The Dutch ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management is drawing up new regulations intended to afford citizens better protection from traffic noise. To prevent any further increase in noise nuisance, so-called �noise production ceilings� are to be introduced, the aim of which is to ensure that the amount of noise generated does not just go on increasing, due to autonomous traffic growth, among other things. In addition, the ministry is about to embark on a major �clean-up� operation to address the worst sources of noise pollution. Against the background of this intensification of policy, the ministry commissioned CE Delft to investigate whether the envisaged policy strategy to address the noise issue is optimal from the perspective of both noise nuisance perception and cost-benefit considerations. Based on the results we can conclude, on the one hand, that the proposed policy is robust and economically sound and that from the perception angle it is an im-provement on the old policy. On the other hand, though, we advocate extending its scope to include several other issues, including greater potential for public par-ticipation and similar policy focus and elaboration with respect to noise caused by inner-city traffic.