Houses near A Roads...how close is too close?!

[Greenlife1]

Hello

I have been a regular poster of late so apologies if you are bored with my questions....BUT

To cut a long story short..... How much does topography (houses versus fields) impact road noise??!!!!

Anyone live "on" an A road? Would you buy near an A road??!

We can get a lot of noise (wind dependent!) where we live due to a busy A Road and yet we are a good mile or more away- however google earth has shown me that it is pretty much fields between our house and the road. We are looking to buy and a couple of the properties on the market are closer to the very same A road. As in about a half mile/ mile away BUT the area in between is very built up... will this make a difference?

I can accept a bit of noise because I think its the price you pay for being well connected but I hate constant droning of traffic in my garden.

I would really appreciate thoughts :)

I would never buy near an A road. Even a B road is iffy for me but we are very rural. It's not so much noise as fumes that would concern me although I would hate to be able to hear constant traffic. My grandparents loved about 2 miles from the A1 and you could hear it if the wind was blowing that way

Depends on the road. We live on one but the noise is not consistent through the day and little at night whereas a dual carriageway would be a constant level at higher speeds. It also depends on relative levels (cuttings muffle it more than level or embankments), trees and hedges between, road surface and type of traffic.

We live in a house a little set back from an A road. Apart from peak times, there's not too much traffic. And in all honesty, with good double glazing, we don't notice the noise anyway. Obviously it depends on your view about pollution though. It was the compromise on an otherwise perfect house, and we've never regretted it.

My PIL live in a village just off the A14, they're probably a mile away with a golf course and half a village between them and the road. You can hear the traffic if the wind is in the right direction and you listen for it. If there's any cars closer by they drown out the noise and I've never noticed it in their house or garden.

I live on an A road and purposefully chose the back bedroom as mine so I didn't have to listen to it at night. I only really notice emergency service vehicles going past. Mostly at night it's just the odd car. It doesn't bother me.

However, I would never let DS play out at the front even though there's a decent sized garden and I won't let him call for friends along our road without me. I know other kids his age that get to play out alone as they're in cul de sacs. It's not something I considered when we moved in as he was a baby.

Landscape/ topography/ buildings will all make a difference. All you can do is visit road house is on a few times at different times of day/ weather conditions stand outside and listen! Although in summer it may be quieter as trees will be in leaf.
We live about 2 miles away from a dual carriageway in countryside so surrounded by fields and we can hear the A road from our garden. Motorbikes are my pet hate so bloody noisy and anti social!!
I definitely wouldn't want to live right next to an A road.

I live on a cul-de-sac off an A road, probably about 100m from the road. I can’t say we really hear that road noise but if the wind is blowing certain ways then we hear the motorway which is about a mile away. Don’t really notice in the garden but more at night when it’s quiet.

We can get a lot of noise (wind dependent!) where we live due to a busy A Road and yet we are a good mile or more away
My Gran lived a few miles away from an A road. You could hear the traffic because ... there was nothing else to hear. If you lived in central London you wouldn't know what was happening in the next street because it would get lost in the general hum.
I can hear the farmer calling his cows in, a mile away.

I hate constant droning of traffic in my garden.
Could be worse: imagine living next to a set of traffic lights with the intermittent stop/start of engines. You can zone out a constant noise.

We live on an A road, it's an acquired taste.
Good points, loads of buses, close to the town centre, cheaper house prices. Bad points, no windows open at night, don't know the neighbours opposite very well, parking is not super easy, more pollution.
The noise was bad at first because we weren't used to it and the cheap double glazing had gaps in it, but with triple glazing you just hear a dull rumble most of the time.

I live beside an A road, in a little cottage, totally on its own, only the kitchen and 1 bedroom face it, it can be quite comforting at times as it is very rural, just fields to my left and right and behind me, and I have my back bedroom windows open at night as the lull in traffic noise is quite considerable. In fact, if I can't hear it, then there is something wrong. My road is straight and fast, so no gear changing or up hill straining of engines, no engine idling. The only noise that penetrates my brain are those buzzy farty little moped things!

I have a high clay bund, and trees between the house and the road, and personally I don't think it makes a jot of difference to the noise.

Give me my road, versus some of the horror stories on MN in relation to terrible neighbours. I hear no children screaming, loud music, people rowing, stinky bbq's, dogs barking, parking issues... But yes it is a bit loud in the garden at 7-9am and 4-7pm.

My parental home was within about 60 metres of an A road, with another house/garden nearer the road.

As a child I don't remember there being that much road noise, but now I notice it - though only when in the garden. I certainly wouldn't want to live directly on an A-road for reasons of noise and pollution - and think the above sort of distance down a side road would be the minimum separation I would prefer.

We have an A road and train line behind our house. It's not a crazy busy one, but there is constant road noise.
It doesn't bother me at all. I like that it means noone can ever live behind us, so our garden is very private.
As long as noone is playing their shit music anywhere near me, I'm happy!

Hmm have viewed and offered on a house on an A road..obviously didn't put me off it.
It was a compromise...a good area and larger house on a slightly busy road vs quiet road and smaller house.