Acoustique – Plan d’action 2013-2017

Noise Abatement Works

During the month of June 2008, the Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A., in compliance with the requirements listed in Framework Law 447/1995 and subsequent implementation decrees, sent the Italian Ministry of the Environment and for Protection of the Land and Sea, and the 2 Italian Regions and 34 Towns concerned, a copy of the plan through which it intends to requalify its network over the next fifteen years. This plan was delivered in the form of:

– Technical report detailing the activities performed and work methods used

– Technical drawings representing the geographical arrangement, the presence of any sources contributing to the noise produced by the motorway infrastructure, acoustic problem areas and mitigation works provided for

– Summaries consisting of tables of the works to be performed in the corresponding area, expected noise levels and population exposure statistics, and priority indices.

Citizens with an interest may consult these documents at the relevant town council offices, and obtain more detailed information on each individual noise abatement work provided for on the motorway network.

The Italian Ministry of the Environment and for Protection of the Land and Sea has approved the Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. Noise Abatement and Containment Plan with decree GAB-DEC-0000040 of 11/03/2011 published in the Official Journal of 04/05/2011 with the specifications and requirements indicated in the joint Government-Regions Conference session of 28/10/2010.

Furthermore, in compliance with Italian Legislative Decree no. 194 of 19 August 2005, acknowledging Directive 2002/49/EC, the Turin – Savona motorway periodically prepares and updates the Acoustic Maps and Action Plan, which wholly acknowledge the results of the Noise Containment and Reduction Plan.

On 30 June 2012, Autostrada Torino – Savona S,p,A. updated the acoustic map of the entire network it manages as a concession in compliance with the requirements of the legislation.

This update has been developed in conformity with the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment specified in the document: ”Preparation and delivery of digital documentation concerning acoustic mapping and strategic acoustic maps (Italian Legislative Decree 194/2005) – Technical Specifications Version” 2.0 May 2012

At the current time, until the procedures of the EU member states have been harmonised, directive 2002/49/EC sets out as key objectives the “knowledge” of the state of the environment (acoustic mapping) and “sensitisation and education” (informing citizens).
To this end, the same directive 2002/49/EC and the corresponding Italian Law no. 194 acknowledging it require the acoustic maps and corresponding action plans to be updated every five years, with the aim of meeting the time object of knowledge of and monitoring the state of progress of the noise abatement actions.

Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A., in pursuing the goals of sustainable development and in applying the Code of Ethics and Services Charter, fully respects the requirements of national legislation and indications of the EC directives.

NOISE

In terms of studying noise and its impacts, ATS has performed combined studies on sources of noise pollution.

Noise pollution is defined by Italian Law 447 of 26/10/1995 as “the introduction of noise into the indoor or outdoor environment that is annoying or disturbing to rest and to human activities, harmful to health, damaging to ecosystems, tangible goods, monuments and the indoor or outdoor environment, or prevents the lawful enjoyment of these environments”. It represents a major environmental problem, particularly in urban areas, and despite often being considered less relevant than other forms of pollution, generates ever stronger reactions from the exposed population, who consider noise to be one of the causes of decreased quality of life.

Transport infrastructure (road, railway, airports and ports), with their related traffic, are among the main sources of noise pollution.

The maps presented use the colour codes recommended by ISO 1996-2 to represent the environmental noise measured along the entire infrastructure network:

NOISE LEVEL (DB) Colour
< 35 Light Green
35 – 40 Green
40 – 45 Dark Green
45 – 50 Yellow
50 – 55 Ochre
55 – 60 Orange
60 – 65 Vermillion
65 – 70 Carmine
70 – 75 Violet
75 – 80 Blue
80 – 85 Dark Blue

ITALIAN LEGISLATION

In Italy, noise pollution issues are governed by law no. 447 of 26 October 1995, “Framework Law on Noise Pollution”.

Specifically, the following general requirements are given for motorway operators:

  • The noise exposure limits and the areas within which these are applied (noise relevance bands) are set by specific implementing decrees and regulations;
  • Noise pollution caused by motorway traffic must be brought back within the legal limits set out by the decrees and regulations by drawing up and implementing multi-year noise-abatement plans;
  • Since 1995, for implementation of the noise containment and abatement works, the owners or operators of road infrastructure have been required to commit ordinarily at least 5% of their infrastructure improvement and maintenance budgets; subsequently, the financial law of 1999 increased this to 7%.

For road infrastructure, the Decree of the Ministry of the Environment of 29 November 2000 and Presidential Decree 142 of 30 March 2004 set the noise limit values which must be respected and the methods for implementing actions to mitigate them.

