of road traffic noise levels with existing (2007) road traffic volumes (The road traffic volumes and noise levels in 2007 were selected as the existing baseline having been simultaneously recorded in 2007 as part of the route options analysis). Calibration of the existing road traffic noise model with site noise measurements. Modelling of road traffic noise levels with expected future (2018 and 2028) road traffic volumes (2018 is the programmed year of opening for the designed capacity of the Princes Highway upgrade between Gerringong and Bomaderry). Provision of general reasonable and feasible noise control recommendations where the operational noise criteria are exceeded. The acoustic terminology used in this report is explained in Appendix A. 1.2 Site description The proposal study area extends from the termination of the existing four lane configuration at Mount Pleasant lookout in the north, to Toolijooa Road in the south. From north-east to south-west the study area passes over Omega Flat, past Werri lagoon, through the town of Gerringong to terminate at Toolijooa Road. The pastureland and rural settlement patterns of the study area are defining features. The proposal extent is shown in Figure 1.1. Aerial photographs and overlays showing the road and receiver locations are presented in Appendix B. Receivers have generally been labelled from left to right. The noise sensitive receivers near the proposal comprise isolated rural houses and the low density urban area of Gerringong. Noise and vibration assessment – Gerringong upgrade Page 6 359 349 www.aecom.com 357 349 355 360 360 351 358 353 ´ 356 360 DATUM GDA 1994, PROJECTION MGA ZONE 56 0250 500 1,000 352 Metres 223 1:20,000 (when printed at A3) 225 356 358 298 354 150 350 261 LEGEND n. Lots and Reference Numbers 51 148 305 337 294 375 342 278 316 373 160 315 347 104 371 50 247 344 370 183 374 338 171 54 101 242 372 46 56 163 295 234 141 274 105 181 142 282 42 190 221 99 139 172 41 246 59 135 203 368 198 49 125 154 ir own risk.AECOM shall bear no responsibility or liability for any errors, faults, defects, or omissionsin the informatio 41 55 117 149 46 87 115 34 108 84 96 32 68 362 94 110 47 58 37 363 48 53 57 65 102 107 44 365 367 106 49 361 364 39 60 66 40 43 35 36 52 38 31 33 Gerringong Upgrade Sensitive Receptor Locations and Reference Numbers 43 Figure B-1 38 PROJECT ID 60021933 Map 45 CREATED BY LDE LAST MODIFIED LDE - 11 FEB 2010 VERSION: 0001 1a AECOMdoes not warrant the accuracy or completeness of information displayed in this map and any person using it does so at the Filename:V:\Projects\Current\G2B30November(Copy)\ArcGIS\PDFs A3 size 1.3 Noise monitoring for construction and operational noise assessment Unattended noise monitoring using automated noise loggers was carried out for a minimum period of seven days to capture representative existing road traffic noise data. A noise logger measures the noise levels over the sample period and then determines LAmax and LAeq levels of the noise environment. The LAmax is indicative of maximum noise levels due to individual noise events such as the pass by of a heavy vehicle. The LAeq level is the equivalent continuous sound level and has the same sound energy over the sample period as the actual noise environment with fluctuating sound levels. The LAeq is now the standard descriptor for road traffic noise in NSW. 1.4 Noise monitoring instrumentation The instruments used all comply with Australian Standard 1259.2-1990 “Acoustics - Sound Level Meters – Part 2: Integrating - Averaging” and are designated as Type 1 or 2 instruments having accuracy suitable for field use. The loggers were calibrated before and after the measurements using a Brüel and Kjær Type 4230 calibrator. No significant drift in calibration was observed.