Sunday, July 17, 2011

The unique retaining/acoustic walls explained

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Readers were so interested in Begin Expressway's unique acoustic walls that appeared in yesterday's post (in my photo facing the opposite direction from this photo by the builders).
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So I kept digging and finally found some answers to your questions.
The Gash website has close-ups of the combined retaining/acoustic walls. Take a look.
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The engineers explain:

Begin Road connects Jerusalem's entrance coming from 443 highway and its south-west neighborhoods.
Gash engineers designed a three-span bridge and acoustic walls with unique architectural cross-sections.
Acoustic barrier semi-roofing shape

The height of the wall and its shape was determined by taking under consideration an acoustic defense line at the edge of the traffic lanes instead of at the margins of the road as usual. As a result the wall's height was lowered from 12-13 meters to 8.5 meters.
Its arch shape was developed in order to reflect the noise sound back to the road.
The structure consists of modules of projecting beams covered with arch-shaped membranes made of 8 cm concrete. The beams also support prefabricated plated serves as a retaining wall for the back landscape's filling.
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7 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking the time to find the answers, Dina.

    Interesting.

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  2. Very good for the neighborhood. I wish they had these in Los Angeles. (Oh I forgot! There is no money left).

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  3. Great shot. I like the geometrical aspect. Thank you for the information

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  4. How interesting!

    And Nadege, very funny (ruefully so!). I walked near the freeway in Pasadena last night and wondered if I'd know it was there if I couldn't hear it. It's such a powerful force that I think I'd feel it at least. But the sound is really something, a detriment to the surrounding neighborhood.

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  5. Eine wirklich interessante Form, wenn sie dann noch wirkungsvoll den Lärm eindämmen um so besser.
    Grüße aus Berlin,
    Uwe-Jens

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  6. How fascinating. I suppose they work? They look quite attractive. But it must be very noisy on the road with all the sound bouncing around, even if it's quiet elsewhere.

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  7. This is really wonderful. A lot of places could use something like this. I can hear traffic from my window and we're pretty far from the highway.

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