Decree of the Italian Ministry of the Environment 29 November 2000 – “Criteria for the provision of noise containment and abatement works by companies and bodies managing public transport services or related infrastructure”
This decree sets the dates by which the motorway operators must draft and then implement the soundproofing plan for their infrastructure; this plan specifies costs, priorities and methods (barriers, paving, any operations performed on exposed parties etc.), as well as the implementation timeframes: in particular, the period within which the soundproofing works must be completed for the whole network is set at 15 years from the date of approval of the plan by the Ministry for the Environment.
According to the provisions of the decree, the operator must identify the priorities for action, taking into consideration the number of persons exposed and the difference between current and permissible noise levels.
The decree sets the acoustic design criteria for the work, identifying the requirements of the predictive models which can be used for noise simulations and calculating the barriers; the criteria with which to evaluate multiple concurrent sources are also given so as to guarantee persons exposed are always able to reach values considered permissible, even when there are additional noise sources present in addition to the motorway infrastructure.
Italian Presidential Decree 30 March 2004 – Provisions for the prevention and containment of noise pollution from vehicle traffic, in accordance with Article 11 of Italian Law no. 447 of 26 October 1995.
This Decree covers the legislative scenario concerning road traffic noise, defining the limits for different types of road infrastructure, the distances from that infrastructure (relevance bands, inside which town acoustic zoning must not be taken into account), types of building (houses, schools and hospitals) and period of exposure (day and night).
For each building, the most critical point of the façade with the greatest exposure is taken into account; as an alternative to the exposure limits measured on the exterior, the permissible limits inside houses are also given. For existing infrastructure, the introduction limits must be obtained via the multi-year soundproofing activities pursuant to the Environment Ministry Decree of 29 November 2000.
 

Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. Operations
In June 2008, with delivery of the Soundproofing Plan, the Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. met the legal requirements requiring:

  • The areas in which legal limits are exceeded due to the introduction of noise from its infrastructure (critical areas) to be identified;
  • A noise pollution reduction plan to be formulated for all critical areas, indicating the timeframes, costs and methods of action (Noise Containment and Abatement Plan).

Critical Areas
All affected parties and main noise sources (motorways and concurrent sources) were identified inside the area of relevance for the motorway infrastructure; subsequently, all buildings for which the noise levels caused by vehicle traffic are estimated to be above the limits set by current national legislation were identified. The study was conducted according to methodology which aims to perform an objective evaluation of the acoustic impact generated by road transport.

Noise Containment and Abatement Plan
The purpose of drafting the soundproofing plan (NCAP) is to define and plan out the work necessary to meet the mitigation objectives outlined in the other sections; the plan covers all residential and sensitive exposed persons identified as “critical” in the noise relevance band.

To meet these objectives, soundproofing barriers and direct intervention on the buildings (soundproofed windows and doors) are provided for.

The extent of the soundproofing works specified in the plan comes from a preliminary study, aiming exclusively to define the work priorities, plan out the work and define the Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A financial plan: in the implementation phase, to be completed by 2026, the detailed plans are being developed, which may also include solutions different to those currently laid out in the NCAP.

In order to facilitate communication with the public, Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A has created an innovative 3D representation system for the results obtained from the activities of surveying and classifying the exposed parties, identifying the critical areas and planning the works.

In this section you can download a file giving you a 3D view in Google Earth of both “Critical Areas” and “Soundproofing Plan”, allowing you to view and explore a virtual environment of the areas concerned, in line with what has been developed for the National Soundproofing Plan of 2008.

The Critical Areas view represents the different uses (residential, non-residential and sensitive) and any buildings along the Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A noise relevance band exceeding the legal limits in different colours. Moreover, the Soundproofing Plan view shows the remedial works, both in terms of noise barriers and the use of soundproofed windows, used to meet soundproofing targets. The complete data and details can be viewed both in digital and hardcopy format at all regional and town offices concerned.

Works
THE PLAN IN NUMBERS
The plan will be implemented via 68 large-scale works projects, with a total length of over 12,500 m of sound protection barriers to be installed. The total surface area of these will amount to approximately 44,000 m2, with an average height of 3.50 m.

The order in which these large projects will be carried out is based on a national classification prepared on the basis of a noise priority index linked exclusively to the noise level and exposed population.

The Italian Ministry of the Environment and for Protection of the Land and Sea has approved the Motorway Noise Abatement and Containment Plan with decree GAB-DEC-0000040 of 11/03/2011 published in the Official Journal of 04/05/2011 with the specifications and requirements indicated in the joint Government-Regions Conference session of 28/10/2010.

On 14/01/2013, Autostrada Torino-Savona S.p.A. presented the Ministry for the Environment and for Protection of the Land and Sea, the regions of Piedmont and Liguria and all towns concerned with the documentation concerning the state of implementation of the Soundproofing Plan and the second section of the same Plan (2014-2018).

EUROPEAN LEGISLATION

Italian Legislative Decree no. 194 of 19 August 2005 (acknowledgement of European Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 25 June 2002) defines a common approach for avoiding, preventing or reducing, according to the respective priorities, the harmful effects of exposure to noise.
The approach is based on determining the noise by drawing up an acoustic map using methods common to all European countries, on informing the public and implementing the action plan.
This directive will supply, over the coming years, the basis for developing European measurements on the main sources of noise.

