Bangalore -> Kolkata: Road conditions

[arin_12]

Originally Posted by akroy

Rajat, I endorse Hrishi's view fully specially now when it is in construction mode.

Abhi

Really dont know how many year they will take to finish this construction :(
I also suggest u to re-check the route while crossing Tirupathi. Recently my friends coming from Kolkata lost the route at tirupathi. And also suggest u to keep on eye on few sudden Hump on this road.

[rajatmakar]

Originally Posted by hrag

Do not, I repeat, do not take NH4 (Old Madras Road) when it is dark. Unless you know the road like the back of your hand.

Thanks Hrishi. I get the point.

I will adjust my plan so that I start early and do this stretch during the daylight.

Which means, i will either drive overnight to reach Vizag by morning or halt at Tirupati and proceed next day.

Thanks,
Rajat

[black_panther]

Thanks Roy da and Niks14.

We have a rear facing baby seat. It has been brought from US.

The baby's neck is stiffening. He enjoys sitting in the inclined position.

He is practising sitting on it at home.

My parents will be travelling with us, there'll enough laps to pamper him.

But I'm worried about bad roads and sudden braking.

Will the seat be safer than lap, considering that the baby's neck is still stiffening?

[rajatmakar]

Originally Posted by black_panther

Thanks Roy da and Niks14.
But I'm worried about bad roads and sudden braking.

Will the seat be safer than lap, considering that the baby's neck is still stiffening?

The child seat is many times safer than the lap. Especially when you need to brake hard.

I have faced such situations, where i had required to brake hard while travelling at 80+ speeds. My son could hardly feel anything and was sitting blissfully enjoying the view.

However, it is advisable to do decent speeds even if you have the baby harnessed in child seat.

Rajat

[Niks14]

Originally Posted by black_panther

Thanks Roy da and Niks14.

We have a rear facing baby seat. It has been brought from US.

The baby's neck is stiffening. He enjoys sitting in the inclined position.

He is practising sitting on it at home.

My parents will be travelling with us, there'll enough laps to pamper him.

But I'm worried about bad roads and sudden braking.

Will the seat be safer than lap, considering that the baby's neck is still stiffening?

You can safely put the baby in car seat even if the neck is stiffening. I drove my son home in a car seat from hospital. We have done many long trips with him in car seat. In India it should be easier to manage baby in a car seat. Whenever the baby is getting cranky you can reduce the speed and mother can take the baby in lap to sooth. The best thing is to pull over and sooth the baby. Remember car seat is always safer then lap.

[black_panther]

We drove for around 70 km on the highways today with the baby on the car seat on mixed roads(a few kilometers of terrible roads).

For most of the journey, the baby was sleeping, and once awake he was enjoying and never cried until we reached the destination and took him out of the seat.

A great relief for me. Hope he'll be able to take the 650+ KM a day (mostly on GQ) , that I'm planning in a couple of weeks.

[Niks14]

Originally Posted by black_panther

Thanks Roy da and Niks14.

We have a rear facing baby seat. It has been brought from US.

The baby's neck is stiffening. He enjoys sitting in the inclined position.

He is practising sitting on it at home.

My parents will be travelling with us, there'll enough laps to pamper him.

But I'm worried about bad roads and sudden braking.

Will the seat be safer than lap, considering that the baby's neck is still stiffening?

Originally Posted by black_panther

We drove for around 70 km on the highways today with the baby on the car seat on mixed roads(a few kilometers of terrible roads).

For most of the journey, the baby was sleeping, and once awake he was enjoying and never cried until we reached the destination and took him out of the seat.

A great relief for me. Hope he'll be able to take the 650+ KM a day (mostly on GQ) , that I'm planning in a couple of weeks.

If possible get a good window screen to protect your baby from harsh sun during the day.

