Analyses and research of needs and possibilities of protection against noise in surrounding of provincial roads in Silesian Voivodship

One of the tasks of provincial road administration authorities is road
maintenance ensuring that the noise impacts coming from road traffic are restricted to the
limit values. Due to the large volume of traffic, limited availability of space and limited
resources, this task is practically impossible to perform. Nowadays, the primary objective
of the reconstruction of provincial roads is the road surface improvement. In many places it
requires large financial expenses. For several years, some provincial roads authorities have
taken first attempts to combine the needs of resurfacing with acoustic protection by using
noise reducing road surfaces. Provincial Roads Authority in Katowice took action in this
area using existing national and foreign experiences associated with the use of noise reducing
surfaces. These activities focused mainly on the selection of types of road surfaces that
would be used on the provincial roads of Silesian Voivodship and criteria that indicated the
order in which road sections would be rebuild – systematic pavement replacement is needed.
Prioritization of the activities and selection of the road sections planned for the reconstruction
or renovation were obtained by taking into account several criteria: the results of
the noise control plans, condition of the existing pavements, interventions of the inhabitants
and investment plans which included the needs of the development of the road network.
The article presents the results of the analysis and research on the usage of noise reducing
surfaces and the selection of priority sections of provincial roads of Silesian Voivodship
planned to be rebuild.
The article present a joint result of the cooperation between Provincial Roads Authority
in Katowice and the Department of Roads and Bridges (Lublin University of Technology).