Skip to main content

Design contract awarded for M40 noise barriers

A new milestone in a project to develop innovative ways of reducing noise along the M40 has been reached, with the award of a design contract worth up to US$3 million. The contract will see WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff review sites along the M40 between junctions 3 and 8, which have been identified as areas where road noise is a particular issue and help decide where the barriers would be of benefit. Earlier this year, Highways England, working in partnership with the M40 Chiltern Environmental Group, (M40
November 17, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A new milestone in a project to develop innovative ways of reducing noise along the M40 has been reached, with the award of a design contract worth up to US$3 million.

The contract will see WSP 4089 Parsons Brinkerhoff review sites along the M40 between junctions 3 and 8, which have been identified as areas where road noise is a particular issue and help decide where the barriers would be of benefit.

Earlier this year, 8101 Highways England, working in partnership with the M40 Chiltern Environmental Group, (M40 CEG) Wycombe District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, ran a competition to develop a range of cost-effective barriers to reduce noise.

Potential designs include using solar panels in the barriers to produce clean energy to help offset their installation and operating costs.

Six entries were shortlisted and WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff will now work with the designers of the shortlisted entries to trial these noise barriers at the identified sites on the M40. These designs may also be installed on other parts of England’s strategic road network in the future.
 
Subject to the successful completion of the site review and development of design solutions for each site identified, Highways England will aim to start preparatory work for construction on site in winter 2016-17. This trial is entirely funded by Highways England and the construction phase of the project is subject to funding.

Related Content

  • December 16, 2022
    Kistler’s smooth ride on Caltrans info highway
    Caltrans needed a solution to boost its outmoded traffic monitoring capability. Kistler’s KiTraffic Statistics met the California agency’s stringent requirements. And then came Covid…
  • November 16, 2016
    Evolt wins first Go Ultra Low City contract in Scotland
    Swarco Group’s Evolt eMobility brand has been awarded a contract estimated at US$2.2 million (£1.8 million) by Dundee City Council for the first phase of works to support three new charging ‘hubs’ in the city, along with an additional regional charging infrastructure. As one of the Go Ultra Low Cities, Dundee is creating three new charging hubs that will become dedicated areas for the charging of electric vehicles. Each hub will be equipped with Evolt’s well proven charging technology, including a combi
  • August 5, 2013
    Idaho finds the right formula for winter maintenance
    Idaho’s use of key performance indicators to determine the effectiveness of its winter maintenance programme put it on the Best of ITS America shortlist. Idaho Transportation Department’s budget for winter maintenance is more than $25m – almost half of which is spent on snowplough operations. The State’s geography ranges from desert to mountains and Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) has a 500+ strong winter maintenance fleet to undertake snowploughing and spreading salt, salt brine, magnesium chloride a
  • January 31, 2012
    Wireless traffic data in real time
    The effect of moving objects on the electromagnetic landscape set up by cellular telephony networks can be detected and interpreted to give real-time traffic data across large geographical areas at low cost. Here, we revisit the Celldar concept. Global economic downturn has pushed public-sector agencies, transport administrations among them, to push even harder for cost efficiencies. Unfortunately, when it comes to transport safety and efficiency the public sector often has to work up to a cost rather than