Assessment and relative sustainability of common types of roadside noise barriers

There is increasing legislative and public pressure for the design and build of road infrastructure schemes to achieve better sustainability performance. Roadside noise barriers (RNBs) form a major part of the growing road infrastructure system in mitigating undesirable road noise to impacted communities. However, the relative sustainability of common RNBs is little understood in the research and industry literature. This makes it difficult for stakeholders to make informed decisions with regards to the sustainable design and procurement of RNBs. This paper presents nowel research carried out to assess and rank the relative sustainability of 13 RNB types using three multi criteria analysis (MCA) techniques, i.e. Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), Preference Ranking Organisation MeTHod for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE), and Elimination et Choice Translating Reality (ELECTRE III). The paper concludes that the presented sustainability rankings of the main RNB types from least sustainable to most sustainable will support the relevant stakeholders, involved in the planning, design, and procurement stages, to evaluate the sustainability of RNB options as either part of a large highways scheme or standalone project. The presented results will save significant analysis time and costs in cases whereby it is unfeasible to conduct MCAs. The presented sustainability asssessment methodology may also provide the basis for an industry sustainability certification sceheme and in turn support advancing the sustainability transport agenda.