The enormous expansion in the number of aviation passengers and vast technological development in aircraft design necessitate analysis of those factors involved in airport planning. Investment decisions on airport development are difficult. Modeling the access and air transport system involves appropriately linking many submodels of each activity. Optimum size and location are important elements in the investment decision and are determined by such things as passenger demand, available manpower, air and land space, access facilities, and route utility. This view of airports and air transport as an ever-widening circle on interacting consequences is compounded by the need for compatibility of airport and airplane schedules. In addition, the upgrading of one airport on a route usually means that all other airports on that route should be considered for upgrading. Historically, all large airport projects and some smaller ones have been mooted years before they are economically desirable and, therefore, optimum development of airports has not occurred. Numerous references.

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Airports - an economic survey

This paper presents the findings of a study of the relationship between different noise levels and market values for a sample of 206 single-family residences abutting Interstate-495 in Northern Virginia and for a sample of 207 residences along two heavily traveled urban streets in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Estimates of the influence of noise on the market price of houses sold in 1978-1979 at these sites, where barriers have since been completed, were then used to estimate economic benefits received by property owners. By using these estimates, it was concluded that recent public expenditures on highway noise abatement per household far exceed reasonable economic benefit levels, even for noise reductions of 10 dB(A). (Author)

Highway noise, noise mitigation, and residential property values

An analytical model of a typical community has been developed for the purpose of carrying out a cost-effectiveness analysis of various outdoor noise countermeasures. The principal elements of the model are (1) A data base describing the community's geography, population distribution, and typical building construction; (2) a data base describing the location and strength of noise sources; (3) energy summation of noise levels from each source at many locations; and (4) use of noise level versus human response transfer functions to determine the number of people adversely affected by this noise level. Summing these for the whole community and dividing by the total population results in a 'Noise Impact Index (NII)' indicating the quality of the noise environment. Three basic types of countermeasures may be applied: (1) source reduction, (2) source rerouting, and (3) path-receiver treatments.

J. Swing

Papers

Community noise countermeasures cost-effectiveness analysis