Gas Prices & Toll Roads

One day last week on the way to Jintang Primary School, we stopped for gasoline. There were three grades: 90, 93 and 97. Bob, the YMCA driver, purchased #93 gasoline for 5.05 Yuan per liter. Since one gallon equals 3.7854118 liters and one US dollar equals 7.87690 Yuan, my calculation is that Bob paid US$2.43 per gallon for the gasoline.

Going from Chengdu to Jintang each Tuesday and Thursday, we travel on two toll roads. The Chengnan Expressway is a six-lane divided, limited access super highway. The center divider is landscaped with shrubs tall enough to keep the lights from oncoming cars and trucks from hitting you in the eye at night. The landscaping also adds beauty to the highway. All along the expressway are men and women picking up any litter and sweeping any dirt off the road. The expressway is very clean! The speed limits on the expressway are 120 kilometers/hour (or 75 miles/hour) for cars, 100 kilometers/hour (or 62 miles/hour) for buses and 80 kilometers/hour (or 50 miles/hour) for trucks.

The second toll road is four lanes undivided with access like a regular highway. It too has men and women who keep it clean. The outer lanes are mostly used by people walking, on bikes or motorcycles. You would not consider the traffic heavy on either of these roads. Both roads are very well maintained. I don't know the distances we drive on each road but the expressway toll is 10 Yuan and the second toll is 8 Yuan (a total of about US$2.29).