Transport Noise Corridor Requirements - Term Paper Example

Transport Noise Corridor Requirements Aims and Objectives of Logan City Council and its relevant laws In reference to the Logan City Council Database, the transport noise corridors are controlled by the relevant authority i.e. the local government or the state, as it is under the Building Act 1975 (Local Law. Vol. 1, 2002). The LCC has an initiative of recognizing individuals, households and business establishments that work in tandem with the council's objectives of making the city environmentally sustainable. The expansion of QLD population has resulted to increase in residential development located close the corridors. In order to minimize on the impacts of noise the government of QLD has streamlined the process of construction and renovation of buildings along the transport noise corridors. Miles & Kwan (1998) states that, the renovations and building in the noise corridor must comply with the QLD Mandatory Part of building along these corridors. In reference to building Code, all the buildings along the transport noise corridor must meet a certain level of mitigating noise by using specified materials for the floors, windows, roofs, walls and doors. Challenges There are several barriers and challenges facing the LCC most of them being transport, physical and environmental challenges. The primary challenges that have been noted include lack of connectivity, lack of affordable housing options and accommodation for workers and students within the city. Other challenges include free movement in public places, this is considered by most people as a right, and streets lacking clear egress for emergency situations, which are indicators of accessible environment, have not been adequately met in some areas. Defects Noted and Solutions The local government has come up with an on-line search tool that can locate a property within the corridor. The search tool uses lot number and property address to determine whether the code applies in certain building. Information on the noise corridors have been availed in the state offices and in local government planning schemes. The information in search tool entails; the name of the property and state designated corridors. The Work Place and Safety Queensland (WPSQ) state that exposure to noise i.e. noise from transport can result to several psychological, as well as, physiological difficulties like fatigue, lack of sleep, heart diseases and aggression. The introduction of the MP 4.4 in the Queensland Development Code is used by constructions certifiers during the assessment of residential buildings along the transport noise corridor. It is the work of building certifier to determine the noise reduction features in the process of approving a residence using QDC MP 4.4. In the recent times, Logan Motorways have been outlined as another transport noise corridor. Local Law No. 9 of 1999 on licensing, ensures the activities within the Logan city does not result to; harm to human, property damage, environmental a nuisance and pollution and that all operations taking place comply with the LCC local Government Act (LOCAL LAW 2002). Personal observations Noise has critical health impacts, and the Queensland Code ensures the disturbances are significantly reduced on the occupants of these buildings. To reduce these transport noise, Logan city council advocates use of material such as, solid core doors, bricking masonry walls, tile roofs, concrete roofs and insulations. The council also re-assess building designs and orientation this assist in locating noise-sensitive rooms away from the source of noise. The recommendations on using site features like noise barriers, overlapping fences, solid fence walls reduce noise levels. In this research, it is evident that complying with the new set regulations differs depending on the noise category applying on a particular construction. There is an estimated 4% rise in the cost of setting up structures in the noise transport corridors. The transport noise corridor mapping project Aims and Objectives in the mapping project The aims and objectives of the corridor mapping project are based on environmental management plans i.e. monitoring of dust noise and vibration to ensure their levels remain at acceptable limits. According to Local Law (LL) No. 5 of 2011 on Parks, Jetties and Boat Ramps, the LCC is responsible for giving permits to the power, regulating and controlling the jetties, parks and boats ramps. LL No. 7 of 2003 has been reinforced to keep good parking order within the township. Further, LL No. 11 of 1999 deals with construction regulation and planning. It is this law that provides measures on dust, noise and vibration minimization it also entails use of equipments that do not produce much noise, implementation of operating guideline, scheduling activities on working hours, covering track roads on transit, spraying recycled water to keep down dust, and stage clearing that will assist in reducing the amount of soil disturbed. Defects Noted and Solutions There has been a plan to put up a Logan-lea Neighborhood plan (Pullar & Phan, 2010). In reference to Logan Council website, the plan accommodates growth in accordance with Logan City Council vision plan 2009-2031. The vision is to assist in the creation of high class residential community, maximizing access health facilities, public transport and training and employment opportunities to the residence. Under Logan-lea Mapping plan, area is expected to hold a population of 5,700 persons by 2031. The plan has a rail connection to Brisbane and Gold-coast and the plan includes proposals for future land use, infrastructure and parks, building heights and designs, and transport and pedestrian trails. Challenges Logan City has an extended road network consisting of narrow streets, which were initially planned for first development and is crossed by huge boulevards. According to Preston (1992), there are numerous upcoming residences that comprise of blocks with many flats. These residential blocks comprise of those built on inbuilt segments of town and have main streets gathering the interior paths. These areas experience convectional traffic patterns because the planning was done in close connection with approximated level of traffic. There are the other areas that resulted from demolished