Ararat noise levels being monitored

Vicroads is monitoring noise levels throughout Ararat as part of a planning process for a proposed Western Highway bypass of the rural city.

The organisation is installing noise-monitoring devices at four locations to understand the acoustic benefits of removing heavy vehicles from the city centre.

Vicroads Western Region director Mal Kersting said noise monitoring would play a small but vital role in the pre-planning process.

“This data will help in the understanding of the current levels of heavy-vehicle traffic passing through Ararat, and in conjunction with our transport modelling, will allow us to predict the reduction in noise within the township after the bypass is constructed,” he said.

The ‘noise logger’ devices do not record conversations or individual sounds, but simply monitor the volume and frequency of noise in the surrounding area.

Vicroads has strategically chosen locations for all four devices to provide a full understanding of noise levels throughout Ararat.

The devices, installed last week, will remain in place until Monday. Data collected will then form part of Vicroads’ planning.

“This is another small step towards developing a full-scale plan for the proposed Ararat bypass,” Mr Kersting said.