Planting of Trees Along Expressways to Reduce Traffic Noise

Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Transport whether trees will be planted along the side of expressway to reduce traffic noise affecting residential homes that are built near the expressways.

Mr Lui Tuck Yew: The National Parks Board (NParks) has been planting trees along the sides of expressways and major arterial roads, where space permits. These trees serve as visual screens and reduce road noise transmission to some extent.

Besides tree planting, several other measures are currently being adopted by various agencies to minimise road noise. First, there are building setback requirements by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to ensure a minimum distance between the facade of residential buildings and roads. Second, non-noise sensitive developments, such as industries and parks, are located next to expressways where possible to act as noise shields. Third, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) uses a special road pavement material on expressways to reduce noise and, fourth, the National Environment Agency (NEA) regulates noise emission levels from road vehicles by setting and enforcing noise emission standards.

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Given our dense urban environment, it is inevitable that some of our roads may have to be located near residential homes. NEA and LTA have embarked on a joint study, involving URA, HDB and NParks, to look into noise levels near expressways, major arterial roads and elevated rail lines, and explore appropriate noise mitigating measures that are applicable to our local context. The study is expected to be completed by the first half of 2012.