[HudsonTKR]

I am doing Cal to Bangalore 3rd week Sep and return 1st week Oct. Plan to hit Brahmapore / Vizag on day one - about 1000kms; next day to Tripati (satisfy the wifey and Mom-in-law) 3rd day hit Bangalore around 1 pm and shock the daylights out of Sonny boy!!! Return trip will be BlR to HYD to Vijaywada and back to Cal.
Tried to get help on this Forum but all this quite engrossing. Understand roads are OK. I've done Chilka (Naval Base) to Calcutta in 11 hrs (750kms(?) last year and road was great with my 84 uncle who was quite impressed!! Hope to hear from BHPians - made my Sticker - of a modest size. My car's a Travera. let some one contact me on my email ss5306@hotmail.com
(ss5306 is the plate of my Dad's Plymouth '42 which I too used in '72 (Syracuse, NY) on my '68 Barracuda.

[rajatmakar]

I am now planning to start at 2.30 pm from B'lore and reach Tirupati by 6.30 pm.

I need a hotel at Renigunta/Naidupet for few hours of rest & son's dinner. Budget is max 1K.

Suggestions are welcome.

Already booked Hotel Supreme @ Vizag.

Regards,
Rajat

[akroy]

Originally Posted by rajatmakar

I am now planning to start at 2.30 pm from B'lore and reach Tirupati by 6.30 pm.

I need a hotel at Renigunta/Naidupet for few hours of rest & son's dinner. Budget is max 1K.

Suggestions are welcome.

Already booked Hotel Supreme @ Vizag.

Regards,
Rajat

Great time now. Why do you require rest at Tirupati when you have a looong drive ahead? better you carry some food (like luchi, torkari for dinner), stop at some hotel or petrol joint on NH5. Take a break, feed your son and then proceed.

If you enter a hotel in Tirupati (Renigunte is just a few kms away), you will not be able to do the night drive ahead. Better stay in car.

Pls PM me for specific details.

Abhi

[KishoreC]

Rajat, best of luck for your trip. I have special interest on this thread as I plan to do Bangalore to Kolkata next January. Already planned most of the part except fixing the hotels to stay in.

My initial plan also had Tirupathi in it but there are its a difficult judgment call to choose between Thirupati root or going Via Chennai. I will try to list both the options.

Through Tirupathi - You'll have to touch NH4 which is in very bad condition now. The whole road is dug up in every directions and there have been a lot of accidents on NH4 recently. One of my colleagues vehicle have totaled in one of the accidents. Luckily the guy escaped with couple of broken bones and scars and bruises.

Also as mentioned in one of the threads, the road from Renigunta to Naidupeta is quite confusing. I went on a reconnaissance trip to scope out both the routes to Naidupeta and got lost near Renigunta. Be careful when you hit a fork on the road. There are forks which don't have any shops or locality nearby, and the highway is narrower than the road going to the nearby village. Also if you are traveling in dark, a huge lighted are on a hill will distract you and make you think you are going towards Thirupathi.

If you have to absolutely do this road, I would suggest a little diversion from the usual route of Bangalore - Kolar - Chittor - Pileru - Thirupathi. Avoid NH4 altogether and take the inner road Bangalore - Kolar - Chintamani - Madanpalle (Connecting to NH205) - Pileru - Thirupathi. You can make it to Kollar from whitefield Road without touching NH4.

Sorry, posted the previous one without righting the second option.

Bangalore - Chennai - Naidupeta ---- This way the distance is much bigger but the road in ALL GQ. You can count an average speed of at least 80-90 for this whole road. There are certain obstructions on this route also. The main being, getting to NH5 from NH4 in Chennai. The Chennai bypass is still under construction and you can either enter the city or take the MDR to get to NH5. To get to MDR, take left on the BYPASS and look for Junction on 205. Then take left on NH205 (get onto in). After a few kilometers there is a TRIANGULAR junction of NH5 and MDR. Take a right at that triangle. You'll start seeing milestones marked with MDR on top of it. Following this road for around 10KM will bring you to a MDR - NH5 junction, where you can take left to go towards Naidupeta.

Hope this helps. I'll be eagerly waiting for updates about this trip. Have a safe and happy one.

Regards.

