Noise action planning

Stage 4

The city of Wolfsburg must update the noise action plan for road noise every five years in accordance with the "Directive on the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise 2002/49/EC" (EU Environmental Noise Directive, ULR).

It is based on the latest noise mapping data from the state of Lower Saxony from 2023. Public participation by citizens took place from 13.11.2023 - 13.12.2023 and 15.03.2024 - 15.04.2024 and the noise action plan was adopted by Wolfsburg City Council on 05.06.2024. The results of the action plan are published on the City of Wolfsburg's website.

The noise maps or action plans do not create a legal entitlement to noise protection measures.

The noise action plan and the noise mapping can be viewed at the following link.

The state of Lower Saxony is responsible for noise mapping. These noise maps serve the affected municipalities as a basis for noise action planning.

The 34th BImSchV (Noise Mapping Ordinance) defines the procedure for creating noise maps and forwarding them to the EU. At the same time, the ordinance requires noise maps to be disseminated in a comprehensible and easily accessible format to inform the public. For this reason, the state of Lower Saxony makes noise maps available to the public and local authorities via the Internet. It is thus possible to create maps (section, information level, etc.) and then download or print them as a document. Online help is available to assist you in using the map server. The noise maps for Stage 4 of the EU Environmental Noise Directive were updated in June 2023.

Background

A noise action plan is an environmental planning instrument with the aim of drawing up an up-to-date inventory of noise pollution with the participation of the public and on the basis of environmental noise mapping, thus helping to reduce environmental noise pollution in the long term. A noise action plan thus provides a source of information for citizens and a planning basis for cities, municipalities and other decision-makers.
Until 2015, noise action planning for railroads was carried out by the authorities responsible under state law. On January 1, 2015, responsibility for noise action planning on the main federal railroad lines was transferred to the EBA.
Since 2018, the Federal Railway Authority has been carrying out nationwide noise action planning on the main federal railroad lines every five years in accordance with the relevant legal requirements and is also involved in the noise action planning of the conurbations.

Further procedure

On November 20, 2023, the Federal Railway Authority publishes the draft of the Noise Action Plan for Federal Railways and the second phase of public participation in Round 4 begins.
Citizens can participate via the participation platform at www.laermaktionsplanung-schiene.de