Transit Noise and Vibration Impact Assessment Manual SEPTEMBER 2018 FTA Report No. 0123 Federal Transit Administration PREPARED BY John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center COVER PHOTO Courtesy of Edwin Adilson Rodriguez, Federal Transit Administration DISCLAIMER This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. ii Transit Noise and Vibration Impact Assessment Manual SEPTEMBER 2018 FTA Report No. 0123 PREPARED BY Antoinette Quagliata Federal Transit Administration Office of Planning and Environment Meghan Ahearn Eric Boeker Christopher Roof John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Cambridge, MA 02142 Lance Meister Herbert Singleton Cross Spectrum Acoustics East Longmeadow, MA 01028 Utah: Salt Lake City, UT 84102 SPONSORED BY Federal Transit Administration Office of Planning and Environment U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 iii iv Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED September 2018 Final 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Transit Noise and Vibration Impact Assessment Manual 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER Quagliata, Antoinette (FTA) TF09A1 Ahearn, Meghan (VOLPE) Boeker, Eric (VOLPE) 5e. TASK NUMBER Roof, Christopher (VOLPE) NLJ56 Meister, Lance (CSA) 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER Singleton, Herbert (CSA) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING U.S. Department of Transportation ORGANIZATION REPORT Volpe National Transportation Systems Center NUMBER 55 Broadway FTA Report No. 0123 Cambridge, MA 02142 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S U.S. Department of Transportation ACRONYM(S) Federal Transit Administration FTA Office of Planning and Environment 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. REPORT NUMBER(S) Washington, DC 20590 FTA Report No. 0123 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT This document is available through the FTA website: http://www.fta.dot.gov/. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This report is the third edition of a guidance manual originally issued in 1995. It includes clarifications to existing policy and updates to outdated references where applicable. Topics presented in this manual include procedures for predicting and assessing noise and vibration impacts of proposed transit projects for different stages of project development and different levels of analysis. Additional topics include descriptions of noise and vibration mitigation measures, construction noise and vibration, and how to present these analyses in the Federal Transit Administration’s environmental documents. This guidance is for technical specialists who conduct the analyses, as well as project sponsor staff, Federal agency reviewers, and members of the general public who may be affected by the projects. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Transit noise and vibration analysis, noise and vibration impact criteria, noise and vibration mitigation measures, environmental impact assessment, Nation Environmental Policy Act compliance. 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. 18. 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS LIMITATION NUMBER Unclassified Unclassified PAGE OF OF PAGES ABSTRACT 258 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER Unclassified (Include area code) v Table of Contents SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 PURPOSE ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 ORGANIZATION OF THE MANUAL .................................................................................................................... 2 SECTION 2: PROJECT CLASS OF ACTION AND PLANNING ............................................ 3 2.1 PROJECT CLASS OF ACTION ............................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 PROJECT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................................ 4 2.3 MITIGATION POLICY CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................................................... 5 SECTION 3: TRANSIT NOISE .................................................................................................... 9 3.1 NOISE METRICS ................................................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 SOURCES OF TRANSIT VEHICLE NOISE ............................................................................................................ 10 3.3 PATHS OF TRANSIT NOISE FROM SOURCE TO RECEIVER .............................................................................. 14 3.4 RECEIVER RESPONSE TO TRANSIT NOISE ........................................................................................................ 16 SECTION 4: NOISE IMPACT ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 19 4.1 DETERMINE NOISE IMPACT CRITERIA. ............................................................................................................. 20 Step 1: Identify Project Type. .................................................................................................................................. 21 Step 2: Choose Land Use Category for FTA Criteria. ....................................................................................... 23 Step 3: Determine Appropriate FTA Criteria Presentation ............................................................................. 25 4.2 DETERMINE NOISE ANALYSIS LEVEL ................................................................................................................. 31 4.3 EVALUATE IMPACT: NOISE SCREENING PROCEDURE .................................................................................... 33 Step 1: Identify Project Type ................................................................................................................................... 33 Step 2: Determine the Screening Distance ......................................................................................................... 33 Step 3: Identify Study Area ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Step 4: Locate Noise-Sensitive Land Uses ........................................................................................................... 34 4.4 EVALUATE IMPACT: GENERAL NOISE ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................ 37 Step 1: Identify Noise-Sensitive Receivers............................................................................................................ 38 Step 2: Determine Project Noise Source Reference Levels ............................................................................ 39 Step 3: Estimate Project Noise Exposure by Distance ..................................................................................... 48 Step 4: Combine Noise Exposure from All Sources .......................................................................................... 49 Step 5: Estimate Existing Noise Exposure........................................................................................................... 50 Step 6: Inventory Noise Impacts ............................................................................................................................ 52 Step 7: Determine Noise Mitigation Needs ........................................................................................................ 54 4.5 EVALUATE IMPACT: DETAILED NOISE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................ 64 Step 1: Identify Noise-Sensitive Receivers............................................................................................................ 66 Step 2: Determine Project Noise Source Reference Levels ............................................................................ 70 Step 3: Determine Propagation Characteristics