Waterloo Region residents have been vindicated by a simple phone app after a complicated computer noise model failed to recognize real-life noise.
Staff used a phone app to assess the noise and determined that vehicles with modified mufflers are to blame.
At a Waterloo Region Council meeting in early June, Kitchener residents living near Highland Road West, raised concerns about noise following the expansion of Highland Road. At that time, Council requested information and staff presented their findings at the Regional Council meeting on June 19.
Doug Spooner, the Acting Commissioner of Transportation Services for the Region, reported back to Council, explaining he went to the impacted neighbourhood and tested the noise with an app on his phone.
Spooner discovered excessive noise caused by disruptive peak noises generated by vehicles with modified mufflers or exhausts and recommended regulatory measures.
