The Impact Of Railway Noise On The Resident: Adama Context

Abstract

Noise pollution is a major problem in urban areas and the research shows in developing countries noise causes hazardous health impacts on human beings. More than 55% of the urban noise came from transportation. In the past five years, Ethiopia-Djibouti railway passes through Adama city and exposed the local residence to unstudied noise pollution, which include unmeasured noise level and unknown direct health impact on the community. Similarly, it has been confirmed that there is no legal provision in Ethiopia concerning this topic until now. Due to this the research, aims to identify the noise level of the railway noise in different houses near the railway line in a 50 m radius and analyze its impacts on the residents living nearby. For identified noise level it uses noise level meter measurement in different time intervals then for analyzes the impact it uses international standards and local references by using questionaries. The research conduct using the deductive approach and the triangulation method in an exploratory manner. The selected site is almost flat and almost similar building material used, which is very advantageous for measurement. secondly, the noise level measured in 6 different groups total of 18 houses shows the noise level of the site is in the range between 44.2 dB up to 79.1 dB; Based on the Swiss federal office standard, the noise level of spots in six groups is above the permissible noise level and it can cause health impacts to the residences; then the third compares the most subdued place with the near railway residence and it found the dwelling who live in the quietest place is much healthier than the dwelling who live close to the railway line. The final analysis conducts only the residents who live near railways and it shows most residences have sleep problems, stress, annoyance, and hearing problems. Generally, railway noise pollution isn’t a secondary concern for an urban environment, it causes physical, emotional, and physiological impacts on the people. It recommended the EIA should study in detail, at list railway lines should away from the residence zone within 60 m radius, noise mitigation methods should implement and another unstudied variable should study and prepare standards and proclamations.