An endless roar of motor vehicles sounded through Littlepace Park on Friday evening.
Four lanes of traffic tear along the N3 and past the park’s northern edge, and eastward past housing estates of spacious semi-detached homes.
A long line of trees separates the park from the busy road, the lights of passing motorists shining through at sunset.
There used to be more trees than there are now. And that, some residents have said, made it quieter – or at least feel that way.
In January, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII)– the state agency in charge of the primary and secondary road network – cut some trees down, said Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Donnelly.
After that, residents contacted her to complain about the noise from the N3, Donnelly said at the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart/Castleknock/Ongar Area Committee meeting on 7 March.
Environmental noise from the N3 next to Littlepace Park reaches more than 80 decibels, according to Fingal County Council’s Strategic Noise Map.
Meanwhile, traffic noise as it travels across the park is between 55 and 60 decibels.
Exposure to noise levels above 50 decibels in the daytime can cause health problems, says the Dublin Noise Action Plan 2018 to 2023. It can contribute to heart disease, sleep disturbance and high annoyance.
The trees that were removed at Littlepace don’t dampen the noise of traffic to any great extent, John Daly, a senior engineer with the council told the area meeting.
But, Donnelly said they do have a limited effect. “And I think that’s what made people take a lot more notice of the noise that they’re listening to on a daily basis.”
Donnelly asked if Fingal County Council could carry out a survey of the noise, and look at more measures to tamp it down.
But Daly said it wasn’t worth it, as there is a disagreement with TII over who is responsible for mitigating noise around the TII-managed road.
A spokesperson for TII did not respond when asked to clarify who is responsible for noise mitigation on the N3.
Is it noisier?
TII had decided it needed to trim vegetation along this stretch of the N3 back in 2022, wrote Alban Mills, TII’s senior regulatory and administration executive, in a report to Donnelly.
TII gave a few reasons why. Overgrown branches could be dangerous if they fell on the road, safety barriers needed to be clear – and some trees were dead or dying, said Mills.
Needing to remove trees is understandable given their condition, said Donnelly, on Monday evening.
Still though, after that, residents started to reach out to her because it was noisier around them, the councillor said.
“There is a bit of debate around how much foliage and trees do actually diminish these levels,” she said.
At the 7 March meeting, John Daly, a council senior engineer, said the trees don’t dampen the sound of traffic to any noticeable extent.
“If you go out and measure noise before and after tree cutting, there’s very little difference,” he said.
But, relaying the opinion of Kevin Halpenny, the council’s senior parks superintendent, Daly said their removal can affect perceptions of noise.
“People see the noise source and go ‘Oh, it’s noisy.’ But measured noise isn’t any different to what it is before,” he said.
Who’s in charge?
Whether it is now noisier or not, it is definitely noisy. The N3 is one of Dublin’s main arterial roads.
TII had previously put in a timber barrier for soundproofing, and laid stone mastic asphalt on the road as a mitigation measure, said Fine Gael Councillor Kieran Dennison, on Tuesday. “That does reduce the noise,” he said.
This asphalt can dampen traffic noise by up to five decibels, compared to older asphalts, said John Daly, the council senior engineer.
In his report, written in response to Donnelly’s motion, Daly said no one disputes that the N3 is noisy.
Council maps make it clear that the road is loud near Littlepace, Daly said. “There is no need to undertake noise monitoring to establish this fact.”
Fingal County Council and TII, however, disagree over who is responsible for noise mitigation on TII-managed roads, including the N3, said Daly in his report.
It might be better to write to the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, because writing to the TII could be a waste of time, Daly said. “We have been in discussions with TII and we haven’t got anywhere.”
TII will deal with noise where it’s their legal responsibility, said Daly, and they’ve told the council that this isn’t. “It’s for noise action planning authorities under the Environmental Noise Directive.”
But that directive doesn’t impose any obligations on anybody, he said. “It says you take actions within your sphere of competence.”
Fingal County Council does not maintain the surface on the N3, he said. “Its contract is handed over to TII, and their contract maintains it.”
Nor is the council in a position to fund any such noise-dampening works, he said.
What can be done?
TII has noise barriers in place, Daly told the council. “They haven’t examined them in detail. Maybe they can be enhanced.”
Donnelly said it would be great if the council could look at those, while acknowledging Daly’s frustration at the council’s limits. “We have noise mapping, we have a noise action plan, but what can we do with it? It’s like a shrug of the shoulders with the TII, but what can we in Fingal do?”
Measuring noise levels might still give the council some ammunition when approaching the TII, she said.
Daly said that one noise-monitoring point wouldn’t drive investment. “It’s the calculation over a wide area of the number of people highly annoyed that is going to drive the argument to invest in noise mitigation.”
In his written report, Daly said that TII hadn’t committed to any noise mitigation scheme so there was little point in spending money to measure the noise.
But if an N3 (M50 to Meath) road scheme, which is planned by Fingal County Council in partnership with Meath County Council and TII, is to proceed, that would require an Environmental Impact Assessment, and likely include noise measurements, the report says.
This road scheme, which covers part of the N3 between the M50 and Clonee in Meath, aims to improve access to public transport, and cut congestion, says a Fingal Council Council brochure from May 2021.
The council lodged an application with An Bord Pleanála in July 2021. But consultation around that is ongoing, says the board’s website.
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said while funding has been made available to speed up the public transport and active travel elements of this upgrade, the project is only at the preliminary stage.
No design works have been undertaken yet, they said. “Any proposed scheme on the N3 would be subject to an environmental impact assessment report and noise would form one of the assessment areas.”