Noise action plan is being updated
The City Council today adopted the 3rd stage of the City of Chemnitz's noise action plan. This means that stage 2, which has been in force since 2017, will continue to be implemented. The plan instructs the city administration to implement a total of 13 noise reduction measures within the scope of the available budget and human resources and to take the results of the noise action plan into account in urban planning.
During the preparation of Stage 3, a review of the Stage 2 Noise Action Plan was carried out, initially examining how the noise situation in the urban area has developed, in particular whether and how measures in the Stage 2 Noise Action Plan, of which many individual projects have been implemented, have had an effect. Examples include the construction of Fraunhoferstraße, the further construction of the Chemnitz Model (Stage 2) and numerous cycling projects. In addition, a considerable number of active noise protection measures have been realised on the main roads in the city as part of new construction and expansion measures. These primarily include noise-reducing road surfaces, noise barriers and walls as well as passive noise protection measures on residential buildings. In addition, cycle lanes were installed along existing roads, speed reductions and other traffic-related measures. This led to a noticeable reduction in noise emissions in the residential neighbourhoods in the areas concerned.
The installation of noise-reducing road surfaces has reduced the number of people affected by noise along Frankenberger Strasse, Leipziger Strasse, Lutherstrasse, Lützowstrasse, Ritterstrasse and the Südring, among others.
Nevertheless, there are still areas with high levels of road traffic noise pollution in the urban area where active noise protection measures are either not technically possible or have not yet been realised.
Bornaer Straße, for example, was included as a noise hotspot in the update; local residents had campaigned for its inclusion in the plan during public participation in the second stage. In the long term, the installation of noise-reducing asphalt is the most realistic alternative for achieving improvements in the short and medium term. The aim of the City of Chemnitz should therefore be to take an integrated view of the road with the aim of balancing the interests of noise protection, strengthening the environmental network/local mobility and safeguarding commercial traffic.