ROAD USER COST STUDY IN INDIA

The total transportation cost is composed of the cost of construction of the facility, the cost of maintaining it and the cost borne by the road users who use the facility. The road user cost is composed of the cost of operation of vehicles, the cost of road accidents and the value of time of road users. The paper describes a research study recently completed by the Central Road Research Institute on the road user cost. The relationships between the components of the road user cost and road, traffic and vehicle factors were developed on the basis of large-scale data collection. The use of latest instruments rendered the work easier. The work also covered research on speed-flow relationships under Indian conditions. The results of the study show how, by improving roads, savings in road user cost can be made. The results are likely to find wide application by highway engineers and planners. (TRRL)