Noise barriers have become a prominent feature on today’s landscape. Unfortunately, they have also become a feature associated with insensitivity toward the built environment. Designers could avoid the negative visual impact that noise barriers frequently create by increasing their awareness of aesthetics in the design process. In an effort to improve the quality of noise barrier design, the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s, Bureau of Environmental Analysis (BEA) altered the design process for its I-76/I-295 Type II noise abatement study. The first objective of the study was to acoustically engineer a barrier that would abate the noise for residents along the affected roadway corridor. The second was to develop an architectural design that would be aesthetically pleasing to the corridor resident and the roadway users. Typically, architects were brought into the design process at the end to review the aesthetic impact of the wall and add architectural features. On the I-76/I-295 project, BEA initiated a parallel process with the architectural design running concurrent with the engineering. The architectural design process and the interfacing of this process with the engineering are described. Community involvement was essential to the architectural objective of designing an aesthetically pleasing barrier. Ideas reflecting community concerns and comments were refined into final recommendations for construction of a noise barrier with gateways and a unifying corridor theme. The noise barrier should then become a representation of the community and stand as an icon in the built environment. Noise barriers can have a positive impact on the built environment if a commitment is made to aesthetics throughout the design process.


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    Title :

    Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Highway Noise Barriers and the Built Environment


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1997-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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