Fehily Timoney and Company Ltd (FT) were appointed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to undertake in-situ testing of reflective and absorptive noise barriers on the Irish road network, over a five year period.

A programme of noise barrier tests was successfully delivered by FT, along with our partners Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) between 2018 and 2023. Measurements were undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the standard series EN 1793 Road Traffic Noise Reducing Devices — Test Method for Determining the Acoustic Performance.

Testing was undertaken to determine the in-situ intrinsic characteristics of sound reflection and airborne sound insulation of noise barriers on the Irish road network and assess if the barriers meet their long term durability requirements.

Sound insulation performance was measured in accordance with EN 1793-6:2018 for all barriers. In addition, sound reflection performance was measured in accordance with EN 1793-5:2016 for the absorptive barriers.

A scientific paper on the findings of the five-year project has been prepared by FT and AIT, and has recently been accepted for presentation at the Transport Research Arena (TRA) European event to be held in in Dublin in April 2024.