Review on traffic noise problem in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is now experiencing rapid improvements in fulfilling its goal of achieving the status of a developed nation by year 2020. The nation's economy has grown rapidly with the opening of many new industrial and residential areas as well as infrastructure which in turn influence the ease in transportation and mobility. The Ministry of Transportation Malaysia has reported increases in the number of registered vehicles by a rate of 45 percent per annum from 2012 to 2014. All these have undoubtedly add to the road traffic noise that is linked to various health diseases, even though the Malaysian government has made tremendous efforts to improve the noise environment by introducing new guidelines. This paper presents the extent of the traffic noise problem in Malaysia together with the development of a traffic noise model and the current steps taken for traffic noise mitigation. The paper also discusses the challenges in overcoming this problem and concludes with a proposed traffic noise control plan for further consideration by town planners and land developers.