Highway and street systems allow for urban mobility but cause major environmental noise impacts. This paper describes the use of computational models to evaluate noise control measures implemented in the reconstruction of an important urban section of a highway in a large Latin American city. The study evaluated the transformation of this section of an old highway into a major avenue, demonstrating the impacts caused by traffic noise. The noise control measures evaluated here were: 1) Speed reduction, 2) Pavement replacement, 3) Decreased flow of heavy vehicles, and 4) All the measures jointly. Noise maps were produced which indicated that pavement replacement and altered speed limits were not effective noise control measures, since they reduced the noise levels only slightly. In contrast, the restriction of heavy vehicle traffic was considered an effective measure to decrease the noise levels, in view of the significant flow of heavy vehicles on this avenue (20% of the total flow). The changes made in this traffic corridor resulted in a reduction in the A-weighted sound levels of 6 to 7 dB. (C) 2014 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.
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