Koushki P.

A Comparative Analysis Of Urban Traffic Noise Models : Kuwait Urban Area Case Kuwait urban area is now home to more than 2.5 million people. The City is also home to more than 1 million vehicles. Ninety seven percent of the urban daily trips is made by the private auto. Naturally, congestion and noise are only two of the major adverse impacts of excessive use of the auto. Kuwait urban area is noisy for most of the day. This research project had two objectives : 1) what is the magnitude of traffic noise during the peak and off peak hours of the day ? 2) which one of the common traffic noise models can predict the noise from traffic in kuwait more accurately ? Traffic noise was measured at fifty urban roadway locations in eighteen disticts. Noise was monitored for twenty minutes at each location , repeated three times. In addition to noise measurements, traffic flow variables ( volume, speed ) and the distance from the noise source were also measured. Both, the USA FHWA's Traffic Noise Model and the the UK's CRTN models were calibrated with the noise measurements in Kuwait urban area. Findings of the research study indicated that : a) traffic noise was above the standard outdoor noise limits at most locations , and b) both models predicted noise with a reasonable level of accuracy. A number of recommendations end the paper.