Autostrade per l'Italia has developed the Noise Abatement and Containment Plan (PCAR), in compliance with Framework Law 447/1995 and subsequent implementation decrees, and is performing anti-noise interventions throughout the network, involving 14 regions and over 700 municipalities.
The Plan has been divided into operational macro-interventions, whose order is defined by a national ranking, drawn up on the basis of a noise priority index that is exclusively linked to noise levels and the population exposed.
The Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea approved Autostrade's PCAR by decree GAB-DEC-0000034 of 11/03/2011, introducing the implementation of the Plan in sections.
Finally, the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea approved the scheduling of the interventions of the second and third parts of the Plan by decree 0000157 of 15/06/2017.
The sizing of the Noise Reduction Interventions in the Plan is the result of a preliminary study aimed at defining intervention priorities, planning the works and defining Autostrade per l'Italia's financial plan. During implementation, detailed acoustic designs are developed; they may differ from the approved Plan following careful characterisation of the acoustic environment of specific sections. The final designs, which are developed on the basis of the detailed acoustic designs, are approved by all the Authorities also following the participation of the citizens concerned.
By the end of 2022, 272 km of acoustic barriers have been constructed as part of the PCAR, and a further 349 km will be built in the coming years.
At the same time, Autostrade per l'Italia is proceeding with the modernisation of a further 110 km of integrated-type acoustic barriers (safety-acoustic barriers), in order to improve safety standards and at the same time provide for the recovery of the noise panels at maximum acoustic performance.
