Gujarat Highways: Can they be replicated across India?

[jraj]

err..when you mean Gujarat Highways in the first post,are you talking about NH or SH?

[Nitrous Power]

Originally Posted by jraj

err..when you mean Gujarat Highways in the first post,are you talking about NH or SH?

Even state highways are also in much better condition than the other states.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by jraj

err..when you mean Gujarat Highways in the first post,are you talking about NH or SH?

Well a little bit of both. But what was more surprising and puzzling is that even the NH is way better maintained than most other NHs in other states.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Good to know about the roads in Gujarat. Are the highways there considered to be the safest as well? Ideally, good roads (and discipline as mentioned by Mohit) should result is lesser accidents. Just curious to know.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Even I would be very interested to see the figures for the same, if any exists. But otherwise speaking, one usually encounters 1 or more accidents whenever you travel on a highway/long distance. A truck overturned, mangled remains of a car and so on. On my 840 km long drive I encountered only 1 car which had met with an accident. From the look of it, looked like the guy lost control and was on highspeeds. The car was lying perched upon the central median, upside down.

If you take the number of accidents in 2010 the worst performers in terms of road accidents are Maharashtra-70k, TamilNadu-65k, Madhya pradesh-45k, Karnataka-45k, Andhra-45k, kerala-35k, Gujarat-30k and UP-28k.
In the same period maximum fatalities are in Maharashtra, TN, AP & UP at around 15k/year and in Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya pradesh & Rajasthan at around 8K/yr.
Seems the number of accidents in India is directly proportional to the GSDP of the state. High GSDP means more vehicular movement and hence a large percentage of accidents. Exception is Madhya Pradesh.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport website.

[ADI_77]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Also they have proper sign boards telling you to " slow down: rural area ahead". It really helps in bringing your speed down knowing that a village/small town is approaching.

Yes there are quite a few sign board of Rural Area Ahead on the stretch between Mahuva to Rajula this is further on the Bhavnagar Highway towards Veraval, Somnath, Kodinar, Diu

[iSpoke]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Case in point, there was this ad in paper where, Gujarat being the largest exporter of fishery products, was being credited to Modi. Any person in his right mind would not go along with this foolish propaganda. I just could not stop laughing after reading that, it was as if the ad was claiming that Modi went in some super duper boat and caught fishes himself to increase fishery product exports

he he. good imagination! but its the same case when other politicos taking credit (or given credit by their supporters) of whatever work done without their direct involvement (at ground level, oops for the case in point at water level!).

Originally Posted by Sandy28

P.S: I do not have any affiliation or fondness for any politician or political party.

Same applies to me too.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Read my opening post. I covered that stretch in 3 and a half hours. Fabulous roads all throughout.

BTW I do feel that some part of the credit must go to the CM too. Afterall as someone else also mentioned each and every state has got access to all the funds.

3.5hrs

Originally Posted by vb-san

Good to know about the roads in Gujarat. Are the highways there considered to be the safest as well? Ideally, good roads (and discipline as mentioned by Mohit) should result is lesser accidents. Just curious to know.

I have not done much of highway trips in India, but I found the highways in Tamil nadu pretty good. Lane discipline was lacking a bit though, especially trucks and buses on the rightmost lane.

About lane discipline, I really felt proud while driving between A'bad and Mount Abu that this much lane discipline has been followed in our country. You are just approaching a vehicle ahead of you and without honking they will change the lane to allow you to pass. This is the highway experience, but at the same time I must admit that the same is not followed within the A'bad city. All I noticed is that you need to keep honking repeatedly, else nobody will care.

Originally Posted by Daewood

If you take the number of accidents in 2010 the worst performers in terms of road accidents are Maharashtra-70k, TamilNadu-65k, Madhya pradesh-45k, Karnataka-45k, Andhra-45k, kerala-35k, Gujarat-30k and UP-28k.
In the same period maximum fatalities are in Maharashtra, TN, AP & UP at around 15k/year and in Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya pradesh & Rajasthan at around 8K/yr.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport website.

That was a good bit of information, Thanks.

[tanwaramit]

This thread made me jump from iPhone app to Laptop to post my experience.

Two years back, I made a non stop drive from Delhi to Mumbai (yes 1500 kms completed in 24 hrs), return journey was with a halt.

Was driving through this route first time, as soon as I entered Gujarat, the following things changed on the road

1. The guy behind me (who was faster) kept on flashing his lights and later on started honking, I thought he will pass me from left, but he was adamant, I had to give him way. Soon I noticed, its the norm there. This was my first instance of observation on Gujarat roads.