neighborhoods, they are extremely dense with narrow street network, and these create great distortion between avenues. As a result, when moving from one area to another, frequent jams are experienced. In reference to Miles and Kwan (1998), this brings about abnormal amount of traffic compared to other street networks. The city council has established a project that will make concentric circulation rings; this will ease the traffic in the dense residence. Personal observations The Logan City is a dynamic city; changes in the surrounding are directly proportional to the noise changes. Increased traffic has resulted to increased noise level. The LCC should work on reducing predictable noise level for the habitats. The LCC management should come up with a plan that will basically guide in refuse disposal with an aim of maintaining excellent health and eradication of malaria coursing mosquitoes. Koala surveys Koala is one of the most vulnerable species that are cross to extinction in South East Queensland bio-region. According to the article Koalas protected under environment law (2002), this is a status that has been under the 1992, Nature Conservation Act of Queensland and is based on a great decline in its population. The article further explains that, there has been special attention from the government regarding improving the life expectancy of Koala and improving the animals habitat. In keeping with Webb (2010), these endeavors aim at mitigating newly emergent threats like loss of habitat, urban encroachment, diseases and events of extreme weather. In reference to the article Koalas protected under environment law (2002), there have been many researches concerning Koala by community groups, universities and government agencies in the past. These researches have fed the government with good messages on koala habitat loss and deaths from dogs, climatic, event, cars and drowning from pools. The Threatened Species Scientific committee (TSSC) has recently been focusing on the conservation status of koala and has made recommendations that koala should be listed under the 1999 Act of Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation. Challenges There are several challenges that have been experienced in koala research. There has been detailed and fragmented information on population dynamics, Koala abundance, and emerging threat across the koala's geographical range. The populations of koala at both the northern and the southern regions have very divergent dynamics. However, they show consistent imbalances of recruitments and mortality. Understanding the cause of these diverse dynamics is a key to effectual management of the species in Logan Township. Protecting and managing koalas from the prevailing problems surrounding its extinction are complicated and challenging problem. The Koala Research Network (KRN) a collaboration of many Koala researchers is aiming addressing Koala problems investigates different aspects of Koala biology, ecology, diseases and conservation. The main aim of these researches is to assist policy makers and conservationist in implementation of effective Koala monitoring solutions. Defects Noted and Solutions There have been rapid decline of Koala population resulting from habitat clearing due to increased human population overtime this has also caused widespread of diseases among the animals. Some of the chlorine diseases include Koala retrovirus pneumonia, urinary infections and Chlamydia which causes blindness among the animals. Swimming pool deaths among the koala occur as the animals search for water on a scorching day this makes the koala to drown and die. Additionally, climatic changes have resulted to decline in Koala nutrition in the wild, this declines have been related to habitat destruction and koala diseases. Habitat fragmentation has limited koalas' movement and increased inbreeding problems among the Koalas. Personal observations In the study, it is notable that the Koala live in small bushes nears train tracks and roads. Notably high risk areas must be must be managed to reduce the mammal’s mortality rate. In reference to Dr. Crowner, it has been encouraging that the Koalas can use a variety of trees and have not been restricted to indigenous forests. In the field work, it was evident that small patches of trees available cold not support the endangered animals in tough times i.e. time of drought when the resources scarce. It is evident that the population of these animals is dwindling due to the fore stated reasons; habitat fragmentation, deforestation and diseases. Pullar and Phan (2010), states that to investigate Logan's population and the trees used by Koala, the investigation has included trapping Koalas and attaching GPS collars on them, this has helped to track each animal and its location. In the two days internship, I used data collected by (Pullar & Phan, 2010), in reference to the provided data, it is evident that koalas have turned to the new trees and have recently been limited to small movements, not exceeding two kilometers within the patches of trees. This is a worrying trend for the survival of the mammals. However, there is hope that through re-forestation these animals will have an increased breeding place (Pullar & Phan, 2010). The animals would have benefited multiple patches of trees, hence reducing competition during drought. Koala in Logan have been using trees planted in mid 1990s, this is a clear indication that planting more trees could expand the habitat of these animal and mitigate more of their prevailing problems in the fragmented patches of woods. References Logan Landfill retrieved from: LOCAL LAW NO. 1 (ADMINISTRATION) 2002 LCC: Koalas protected under environment law. Retrieved on 17th May 2012 from: Miles, J. & Kwan, T. (1998). Australian Association for Environmental Education. Australian journal of environmental education, Vol 12-14 Pullar, DV & Phan, TH. (2010). Using a Bayesian network in a GIS to model relationships and threats to koala populations close to urban environments. Journal of Geography, Planning and Architecture, University of Queensland, Australia, 1-6 Preston, N (1992). Report on the review of codes of conduct for public officials. Brisbane: The Commission. Webb, B. (2010). The koala of death. Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen Press. Read More