Bradford, PA Noise Levels
Is Bradford, PA noisy?
Bradford, PA's 70-79.9 dB(A) band spans one of HUD's zone boundaries, so the honest answer is a range: somewhere between "Normally Unacceptable" (65-75 dB(A)) and "Unacceptable" (above 75 dB(A)), not one clean verdict. Road traffic drives that number here, not the other two sources. That's the reading at Bradford's Census-defined center point, not any one street, BTS's map is a live raster, not a per-address service.
Bradford's noise, by source
Each of the three transportation modes gets its own model from BTS; the combined figure above is what they add up to.
What this means for a house here
That also clears FHWA's own 66 dB(A) impact threshold for residential land use (23 CFR 772, Table 1), the level highway agencies use to decide whether a new road needs a sound wall. Upgraded windows, door seals and STC-rated glazing meaningfully cut broadband, near-continuous road noise.
Where Bradford ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Bradford ranks 38, loudest first. About 7,538 people live there, making it the 3,869th largest place in this dataset.
Your street may differ from Bradford's reading
This page describes Bradford as a whole. If one specific address is what matters, BTS publishes the same underlying map for free.
Behind Bradford's reading
The methodology guide shows exactly how Bradford's reading was built from BTS's tile data. Since road traffic is what's driving this reading, the guide to what actually cuts each kind of noise covers the fix that fits.