The directive also requires information to be provided to the public through “maps” representing both the current environmental noise situation (acoustic mapping) and that expected after any reduction measures (action plan), and finally the effectiveness of the improvements provided for.
Following the recommendations of international standard ISO 1996-2, the following colours have been used to represent the difference levels of environmental noise.

NOISE LEVEL (DB) Colour
< 35 Light Green
35 – 40 Green
40 – 45 Dark Green
45 – 50 Yellow
50 – 55 Ochre
55 – 60 Orange
60 – 65 Vermillion
65 – 70 Carmine
70 – 75 Violet
75 – 80 Blue
80 – 85 Dark Blue

 

Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. Operations
Pursuant to the five-year deadline as indicated by European Directive 2002/49/EC and the Italian legislation acknowledging it, Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. has prepared the following:

  • The “Acoustic Map” representing noise levels according to specific indicators for evaluating the exposure generated by the motorway noise source; currently documentation on the status of the infrastructure regarding traffic flows for 2006 and 2011 is available (mapping every five years starting from 30 June 2007);
  • The “Action Plans” which aim to manage the noise pollution issues and related effects, fully acknowledging the Soundproofing Plan; currently documentation on traffic flows for the year 2007 is available (to be prepared every five years starting from 18 July 2008);

On 30.06.2012 Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. published the updated Acoustic Map for the entire network it manages, pursuant to the requirements set out by the Ministry for the Environment in the document: ”Preparation and delivery of digital documentation concerning acoustic mapping and strategic acoustic maps (Italian Legislative Decree 194/2005) – Technical Specifications Version” 2.0 May 2012

As opposed to that previously given, now only isophonic curves are presented together with the area information which has been supplemented with additional information (town borders, sensitive buildings, perimeter of the mapped area).
The new graphic design allows for easier viewing of the underlying cartography and therefore facilitates recognition of the residential units and effect of noise on the area.
As such, the table above no longer refers to ranges of noise but rather to a defined level:

NOISE LEVEL [DB(A)] Colour
50 Yellow
55 Ochre
60 Orange
65 Vermillion
70 Carmine
75 Violet

 

On 19 February 2013 Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. published the updated Action Plans for the entire network it manages, pursuant to the requirements set out by the Ministry for the Environment in the document: ”Preparation and delivery of digital documentation concerning acoustic mapping and strategic acoustic maps (Italian Legislative Decree 194/2005) – Technical Specifications Version” 2.0 May 2012

This publication will allow citizens to present written notes, opinions and observations which, where applicable, will be taken into consideration for the preparation of the Action Plan update by 15 April 2013, in other words within 45 days of the public announcement issued to all towns on the network by the operator (see copy).

The results of the “acoustic mapping” and “action plans” are not directly comparable with the results of the “identification of critical areas” and “noise containment and abatement plan”: indeed, European legislation has introduced new acoustic description standards (Lden parameter) for assessing noise, and a different indication on how to represent the noise levels has been provided (fixed height of 4 m from ground instead of the most critical point, and different calculation methods, specifically the French model NMPB-Routes-96).

For more information on the calculation model used, and in line with the requirements of Italian Legislative Decree
194 of 19/08/2005, article 3 (5) and Annex 4 (6)e, please refer to the Technical Report of the Acoustic Mapping study.

Noise Mapping
According to the definitions of Italian Legislative Decree 194 of 19 August 2005, an acoustic or noise map means “the presentation of data on an existing or predicted noise situation in terms of a given noise source”.

Acoustic maps are re-examined and prepared every five years, and these updates must take into account of the overall traffic for the year preceding the publication, any variations in the road and the implementation of any works completed as at the date to which the traffic data used to prepare the noise map update refer.

Action Plans
Action plans aim to manage noise pollution problems and their corresponding effects, including their reduction, where necessary.

Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A, pursuant to the requirements specified in annex 5 of Italian Legislative Decree No. 194, has prepared the Action Plan for its entire network, fully acknowledging the NCAP which will be implemented throughout the network within the next fifteen years.

The Action Plan for the first five-year period fully acknowledges the Soundproofing Plan which The Italian Ministry of the Environment and for Protection of the Land and Sea approved with decree GAB-DEC-0000040 of 11/03/2011 published in the Official Journal of 04/05/2011 with the specifications and requirements indicated in the joint Government-Regions Conference session of 28/10/2010.

The published Action Plans will be updated whenever significant developments should occur to the existing noise situation, and in any event, every five years.

Statement to the Public
One of the main purposes of directive 2002/49/EC is to make available to the public (meaning natural and legal persons, associations, organisations etc.) data concerning the current environmental conditions relating to noise pollution, and any improvements actions planned as well as the expected benefits.

Autostrada Torino – Savona S.p.A. publishes data on the mapping and action plans for the entire network it manages on the Internet

With the update of the Acoustic Mapping of the Turin Savona Motorway, Autostrada Torino-Savona S.p.A. published on the internet data on the situation updated to 30/06/2012 with traffic figures for the year 2011.

An email based communication system is available using the address antirumore@laverdemare.it for the public to send any remarks which could be useful for updates to the action plans.