Quiet Pavement
New Noise Testing Report Out on Avondale Test Patch
The following report was provided by Rick Brater (KCDOT) to the A Better Avondale Comittee in response to a request for updated information on the Avondale Test Patch testing.
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Current Noise Monitoring Results
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has been performing sound tests for King County and providing the Road Services Division (RSD) with the test data since the construction of the project in April 2010. The table below shows the results from the most recent round of testing which was completed in February 2011The next round of testing is planned for this fall. The test period for this pilot project will conclude in the summer of 2016.
| Test Date | Test Speed | North Bound Lane Results dB(A) | South Bound Lane Results dB(A) | Average dB(A) |
| May 2009 (Baseline) | 40 mph | 99.9 | 100.6 | 100.25 |
| May 2010 | 40 mph | 94.7 | 94.6 | 94.65 |
| February 2011 | 40 mph | 98.0 | 98.1 | 98.05 |
Full data on the testing can be found at the following website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Business/MaterialsLab/QuieterPavement/PavementGrinding.htm
Avondale Road and Novelty Hill Road Traffic Data
The latest traffic counts available are from the City of Redmond and were taken last year. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is 27,800 for Avondale Road and 19,900 for Novelty Hill Road. The roads were counted both in the morning and evening during the busiest periods on the road and for Avondale the counts are 1,700 in the morning and 2,100 in the evening. For Novelty, the counts are 1,400 in the morning and 1,700 in the evening.
Novelty Hill Road
The Novelty Hill Road project dates back to the land use planning efforts for the Bear Creek Area which culminated in the King County Council adopting the Bear Creek Community Plan in 1989. A major component of this plan was the identification of the Urban Planned Developments (UPDs), Trilogy at Redmond Ridge and Redmond Ridge. The concept at the time was to concentrate development in the UPDs where facilities and services could be provided and maintained in a more efficient manner, while at the same time reducing the development impact elsewhere by lowering densities throughout Bear Creek. The improvement of Novelty Hill Road was critical to serve the UPDs and connect them with the City of Redmond and beyond.
The County’s commitment to this project began in 1995 as part of a series of Development Agreements between King County and the developers of Trilogy and Redmond Ridge Urban Planned Developments (UPD) on Novelty Hill.
Following the development agreement there was a Settlement Agreement for the UPDs between King County, the developers, and City of Redmond further committed the County to the completion of the Novelty Hill Road project.
Avondale Road
Currently, the projects listed in the Transportation Needs Report (TNR) for Avondale Road include mobility, safety and a few capacity projects. These have been included in the TNR for a number of years. For the detail of the various types of projects currently proposed for Avondale Road, see the first page of the project listing for the TNR 2010.
http://your.kingcounty.gov/kcdot/roads/wcms/planning/tnr2010/Needs_List.pdf
In the early 2000’s, a project that would complete the widening of Avondale Road from NE 132nd Street to Woodinville Duval Road was funded in the capital program. This project would have widened and repaired the roadway which in turn would have resolved many of the issues you are concerned about. The project was funded in the amount of $8.4M in 2003; however, due to the loss of the Vehicle License Fee resulting from Initiative I-776, the RSD lost its ability to fund this project and four other major capacity improvement projects.
Unfortunately, our funding situation has continued to decline. As a comparison, our 2003 Six-Year CIP totaled $476M and the equivalent 2011 CIP is now $231M. Given the projected decline in revenue and the increasing demands of a declining roadway infrastructure in Unincorporated King County, the RSD has recently completed an in-depth analysis of the priorities for the Division and the types of projects it intends to fund in the future. This study was titled “The Strategic Plan for Road Services” and can be found on the internet at this address: http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/Roads/StrategicPlan.aspx The County Council approved this plan in December of 2010.
One part of the Strategic Plan for the RSD was to develop and assign a service strategy for each road owned by King County. Under this service strategy, Avondale Road was assigned the highest service level, Tier 1,. Only 7 percent of the County’s roads are included in Tier 1. The good news is that because of its Tier 1 status, Avondale Road will be submitted for grant funding when calls for projects are announced. The next federal transportation funding call occurs in 2012 and, if awarded, funding will be available in 2013. Unfortunately, it is only through successfully competing for these grants will the RSD be able to secure the funding needed for this project.
