Street noise in attic apartment / penthouse

Hello everyone, we are looking at a very spacious attic apartment/penthouse on the 3rd floor of a multi-family house, which we can almost fully design ourselves thanks to the early project stage. However, we have a problem where we hopefully can count on your extensive experience: The building is located directly on a busy village street. The architect does not see this as a problem, for the following reasons:

[*]As part of the renovation of the nearby village square, the street will be covered with a noise-reducing surface. This should absorb most of the rolling noise. [*]The street will be downgraded from a cantonal to a municipal street and turned into a 30 km/h zone. [*]He further argues with the sound cone. Since the house stands so close to the street, the sound of the cars goes directly upwards. We practically only hear something when we lean over the railing.

In theory, these are all good arguments. But does any of you have concrete experience with such a situation? We are worried that we will dine or lie on this spacious terrace and be constantly surrounded by street noise. Clearly, you will hear a motorcycle now and then, but what about regular street traffic? Many thanks for your help! Regards, Stefan

I lived on a main road... the sound cone argument is nonsense, you hear it as if you were standing on the street...

I live in the attic of a 3-story house, and the street noise is clearly more audible upstairs than downstairs in the ground floor where my mother lives. It’s probably due to the neighboring buildings that carry the sound upwards. So what does the neighboring development look like where you live?

Inside, one can remedy the situation with an appropriate wall structure, windows, etc. Outside, plants and so on... If the location, etc. is suitable, I would go for it.

Yeah, I also once lived on the 2nd floor next to a 30 km/h street. It was actually louder upstairs than downstairs. I think that was mainly due to the vegetation that helped downstairs. Normal cars were not disturbing. What was really annoying were motorcycles; a ban would have been good back then. Agricultural machinery wasn’t much quieter either, but people are more understanding of that. I would agree with the others. If you consider yourself quite sensitive to street noise, the apartment is not for you. I would describe myself as (acoustically) insensitive and would generally accept such an apartment if everything else fits. However, at that time there were also very young children involved, so the nerves of those involved were a bit less resilient.

If [now already sensitive to noises], that is usually in older age = do not buy!

That is the dilemma of the city and urban densification. Older people want to downsize and move to the city at some point. They gladly accept the conveniences (everything reachable on foot, doctor etc. all there) but do not like the disadvantages (city is louder, apartments have children etc.)

We live in a dead-end street, all new and moved in. A mix of well-off retirees, commuters, and families with children. We always have a "generation conflict." In the village, the retirees had midday rest in their houses and were isolated. That does not exist in our city! Children are not supposed to play in the dead-end street, and you should not mow the lawn at midday.

No one considers others anymore :)

I now live on a quiet street. The few cars that still roam around at night are more annoying than the continuous flow of traffic I used to hear in my previous apartment. I had reprogrammed that in my mind to "sound of the sea". I wouldn't rely on Zone 30. Even if one is established, the average speed is still higher.