Making Quieter Highways

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at Purdue are investigating ways to make life for those who live near major highways more quiet. They have found that most of the noise is literally where the rubber hits the road, not engine noise or even passing winds. The team has come up with a new form of pavement that is in testing in Arizona and will soon be installed in California. The pavement is simply asphalt with some mixed in rubber."

Comments

Whoosh!

[tickticker]

I live near the sections of highway where they have laid this stuff, and it's like pulling a nail out of your head when you hit it. The constant hum of the road is much more intrusive then you can imagine. It's alot like turning off the range hood fan after it's been on for a couple hours and the hum has invaded your bones. All you hear is the wind around the vehicle.

I look forward to hitting the stuff, and they are supposed to be repaving a 21 mile portion of a highway thats not even 3 years old yet. (The highway system in Phoenix is still pretty new and growing)

I don't need a sig

Re:They've only just figured this out?

[jilles]

Yep, in the Netherlands this kind of thing is long past the testing stage. My country is pretty densely populated and has quite a few highly congested highways. We have standards for sound levels which have to be met. This has created a financial incentive for road constructioners to research solutions to reducing the noise and meeting those standards.

A combination of sound deflecting shields in populated areas and better road surfaces is pretty much standard for roads nowadays here. My parents live about 1km from a very busy highway and while you can hear some noise in the background if it is really quiet (like at night) it can barely be heard.