Originally Posted by KishoreC

Sorry, posted the previous one without righting the second option.

I'm getting better at writing completely wrong spelling.

[pkumar]

Originally Posted by KishoreC

If you have to absolutely do this road, I would suggest a little diversion from the usual route of Bangalore - Kolar - Chittor - Pileru - Thirupathi. Avoid NH4 altogether and take the inner road Bangalore - Kolar - Chintamani - Madanpalle (Connecting to NH205) - Pileru - Thirupathi. You can make it to Kollar from whitefield Road without touching NH4.

I would suggest everybody NOT to take this road during late evening or night. Not a safe road i would say.

Bangalore to Naidupet via tirupati is around 300kms.and via chennai its 450kms.

Bangalore to Naidupet for a fast drive would take around 5 hours. The constant diversions remain for around 80-90 kms from Bangalore. But the road surface is ok, no potholes etc. After that there are no diversions, its a normal 2-lane road. The only problem is at night time when the headlights glare you. The roads are generally twisty in nature and unlike straight 2-lane roads, you cannot maintain very high speeds. But generally road surface quality is good throughout.
After Tirupati bypass i beieve there is only 1 right turn that you have to take to go to Naidupet. I think this is marked properly, although not sure.
if you were to continue straight here you would be on the road going to Rajampet Cuddapah.
Overall my opnion on this route is you could do it in 5 hours, but you would have already spent enough "mind" on it being a new person onthe route, and it is certainly not advisable for a longish trip when your destination is much ahead.

Regarding the Chennai route, if you are passing Bangalore and Chennai during lean hours, you could manage to reach Naidupet in just 6-6.5 hours.
Have a look at GQ-II guy's log report. This way you wasted 1-1.5 hours more, but you would be more "fresh" for the drive ahead.

Personally speaking, since i am familar with the Tirupati route, i would prefer this over the Chennai route.

[asdon]

Great to see many are planning to go to Kolkata by Road, I am also in that mood. I plan to start from Electronic city by 10pm friday, reach vijayawada by 10-11am, take a lunch break, then reach Vizag by evening. after some rest, start early morning by 3 or 4, reach Kolkata by evening. Now I got scared by reading posts about theTirupati streach. I have once been to Kolar in day time. Been to Goa and Kanyakumari in full night drive, but the point is those roads were 4 lane but NH4 is not. and then there are some turning points to remember following road to Tirupati, need some reference from you guys to be on the exact road.

Thanks,

Avijit

[pkumar]

Originally Posted by asdon

Great to see many are planning to go to Kolkata by Road, I am also in that mood. I plan to start from Electronic city by 10pm friday, reach vijayawada by 10-11am, take a lunch break, then reach Vizag by evening. after some rest, start early morning by 3 or 4, reach Kolkata by evening. Now I got scared by reading posts about theTirupati streach. I have once been to Kolar in day time. Been to Goa and Kanyakumari in full night drive, but the point is those roads were 4 lane but NH4 is not. and then there are some turning points to remember following road to Tirupati, need some reference from you guys to be on the exact road.

Thanks,

Avijit

I would have helped you in sorting out all your troubles with the Tirupati route. But since you live in Electronic City, i would sugest just boom on the GQ route to Chennai. Drive fast and you should be in Chennai in 4 hours easily, and then another 1-2 hours to reach Naidupet. That is about the same time you would take on the Tirupati route too, so why waste your energy on the 2-lane roads.

[asdon]

Originally Posted by pkumar

I would have helped you in sorting out all your troubles with the Tirupati route. But since you live in Electronic City, i would sugest just boom on the GQ route to Chennai. Drive fast and you should be in Chennai in 4 hours easily, and then another 1-2 hours to reach Naidupet. That is about the same time you would take on the Tirupati route too, so why waste your energy on the 2-lane roads.

Thanks for the info, but I don't want to enter Chennai. I got another route, that is upto vellore on GQ via Krishnagiri, then turn towards Chittoor, that way I can avoid NH4 and 2 lane drive for long time.