A Spanish study assures that the poor state of the road increases the consumption and emissions of cars

Improving road surface conditions makes journeys more comfortable and safer while also helping to save fuel and reduce pollution. This is shown by a study carried out by the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the Land Transport Infrastructure Society (SEITT) and Xouba Ingeniería. The work focused on sections of the M-50 motorway in Madrid that were rehabilitated. The results are clear, as a 27% improvement in the smoothness of the pavement led to an average 10% reduction in fuel consumption and_CO2 emissions, even if the cars were driving a little faster. According to David Llopis-Castelló, lead author of the study, if these results are applied to real traffic on the M-50, the rehabilitated sections could generate savings of more than 5.5 million litres of fuel and 15,000 tonnes of_CO2 per year, equivalent to the emissions of around 5,500 cars. This represents a daily saving of 540 litres of fuel and 1.42 tonnes of_CO2 per kilometre of rehabilitated road.

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