Europes ecological backbone.pdf

Mountain economies and accessibility
Box 3.4 Noise in the mountains of Austria
One of the principal impacts of transport infrastructure on human populations — as well as on wildlife
— is that of noise along transport corridors. The relationship between environmental noise and public
health has emerged as a key issue in environmental legislation and policy, as exposure to high levels of
noise, particularly for long periods of time and at night causes detrimental health effects. In 2002, the
European Commission introduced the Environmental Noise Directive (END: Directive 2002/49 EC relating
to the assessment and management of environmental noise). Although this is a step forward in improving
knowledge of the situation of noise, limitations remain due to data comparability, delays and inconsistencies
with reporting.
To evaluate differences in noise exposure within and outside mountain areas, the example of Austria has
been used, as the necessary data are available. Noise contour maps of major roads and of major railways
have been used to estimate the potential population exposed to certain levels of noise inside and outside
mountain areas, using two main indicators, L den
(day, evening and night) and L night
for roads with more
than 6 million vehicles per year and railways with more than 60 000 train passages per year (Figure 3.5).
Population data were derived from a population density grid developed by the Joint Research Centre and
scaled by the total number of reported people, excluding agglomerations. About 458 000 people (5.7 %
of the national population) are potentially exposed to a long-term average level above 55 dB Lden due to
road traffic inside mountain areas. The impact of railways is less pronounced, with about 208 000 people
exposed to the same long-term average level. However, at night, 188 000 people are potentially exposed
to levels above above 50 dB Lnight inside mountain areas due to road traffic, while 209 000 people are
exposed to railway noise.
Figure 3.5
Percentage of population exposed to noise within and outside mountain areas in
Austria due to major roads and major railways with more than 6 mio vehicles or
60 000 train passages per year (excluding Vienna)
Percentage of population exposed to noise inside and outside mountain areas (excluding Vienna)
Major roads L den
4
Major roads L night
3
Major railways L 2
den
%
Major railways L night
1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Outside mountain areas
Within mountain areas
Just under half of Austria's population lives in mountain areas in Austria; yet the proportion of people
exposed in mountain areas is higher than outside mountain areas. However, other roads not considered in
the END may still have a significant impact, which could imply that more people are exposed to damaging
levels of transport noise. However, for primary prevention of adverse health effects, the World Health
Organization (2009) recommends that people should not be exposed to night noise levels greater than
40 dB of L night
,outside. This would imply that many more people may be exposed to possibly damaging
levels of night time noise than can be currently assessed by the present END reporting requirements.
Further development of an effective policy on noise for Europe, as well as full and effective implementation
of noise action plans, particularly at night, should be aimed to reduce the scale of exposure to high noise
levels and protect areas where the noise quality is found to be good. In addition, further research and
effective policy are essential to ensure that the impact of noise on wildlife is not adversely affected by the
same sources that affect people.
Source:
Núria Blanes, Jaume Fons, Alejandro Simón and Juan Arévalo, ETCLUSI — UAB (European Topic Centre on Land Use
and Spatial Information, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).
58 Europe's ecological backbone: recognising the true value of our mountains