Excessive noisiness belongs among the negative impacts of traffic in Košice upon the environment. Its intensity varies in time, but there is an obvious tendency of the permanent increase in the number of various types of transportation means, and the adverse effect of noisiness upon the environs of transportation routes is permanently increased. On the other hand it should be stated that current cars are less noisy, and the wagon fleet of the Transportation Enterprise of the Košice Municipality is being gradually renewed, where the new means of transportation have much quieter operation.

However, no measurements of current noise level have been carried out in the territory of the City of Košice. Measurements of noise, which were carried out in 1985 at 161 stations located on main communication lines and frequent streets, have shown that 60% of inhabitants of the city were affected by excessive noise at that time.

Further measurements of noise were carried out in 1988 at 23 stations along municipal roads, where noisiness exceeded the allowed standard values in a range from 10 to 30 dB, and 65% of inhabitants were exposed to excessive noise. In 1989 the Hygienic Station selected 29 stands, where standard values were also exceeded from 10 to 20 dB.

Since that period, no measurements of noise on the city’s communication network have been carried out. Only partial measurements of noisiness are carried out based on requests of inhabitants, who are troubled with excessive noise arising from automobile transport. On the basis of measured admissible values, actions are taken in order to reduce noise effects.

The Barca Airport is near to the built-up area, which operated both civil and military units, and affected the southern district of the city with excessive noise. The ”Study of Noise in the neighbourhood of the Košice Airport with Mixed Operation” was elaborated in 1982. The result of this study is the noise map (see annex), which says about excessive noise over the built-up area of a part of the city. The study had selected monitoring points, where noisiness caused by flights should be monitored. Nowadays, the airport operates minimum flights without the military component, therefore the southern district of the city is not affected by this type of noisiness.

The creation of suitable conditions for individual transportation using bicycles is very neglected in the city.