Delhi is in the grip of a worsening congestion and pollution crisis, according to research carried out by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
An assessment of travel time and speed derived from Google Map – a popular tool to gauge traffic time by residents of Delhi while travelling in the city – shows low traffic speed, near disappearance of non-peak hours, weekends with higher congestion and higher air pollution with lower traffic speed during peak hours.
“If not addressed immediately, Delhi will merely run to stand still,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advocacy, CSE. “This is an inevitable consequence of explosive and unrestrained vehicle numbers that have crossed the mark of 10 million in 2017. The numbers are further inflated by daily influx of vehicles from outside Delhi. With a further drop in car prices under GST, car congestion will only grow.”
Currently, congestion on Delhi roads is growing at 7% annually. About 537 cars and 1,158 two-wheelers are added to the roads every day.
The average traffic speed on 13 arterial roads is 50-60% lower than their design speed and 35-48% lower than the regulated speed of 40-50 km/hour. On main arterial roads there is virtually no difference in time taken to travel between peak and non-peak hours. And weekend traffic speed and congestion is worse than that on weekdays.
“It is another matter that such high speed corridors should not be built through the city,” said Roychowdhury. “As they attract very high traffic volumes, the congestion moderates the speed. Roads need to be designed for lower legal speed inside the city (international best practice is of 30 km/hour) along with other alternatives and car-restraint measure to control traffic volume and improve service level of roads and also reduce accident risk.”