In addition to applying for the above grants, we will be adding the pavement reconstruction project to the list of identified Avondale Road needs, and this will be included in the Transportation Needs Report 2012. The TNR will be sent to the County Council in March, 2012, for their review and adoption.
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Next Generation Grinding Text Patch on Avondale is Complete!
Well, the Next Generation Grinding test patch on Avondale is complete and the initial results are a vast improvement!
People for a Better Avondale would like to thank Rick Brater, Linda Dougherty and everyone at King County who were involved with the Avondale test patch project.
Noise measurement results will be coming. Keep in mind, the noise results that People for a Better Avondale are most interested in are 1, 2, 3 years from now. The critics of Next Generation Grinding say the noise will be back to original levels at that time. We do hope they are wrong but since this is a test patch it is important to learn from the results.
The goal for People for a Better Avondale is to repave/resurface/regrind Avondale from Woodinville/Duvall Road south 2 miles. The test patch is our first step.
Thanks again to King County Department of Transportation.p>
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It isn’t just about the noise – AR is Safer when it is wet out!
Asphalt Rubber increases the safety of our road by reducing the spray off of tires. In areas like the Pacific Northwest where rain is a frequent occurrance – we are the perfect choice for this safer pavement.
Click on this short movie to see the difference in the amount of road spray compared with and without an AR Road
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Video Source: Rubber Pavements Association
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Road Rehabilitation with Asphalt-Rubber
If you have been reading the posts on this site, you know that the North end of Avondale is paved with Portland Cement Concrete (PCC). The people supporting A Better Avondale would like to see the next paving done with Asphalt-Rubber. This is being done and has been studied in depth in other communities. For more information please read this report on the overlays in Arizona.
Rehabilitation of Portland Cement Concrete Pavements With Thin Asphalt-Rubber Open Graded Friction Course Overlays in Arizona, by Douglas D. Carlson.
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Where Rubber Meets the Road – Hear the Impact in this Video
About 1000 lane miles have been covered in Phoenix to date to reduce noise. Here is an excellent video produced by ASU’s School of Engineering and the Maricopa Association of Governments about the quiet pavement project which shows the thin paving material being placed on concrete.
Where the Rubber Meets the Road from ASU School of Engineering on Vimeo.
Click here, if Video doesn’t work http://www.fulton.asu.edu/fulton/video/
Where the Rubber Meets The Road is at the bottom of the web page
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Learning from others – New Jersey Report
New Jersey published a report in May of 2004 “Demonstration Project – The Measurement of Pavement Noise on New Jersey Pavements Using the NCAT Noise Trailer” (click on link to see full report)
It is clear that both the surface of the road surface matters and the speed of the traffic – we need to focus on both of these factors!
Here are some excerpts that may interest you!
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Traffic noise is a serious problem. Engine, exhaust, aerodynamic (power train) noise, and pavement/tire noise contribute to traffic noise.
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Research in Europe and the United States has indicated that it is possible to build pavement surfaces that will provide low noise roadways.
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Based on the results, one can basically expect a 0.2 dB(A) increase in tire/pavement related noise for every 1 mph increase in traffic speed.
- In general, the Portland Concrete (PCC) sections produced the loudest pavement surface while the Open-graded Friction Course (OGFC) produced the lowest pavement/tire noise.
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Washington DOT Report on AR is out
The Washington State Department of Transportation Report on the quiet pavement test program has been published. Here is a quick summary written by Walter Scott.
No surprises here – AR delivers – it is simply better technology !
WSDOT have reported the results of their quiet pavement program tests thus far for Lynnwood (I-5) , 2006 and SR 520 E of 84th to 102nd) , 2007 and the facts speak for themselves. On the 2 current tests, they compared “AR” ( aka OGFC-AR, rubberized asphalt), “polymer” (aka OGFC-SBS) and “HMA” ( the states conventional standard hot mixed asphalt):
Noise mitigation: (figures 18,19; summary in figure 21When compared to the polymer alternative or the WSDOT standard HMA (hot mixed asphalt), the AR averages 1-1.8 dBA dBA less across the board – at 60 mph, that’s like roughly ¼ to 1/6 of the perceived noise less
Durability: (figure17) AR – no rutting ( page one conclusions), IRI ( what is this & how big is the AR delta compared to the poly & the HMA? ) AR is proven to have better durability than the polymer or HMA.
