How bad roads, traffic jams make you spend one-and-half times extra on fuel

A CSIR-CRRI study finds driving a car on bad and crowded roads is burning a big hole in your pocket in Delhi and its suburbs even as a preliminary estimate puts the wastage on fuel expenses at Rs 960 crore a day across India

If you drive a car in Delhi and its suburbs then bad and crowded roads are burning a big hole in your pocket.

Traffic moving slowly on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

An ongoing study on how much fuel is wasted because of potholed roads and bad traffic has found that vehicles travelling on “average”, crowded roads consumed nearly one-and-a-half time more fuel per kilometre compared to “good”, fuel-efficient roads.

The figure is expected to rise to three times during the next phase of the study to be conducted on inferior road stretches.The study, commissioned in May, released its preliminary findings last week involving a Sports Utility Vehicle with a mileage of 10 -12 km/litre.

Subsequent tests will be conducted with small cars and loaded and empty trucks. The findings use a three-tier grading system to assess road conditions. Traffic congestion is also a parameter.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) conducted the study.

It was found that an SUV consumed about 40.25 millilitres of fuel per kilometre when it travelled on the Noida Expressway, considered a good, fuel-efficient road.

The same vehicle consumed about 95.5 millilitres of fuel for every kilometre when travelling from Noida Expressway to Kalindi Kunj and onto Jasola.

The consumption was even higher at 137.2 millilitres per km when the vehicle travelled from Botanical Garden to Kailash Hospital in Noida.

“The initial findings of the study conducted on two road stretches in Delhi have revealed that Delhiites could be consuming at least two-to-three times more fuel because of bad quality roads and traffic conditions,” said Ravindra Kumar, principal scientist of CRRI’s transport and planning division.

“The result is they end up paying more.”

A preliminary estimate puts the wastage across India at Rs 960 crore a day. Although the extra expense incurred by an individual driver might not ring alarm bells, the cumulative wastage would be an added burden on India’s oil imports bill.

The initial study was carried out on more than 600 km of the best roads in Delhi and its suburbs such as the Yamuna Expressway, Delhi Gurgaon Expressway and NH24 to collect the baseline data – the best fuel-efficient roads.

“Now we are driving the same vehicles on various roads of Delhi to find out how much extra fuel they consume,” Kumar said.

“Some of the roads that we have selected are Peeragarhi to Najafgarh, Kalindi Kunj to Jaitpur Extension and Mayur Vihar Ext to Trilok Puri among others.”