Transportation noise and recreational lands

An active and widely distributed transportation system is virtually a requirement for and a hallmark of countries that have a vigorous economy. As this conference demonstrates, one of the products of such a system is noise, and it is most certainly true that the prevalent type of noise experienced by the populations of these countries is the noise produced by transportation vehicles. A further result is that the sounds of transportation vehicles can be heard almost everywhere. The question addressed by this plenary lecture is: do these countries that value and use multiple types of transportation vehicles and systems also wish to preserve opportunities for their populations to experience natural outdoor environments that are essentially free of human produced sounds? The combination of technical complexities and political challenge may make such a preservation goal unachievable.