The ‘Wet Geluidshinder’ (Law on Noise nuisance) introduces the concept of noise nuisance
zones along roads. A noise nuisance zone consists of an area on both sides of the road where
attention must be paid to noise, if houses or other functions sensitive to noise exist in this area
or are planned in this area. To asses the noise nuisance by road traffic, the government
determined that the total area suffering from a noise nuisance level of more than 50 dB(A)6
caused by interlocal traffic (traffic on the main network outside built-up areas) is not allowed
to increase with respect to 1986. This area was 2,664 km2
in 1986. It increased to 2,900 km2
in 1991 but has stabilised after this period. The measures to stabilise/reduce the noise
nuisance levels are basically focused on reducing the noise production at the source. These
measures include silent road surfaces (ZOAB) on the main network, increasing noise
requirements for vehicles, maintaining maximum speed limits, decreasing car use and, if
necessary, extra noise barriers. However, although a large area is disturbed by noise nuisance
of road traffic (2,900 km2
), this will not be included in this study since this disturbance is not
related to land use restrictions.7
A similar approach holds for the noise nuisance of railways. Policies aim at limiting the noise
production at the source, without imposing restrictions on land use. The expectation of
Railned (organisation that determines the capacity on the Dutch railway network) is that 0.7