Highway transportation causes immense environmental impacts, as much by the enormous use of energy as for the physical infrastructure necessary for its operation. The gas emission and traffic noise cause irreversible damages to the environment and this has been the objective of a lot of studies and researches. It is known that the contact between tire and pavement surface and the acoustic properties of the coverings influence the noise’s generation and propagation. This research aims to evaluate the noise caused by the traffic of vehicles in four different pavements through SPBI (Statistical Pass-By Index). The methodology followed the prescriptions of the norm ISO 11819-1; the decibelimeter is installed in the road side and it records the maximum noise caused by each vehicle. HMA presents higher noise measurement (86,84dBA) followed by PCC (83,28dBA), ST (83,26dBA) MICRO (81,14dBA) and PC (81,03dBA). The results indicate that correct pavement selection can reduce, in an expressive way, the noise caused by road traffic.
Noise; pavement; environment
