Noise barrier cost calculator

This calculator provides an estimate of the supply and installation costs of noise barriers, intended for use when comparing mitigation options during an assessment under NZS 6806. More accurate estimations should be made by specialists when required for project costing purposes.

NZS 6806:2010 Acoustics – road-traffic noise – new and altered roads(external link)

If noise barriers are erected as a standalone project (for example, when retrofitting noise walls) there will be additional project costs that exceed these supply and installation costs. For example, additional costs may include: design and project management, modifications to existing safety barriers and stormwater systems affected by the noise walls, addressing contaminated land issues, planting requirements and traffic management. Maintenance costs associated with noise barriers should also be considered for project costing purposes.

This tool provides an estimate of supply and installation costs for different noise barrier types based on information set out in Technical Memorandum NV7.

Technical memorandum: Noise and vibration no.7 – Noise mitigation costs (2016)

These values should only be used for initial cost assessments, and should be updated to take account of inflation from the base year (2015). This tool does not provide any guidance as to the suitability of a particular noise barrier in a given location (for example, wind loading or slope stability issues), or whether the noise barrier will meet acoustics performance requirements. Reference should be made to the State highway noise barrier design guide. In addition to the standard terms and conditions for use of this website, Waka Kotahi does not accept any responsibility or liability whatsoever, whether in contract, tort, equity or otherwise, for any action taken as a result of reliance placed on this tool, or for any error, inadequacy, deficiency, flaw in or omission in the tool.

State highway noise barrier design guide

The type of barrier should be selected on the ‘type’ tab, and then details of the barrier entered on the ‘geometry’ tab. A PDF of the inputs and result can be generated on the ‘Export’ tab. The PDF file will also contain a link to reopen the calculation at a later date. Help text is available for a number of elements by clicking on the (?) symbols.

Indicative construction costs for the most common types of New Zealand noise barriers are provided in NZS 6806 and the noise barrier design guide.

However, those values have been found to underestimate the actual costs for installing barriers that meet the current specifications (P40:2014), so updated indicative barrier costs (2015) have been provided in the Technical Memorandum NV7.

P40 Noise mitigation specification

The following table shows actual barrier costs from some of our projects. These generally include supply and installation, in some instances design costs could not be separated. The reference values in the cost calculator are taken from Technical Memorandum NV7 and are generally consistent with these actual costs.

Project/location	Year	Material	Indicative cost/unit	Unit
Hobsonville deviation	2011	Timber (3 metres high)	$600	Linear metre
Maioro Street interchange	2011	Engineered plywood (3 metres high)	$1000	Linear metre
Maioro Street interchange	2011	Concrete (3 metres high)	$1100	Linear metre
Takanini and Otahuhu	2011	Concrete (2.4 to 3.6 metres high)	$900	Linear metre
Kamo Bypass	2011	Concrete (1.8 metres high)	$480	Linear metre
Walmsley Road	2011	Concrete (1.5 to 3.5 metres high)	$2000	Linear metre
Victoria Park Tunnel	2012	Acrylic (5 metres high)	$6000	Linear metre
St Lukes	2016	Concrete (2 to 5 metres high)	$3190	Linear metre
Southern Corridor Improvements	2017	Concrete (2.5 to 3.5 metres high)	$1060	Linear metre
Ellerslie Noise Walls	2017	Concrete (3 metres high – piled foundation)	$1590	Linear metre
Ellerslie Noise Walls	2017	Concrete (3 metres high – strip foundation)	$2600	Linear metre

For further information contact environment@nzta.govt.nz.

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