ANALYSIS OF PROPONENT MITIGATED DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR TRAFFIC NOISE

Proponent mitigated development (PMD) strategies are used in the plann ing stages of new development to bring about compatibility between noi se sensitive land uses and transportation noise. Development can be a transportation project initiated by a transportation agency or it can be a noise sensitive land use initiated by a private developer. In eit her case, the proponent of the development bears the responsibility fo r mitigation of transportation noise to bring about noise and land use compatibility. Noise and land use compatibility programs that make us e of proponent mitigated development strategies were studied to identi fy critical program elements, measures of effectiveness, and the steps to be taken for program implementation. It was found that proponent m itigated development strategies can be an effective complement to land use zoning in traffic noise and land use compatibility programs. Furt her, administrators of existing programs report minimal maintenance co sts to planning agencies, and suggest that these programs promote a fa ir distribution of noise abatement costs.