Undertaking the research for this second edition has allowed us to revisit
many of those people whose help and advice proved so valuable when writing
the first edition. Travelling to see new barriers inevitably took us past old
friends and allowed us to see how well these structures had stood the test of
time. Once again we were struck by the wide discrepancy of provision from
country to country. European countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland,
Austria and Italy continue to build substantial barriers to enhance the living
conditions of their populations living near major roads, while, further afield,
Australia is also creating some impressive barriers. Curiously, it is not always
the poorer countries that fail to invest in good barriers to achieve acceptable
environments, and for some unknown reason some countries simply lack the
political will to invest in noise mitigation on behalf of their people.
Our travels allowed us to view many of those barriers that had made the
greatest impression on us a decade ago. These continue to work well acoustically,
but we were surprised to see how dated the more elaborate designs
looked after ten years’ service. It was often the simpler designs which
appeared to fit into the current landscape better. Sadly, the ravages of time
and graffitists have all too often taken their toll and this reinforced our
opinion that, as with any built structure, barriers need occasional cleaning
and maintenance. Planting is still considered important in barrier integration
and is still one of the best ways of deterring graffiti.