Study of noise pollution at different intersections at Agartala City

Agartala, the capital city of Tripura, faces traffic congestion, particularly at different road intersections due to rapid and uncontrolled development by an unacceptable level of disparity in transportation demand and supply scenario resulting in environmental degradation. When the vehicles are waiting for their turn to clear the intersection, the drivers normally keep their vehicle engines on and blow their horns unnecessarily. As a result, the noise level is particularly increased at intersections. Ten representative intersections of varying traffic volume have been selected in this study to ascertain noise level during idling of vehicles. This study reveals that Ashram Chowmohani is the busiest intersection, whereas North Gate is found to be the noisiest intersection. In North Gate, during the daytime, the noise level is between 66.7 dB(A) and 108.6 db(A), and during nighttime it is between 60.4 dB(A) and 100.9 dB(A). Average noise level of ten important intersections of Agartala City are 79.9 dB(A) and 73.3 dB(A) during daytime and nighttime, respectively. After implementation of remedial measures, noise level of all intersections of Agartala City can be reduced. Noise levels at different intersections of Agartala City and strategies to control noise pollution are discussed in this paper.