The impact of traffic noise pollution on the population of Strubensvalley in Roodepoort

M.Sc.The Strubensvalley area is an up market area with numerous shopping centres and trendy dwellings. A major road, namely Hendrik Potgieter Road (M47), feeding between Johannesburg and North West/Botswana, runs through the suburb. Residents of Strubensvalley are in their concern about this road: the noise pollution which impacts negatively on their lives. This research investigates the traffic noise and the impact it has on the population of Strubensvalley.The selected study area was delimited by drawing a circle with a radius of four kilometers around the middle point, it being at the intersection of Hendrik Potgieter Road and Krugerrand Road. Clearwater Mall and Wilgeheuwel Retail Crossing shopping centre are the two large features on the circumference of the study area. A calibrated sound level meter was used to measure the traffic noise at 18 different measuring points within the study area. Measurements were taken during the day (6am to 10pm) and at night (10pm-6am) in order to establish the noise impact caused by the peak flow and non-peak flow of traffic in the suburb. A 30-item noise -health-related questionnaire was used to establish the impact of traffic noise on the respondents. A hundred randomly -chosen participants within the study area were interviewed on a door-to-door basis. On completion of this research, it was established that the people interviewed were generally annoyed by the traffic noise in Hendrik Potgieter Road. The majority of the participants complained about the annoyance and interference factor caused by traffic noise in that it affected them in activities (e.g. napping during the day)