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compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 11 per cent compared to CAGR
of 4.2 per cent in the total road length with National Highway segment increasing by
a mere 2.2 percent over the period 1951 and 2008. A noteworthy aspect has been
a step-up in the growth of national highway network in recent years which has
grown at CAGR of 4.1 per cent between 1991 and 2008 while total vehicle
population grew at a CAGR of 10 per cent 1991-2006 (Table-5). Highway capacity
shortages are aggravated by heterogeneity in traffic, encroachment, and frequent
and long halts at check posts.
Period
Table 5: India-Compound Annual Growth Rates in Vehicles and Road Length
Two -
Wheelers
Vehicles (growth in %) Roads (growth in %)
Cars* Buses GVs Others Total NH SH &
OPWD
xviii
Rural Urban +
Project
2008/
1951#
15.2 8.1 6.3 7.5 14.8 10.9 2.2 3.2 4.4 - 4.2
1961/
1951
12.5 6.9 5.3 7.4 26.5 8.1 1.9 4.0 -0.5 - 2.7
1971/
1961
20.7 8.2 5.1 7.4 15.0 10.9 0.0 2.6 6.0 15.9 5.7
1981/
1971
16.3 5.5 5.6 4.9 18.1 11.2 2.9 4.5 5.9 4.3 5.0
1991/
1981
18.4 9.8 7.4 9.4 10.9 14.8 0.6 2.1 7.2 2.5 4.6
2001/
1991
10.5 9.1 6.7 8.1 8.6 9.9 5.5 3.1 4.6 1.8 3.8
2008/
1991#
10.6 9.5 7.6 8.2 7.9 10.0 4.1 2.8 4.0 2.2 3.4
2008/
2001#
10.9 10.3 9.4 8.5 6.4 10.3 2.1 2.3 3.2 2.7 2.9
# Vehicles data available upto March 2006 only, hence, CAGR for vehicles are in r/o the periods
2006/1951 & 2006/1991. * Include jeeps & taxis.
GVs: Goods Vehicles; Others include tractors, trailers; 3 wheelers(passenger)/LMV etc;
NH: National Highways; SH: State Highways; OPWD: Other Public Works Department Roads;
Rural roads include Panchayat Raj Roads and roads under PMGSY & erstwhile JRY.
16. International Comparison of Road Network
16.1 The geographic coverage of India’s highway network at 1.25 km of road
length per square km of land is denser than USA (0.68 km/sq km), and much higher
than that of China (0.36 km/sq. km) and Brazil (0.20 km/ sq. km) (Table 6). In India,
expressways are nearly non-existent while China’s highway network consists of over
45,339 km of four or six lane access controlled expressway linking the major cities.
Besides, the proportion of paved road length in India is just below 50 % and is much
lower compared to Japan, Malaysia, and Republic of Korea.
Total