From Omroep Gelderland, December 11, 2019
NIJMEGEN – The measures against traffic noise for Nijmegen-West and Neerbosch-Oost are working much better than expected. That became clear during the official opening by alderwoman Harriët Tiemens.
You wouldn’t think they make any difference just by looking at these so-called diffractors on Energieweg and Neerbosscheweg. They deflect and break up sound, significantly decreasing the amount of noise residents experience. And all that without high noise barriers.
In the case of Energieweg it comes down to tiles with holes, shaped like honeycombs.
‘Fought for years’
The expectation was they’d reduce the noise in surrounding neighborhoods like Hees by 1.5 to 2.5 decibels (dB). But it turns out they reduce noise by 3 dB. That means the amount of noise residents experience has been cut in half.
Hees resident Mieke Welschen is very satisfied.. ‘I fought for years and put in hundreds of hours, but it’s really worth it.’
Almost 8x less sound
The constructions along Neerbosscheweg are somewhat higher, but still don’t rise above waist level. Here the expectation was they’d reduce noise by 6 dB, leading to four times as little sound reaching homes behind it. But in actuality there’s a 10.5 dB reduction: almost 8 times less noise than before.
Bert Barends, who lives right behind Neerbosscheweg, is very pleased with the measures. ‘We can really tell that it works, and other residents tell us the same.’
Mieke Welschen was also pleasantly surprised by the diffractors’ effectiveness. ‘When they were placed by the roadside, we thought well, the proof is in the pudding. But it’s amazing what you can achieve with something so low.’
‘No huge wall’
Alderwoman Harriët Tiemens placed the last diffractor on Wednesday. ‘The people get to live behind a nice little green wall, instead of the huge walls they have on the other side of Neerbosscheweg, so that’s some really special innovation’, she says.