Cost; (table 5) AR is equal in cost per lane mile as stated in the summary above table 5 because less volume is used (it’s laid thinner than HMA).
Ride (Table 7 ) & Friction (Table 6) for the new HMA, AR & Polymer were all in a close range of acceptability.
The preamble has the same disclaimer about ambient air temperatures “rarely” getting as high as the ADOT AR paving standards that I’ve seen in prior reports. I note they mentioned only the southern US states (ie Tx, Fl , Az.etc w / programs; they made no mention of Ca., NJ.. , Korea, Norway, Alberta, B.C. who also have programs; this, I think is just cut & paste filler that they are starting to see has no relevancy.
Please email us if you’d like a copy of the full report – it was too large of a file to post.
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Traffic Noise is a Serious Problem
Traffic noise is a serious problem
Engine, exhaust, aerodynamic (power train) noise,and pavement/tire noise contribute to traffic noise. The FHWA Noise Abatement Criteria states that noise abatement must be considered for residential areas when the traffic noise levels approach or exceed 67 dB (A). To accomplish this many areas in the United States are building large sound barrier walls at a cost of one to five million dollars per roadway mile. Research in Europe and the United States has indicated that it is possible to build pavement surfaces that will provide low noise roadways. In January of 2002 the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) initiated a research study with the objective to develop safe, quiet and durable asphalt pavement surfaces.
The first step towards accomplishing this objective was to develop a fast and scientifically reliable method for measuring the acoustical characteristics of pavement surfaces. The next step is to conduct studies to evaluate the tire/pavement noise characteristics of various pavement surfaces and to evaluate what properties of those pavements will provide quiet pavement surfaces.
This is a quote from the paper, “Demonstration Project – The Measurement of Pavement Noise on New Jersey Pavements Using the NCAT Noise Trailer.”
By
Mr. Thomas Bennert, Senior Research Engineer
Mr. Doug Hanson, Assistant Director
Dr. Ali Maher, Professor & Chairman
Dep. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Center for Advanced Infrastructure & Transportation (CAIT)
Rutgers, The State University
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8014
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Rubberized Asphalt can Improve Air Quality
This flyer from the Rubber Pavements Association describes how recycling old tires and converting them into quiet pavement can preclude tire fires while providing benefits to neighborhoods.
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Why is Avondale so Loud?
Why Avondale is so loud? It is a combination of disrepair, heavy traffic, and the type of surface on the road.
Due to road improvements put on hold for years, this section of Avondale has fallen into serious disrepair. The 2.5-mile drive south from Woodinville-Duvall Road is a joy ride of bumps, dips, patches, cracks and worn-out surface. It’s getting louder by the day as the road is pounded on by heavy car and truck traffic. It has been almost 55 years since Avondale was originally paved. During the last 20 years of area growth, it has evolved from a relatively quiet country road to a virtual highway connecting the Woodinville-Redmond-Duvall corridor with Seattle, Bellevue, and points in all directions. In fact, when the 520 freeway officially ends in Redmond, it becomes Avondale Road so it’s essentially the unimproved end of the highway. The traffic…typically moving at 50+ MPH on this 40 MPH road… is so heavy during peak periods that it can take nearly 5 minutes to pull onto the road and it is almost impossible to cross the road safely unless you are at one of the two lighted crosswalks. Finally, we learned from KCDOT that much of the noise problem can be blamed on the type of material used to construct the road: i.e., concrete. Here is an explanation provided by the KC Roads Division:
“The reason Avondale is loud is because it has a Portland Concrete Cement (PCC) surfacing with expansion joints. Because of the highly rigid and dense mixture of PCC the noise generated between the tire/surface interfaces is reflected more than with an asphalt surface. This is due to the lighter density and flexibility of asphalt which tends to absorb more of this interface noise. In addition to the stiffness of PCC, the road is constructed using concrete panels with expansion joints between each panel. You feel these expansion joints as you tires cross them and they contribute to the noise you hear. PCC costs more to place than asphalt mixes, however it has a considerably longer useful life, lower maintenance costs and can withstand heavier axle loads than asphalt. This is why you will see more PCC on roads experiencing high volumes of truck and bus traffic.” [Jim Eagan, Managing Engineer, KCDOT, 2/14/08]
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