This document provides an overview of road transport and infrastructure in India. It discusses key statistics such as India having the second largest road network in the world. It also summarizes factors that have contributed to rapid growth in vehicle ownership such as economic development and availability of financing. While public transport accounts for 18% of commuting, dependence on private vehicles is rising due to issues with cleanliness, speed and flexibility of public options. Major initiatives to upgrade national highways are outlined as well.

1. Road Safety Management
Audit Course I
Subject Teacher: Prof. S.P. Harkal

2. Unit 1
Existing RoadTransport Scenario
Introduction, national & international statistics related to road
transport. Factors responsible for increase in vehicle growth. Share
of public transport: importance and current scenario (national &
international)

3. Introduction
Transport System in
India comprises
distinct modes such
as
• Road
• Rail
• Civil Aviation
• Coastal Shipping
• Inland Water Transport
Freight Traffic Share
Passenger Traffic Share

4. NATIONALHIGHWAYS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT(NHDP)
• The National Highways have a total length of 79,243 km to serve as
the arterial network of the country.
• The development of National Highways is the responsibility of the
Government of India.
• The Government of India has launched major initiatives to upgrade
and strengthen National Highways through various phases of National
Highways Development project (NHDP).

5. National & International statistics related to
road transport.
Road transport in India – statistics(National)
• As of year 2020, India had around 4.7 million kilometers of
roads, making it the third largest road network in the world, after the
U.S. and China.
• But in 2022, India become second largest road network country with
6.3 million kilometers of roads.

6. • Adjusted for its large population, India has approximately 5.13
kilometres of roads per 1,000 people, which is much lower than
United States 20.5 kilometres but higher than that of China 3.6
kilometres.
• India's road network carries over 71 percent of its freight and about
85 percent of passenger traffic.
• Since the 1990s, major efforts have been underway to modernize the
country's road infrastructure.
• According to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, as of March
2021, India had about 151,019 kilometres of national highways and
expressways, plus another 186,528 kilometres of state highways.

7. • The following table shows the total length of India's road network by
type of road and administering authority as of 31 ,March 2020.
Category Managing Authority Length (km) Length share
National highways
Ministry of Road Transport
and Highways
151,000[3] 2.19%
State highways
Public works department of
state/union territory
186,528 3.00%
District Roads
Public works department of
state/union territory
632,154 10.17%
Rural roads Panchayats and PMGSY 4,535,511 72.97%
Urban roads
Municipal corporations and
municipalities
544,683 8.76%
Project roads
Various government
departments of states/union
territories,
and SAIL, NMDC and BRO
354,921 5.70%
Total Total roadways 6,215,797 100%

8. National highways
• National highways in India reached over 136 thousand kilometers in financial
year 2021. Even though this figure makes up for around two percent of the
country’s total road network, it is responsible for about 40 percent of the road
traffic. This includes over 30 percent of total road accidents and almost 36
percent of road accidents related deaths in the country. Noticeably, national
highways in India are at-grade roads, meaning, that access to them is not
controlled. Conversely, the highest class of roads in India with controlled access
were expressways, which amounted to around two thousand kilometers of roads
across the country at the end of 2021.

9. State Highways
• In India, this is the network of roads maintained by the state
governments. These roads are constructed and managed by the
states' Public Works Department. The state highways are usually
roads that link important cities, towns and district headquarters within
the state and connect them with National Highways or state highways
of neighboring states.
• As of 31 March 2016, the total length of state highways was
176,166 km. As of 31 March 2016, Maharashtra had the largest share
in the total length of SH roads (22.14%), followed by Karnataka
(11.11%), Gujarat (9.76%), Rajasthan (8.62%) and Tamil Nadu
(6.67%).

10. International Stats about Road Transport
World comprises of total 64,285,009 km long network of roads
• Out of which USA has a road network of 6,803,479km with a density of
64km/100km2
• India has a road network of 6,371,847 km with a density of
194km/100km2
• With 5,198,000 km road network China has third largest road network in
the world. The density of road network is 54km/100km2
• Brazil has fourth largest road network worth of 2000000 km with a
density of 23km/100km2

11. Vehicle growth in India
• The growth of vehicles has been much faster than that of the
population.
• The number of registered vehicles increased from 55 million in 2001
to 142 million by 2011, with a currently-estimated 195.6 million in
2016.
• 75% of these registered vehicles (147 million) are motorcycles.
• Furthermore, the physical infrastructure hasn’t been able to keep
pace with the growth in demand.

