Avondale, AZ Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Section 15-11(c)(7), 'Use of vehicle,' is the one numeric decibel provision inside Avondale's otherwise disturbance-based noise ordinance. It is unlawful to operate a motor vehicle or combination of vehicles, under any condition of grade, load, acceleration, or deceleration, in a way that exceeds a set noise limit measured at fifty feet from the center of the lane of travel, within the applicable speed limit. The code splits vehicles into two weight-based categories with separate limits depending on the posted speed limit where the vehicle is operating.

Any motor vehicle with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or more, any combination of vehicles it tows, and any motorcycle other than a motor-driven cycle, is capped at 88 dB(A) where the speed limit is 35 mph or less and 92 dB(A) where the speed limit exceeds 35 mph. Every other motor vehicle and combination it tows is capped lower: 82 dB(A) at 35 mph or less and 86 dB(A) above 35 mph. Because this is a metered standard rather than a subjective-disturbance standard like the radio and pet provisions elsewhere in section 15-11, enforcement turns on an actual sound measurement taken at the fifty-foot reference distance, not on whether a neighbor was annoyed.

This table works alongside, not instead of, the exhaust-modification ban in (c)(5): a vehicle could clear the dB(A) table and still violate the muffler rule, or vice versa, since the two provisions test different things.