Expressway Noise and Apartment Tenant Response

Abstract

A questionnaire was distributed to tenants living in apartments within 1,200 feet of an expressway in metropolitan Toronto in order to determine what aspects of the expressway affected them, positively or negatively, and how important these aspects were, relative to other factors affecting their residential satisfaction. Tenants indicated that travel convenience was the main advantage of the expressway whereas disturbance from noise was the main disadvantage. Analysis of moving intentions indicates that the disadvantage of noise outweighs the advantage of travel convenience for those tenants whose apartments have direct exposure to the expressway. Consistent with other research findings, there is no single demographic group which is particularly sensitive to expressway noise, and analysis of moving intentions by rent level indicates that rent reductions do not seem to compensate for noise disturbance. Rental level and occupancy policy thus are not seen as mechanisms for reducing the environmental impact of expressway noise. Minimum setback distances from the expressway and use of apartments with single loaded corridors so that living units face away from the expressway are suggested as appropriate means of protection from the hazard of expressway noise.