12. • The urban road length has increased from 252,001km in 2001 to
411,840km by 2011. In the last decade registered vehicles per million
population has increased by 219% while urban road infrastructure per
million only increased by 124%.
• This rapid motorization has led to severe congestion, longer journeys
and higher per capita trips.
• Indian roads are also popular for heterogeneity of vehicles sharing the
same road space.
• There are around 32 different vehicle types in India such as bicycles,
cycle-rickshaws, auto-rickshaws (‘tuk-tuk’), motorcycles, cars, buses
and trucks.

13. Factors responsible for increase in vehicle growth
Since Independence, there has been continuous growth in the Indian
economy which led to huge rise in a privileged middle class thus providing
a broad market base for auto-mobile industry.
Some of other factors which are responsible for high growth in India are:
1) The fuel prices are subsidized in India to make them affordable although
the objective is different
2) Prices of automobiles are affordable compared to daily travel expenses
even when the traversing distance is not much high
3) With majority of population between 18 and 60 years, there is an
inclination towards buying automobiles
4) Lack of affordable & effective mass transit systems mainly in
metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities

14. 5. Extensive exemptions given for manufacturing industries in India in the
form of SEZs etc.
6. High availability of technical workforce at lower wages compared to
other countries
7. Financial Inclusion initiatives and vehicular loans from banks also helped
8. FDI limit being 100% helped a lot in the boom of sector along with
infrastructure facilities
• Several factors can be held responsible for growth of auto-mobile sector in
India to the extent of exporting auto-mobiles to other countries. The
initiatives of Government of India have been supporting the automobile
sector and thus facilitate its continuous growth in the past 5 decades.
Recently initiatives like Make in India are also trying to provide impetus
for higher growth path for the auto-mobile industry as a part of
manufacturing.

15. Public Transport
• Whenever you walk or drive by a road you see various other vehicles
running besides you, carrying numerous passengers at a time. These
vehicles constitute the public transport of a city or any locality.
• As the name itself, Public Transport is easily accessible to the general
public.
• It includes vehicles like, autos, taxis, buses, trams, metro rails, trains
etc. These public transport facilities are shared by everyone without
any discrimination.
• It can carry numerous people from one point to the other, at a time.
• Public transport existed from the old time.

16. • Public transport is usually managed by the government or by private
organizations.
• In some countries public transport is managed by private
organizations and at some places it is government-owned.
• In countries like India public transport is owned and managed by the
government and charged minimally so that it is affordable to the
common people

17. Share of public transport
• The share of public transport is decreasing in India.
• The federal government has recently published the results of the
mode of transport people take to commute to work for the latest
Census 2011 data in March 2016.
• According to the survey more than 50% of the workforce (excluding
domestic and agriculture) continue to work at home or travel to their
workplace by foot in the absence of adequate transport facilities.
• Citizens are largely dependent on private transport.
• The share of public transport is just 18.1% of work trips.

18. • The data indicates that there is lack of public transportation facilities
and citizens are largely dependent on private modes of transport, such
as bicycles (26.3 million) and motorcycles (25.4 million) in rural and
urban India.
• More people use motorcycles than travel by bus (22.9 million).
• In 2015 the number of daily trips using a motorcycle for commuting
was 35 million (excluding personal trips); this is based on the
increase in vehicle registration.

19. What are the benefits of using public
transport?
• Public transport is beneficial to your overall health and also has
positive effects on the environment.
• Walking to and from public transport is a great form of extra physical
activity into your routine.
• Public transport is cheaper than travelling in your own vehicle. It can
also reduce the cost of maintaining your vehicles.
• As Public transport will increase, private vehicles will reduce and
thus it will control the pollution caused by the number of individual
vehicles.

20. Why do people nowadays opt for
their own vehicle?
• Public Transport offers a number of facilities and are the easiest way
to travel though people usually prefer private ones because of the
following reasons.
• Public transport systems do not maintain proper hygiene.
• Public transport can be slower than the private one because of the
prescribed speed limits.
• Public transportation stops at a fixed destination so the passenger has
to look for additional means to reach their destination.

21. • Public transport has fixed schedules which is inconvenient for some
travellers.
• Public transport is crowded and personal space may not be available.
• Most vehicles are not modified to suit people with disabilities and
also for senior citizens.
• Long waiting hours.

22. Thank You