2. Slow moving truck being overtaken by another truck who is 5kmph faster and is blocking the fast lane. Now as soon as this truck has overtaken, I thought he will continue in the fast lane and hence I moved to second lane to overtake, however, surprisingly, he moved left to give way to me, and this happened throughout the journey (but only in Gujarat)

3. The U turns are planned properly, the right most lane goes inside so that the person changing lanes doesnt blocks the fast moving lane, and similarly he joins the opposite lane, without disturbing the fast lane. Had seen these abroad only, in Delhi the planners should learn from them how to join lanes, where joining lane joins at almost T point.

4. People look behind before changing lanes or joining roads and stop if they see a vehicle, a bolero driver was picking up passengers and was stopped in the second lane, he started off and wanted to join fast lane as other bolero was standing in 2nd lane ahead of him, but saw me racing in the fast lane, he stopped, I mean he stopped to give me way, I am yet to see even ONE such instance in NCR or anywhere else. For a similar distance & speed, in NCR, the bolero guy would have joined and I would have to slam my brakes.

And yeah, I didnt mention that the roads are buttery smooth, there are reflectors (helpful for night/foggy driving) on the roads , yellow colored reflectors throughout on the road, at medians they are of red color so that one can be careful.

I have no idea who all is responsible, but for sure, political will cannot be ruled out. I travel in UP too, where the roads are screaming for flyovers at cities and the highways are going through the heart of cities with railway crossings etc. It still seems UP roads are 20 years behind of that of Gujarat, driving sense, would take even longer I guess.

[paras211]

Originally Posted by F50

Well, true but not for Vapi-Surat stretch. I avoid crossing Vapi at 6pm or about going towards Surat and 4pm or about going towards Mumbai. The guys who head in either direction guns their vehicle. Accords, Cruzes, Corollas are driven at insane speeds. Infact I've seen woman driving Scorpio with one hand hanging out and 2 wheels on the dirt doing 90+kmph and happily passing all vehicles from the left.

Its all the Bombay folks working in Daman, Silvassa, Vapi going back home. It includes me too

[-xplora-]

Okay..saw the topic, read the thread and could not resist posting.

Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, have been driving cars since ..er..I was 14 .

Roads is Gujarat are awesome and have been very good since I was a kid. But, I have to say, all roads interconnecting cities have become superb in the past 10 years. Its not just the smooth roads, one has to look at road planning also, which is excellent. Most of the roads / internal transport have been modeled after quite a bit of research and investment before doing it.

An example is BRTS, which has won numerous awards world-wide, started by Mr. Modi. It has streamlined commuter traffic in an excellent way without spending 1000s of crores or several years. (a la Delhi Metro) BRTS bus stations and planning are at par or better than anywhere in the world. Or the fact that there have been several fly-overs, under-passes and traffic routing measures taken in the past few years that has shaped the cities and roads of Gujarat.

Someone rightly pointed out, driving during monsoon in Gujarat is just awesome, I make it a point of being in GJ during that time, just to drive around. GJ is essentially a plain, hence not many mountainous roads, but has enough scenic routes. Anybody who is interested in Birding, GJ is a paradise that includes the fun of driving as well as capturing images.

Although I'd say this, traffic in Ahmedabad city is Bad..and road sense is also as bad as anywhere else. Especially since past 4-5 years, owing to everyone buying cars and vehicles and urbanization.

Cheers !

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by -xplora-

An example is BRTS, which has won numerous awards world-wide, started by Mr. Modi. It has streamlined commuter traffic in an excellent way without spending 1000s of crores or several years. (a la Delhi Metro) BRTS bus stations and planning are at par or better than anywhere in the world.
!

This is something that I have been wanting to ask for a long time. The BRTS is Ahmadabad looked exactly the same to me as in Delhi. I have only been to Ahmadabad once and hence may be wrong. The same fundamental problems of bus stands being in the middle of the road forcing commuters to jump down from the bus and then run to the side of the road through vehicular traffic plague it here too. So then the success of the whole system lies on only 1 reason that the traffic is way less in Ahmadabad compared to Delhi. Or have they made any changes to the model here which I failed to notice on my short visit?

[intothewild]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Measuring politicians competence/credibility by roads is kinda off target. TN is another state that has some of the best roads in the country, but it is another matter when we come to the credibility of the lot that just vacated their chairs in the 2011 election.

Not sure I can second that opinion. Chennai roads are very very bad and it includes major arterial roads too; just look at Arcod road and it is unbelievable how one of the busiest/important roads in a city can be so horrible. I also do not find TN highways exceptional; they are OK by GQ standards in most parts though.

I have lived in Chennai/TN all my life.

Vijay

[lionell]

I'd surely agree with the highway's being the best in the country and the road manners on highways exceeding expectations.

But... turn right into the city and you will see chaos all around. Just like any other Indian metropolis. The cops are ineffective in controlling traffic and worse, the general public cares two hoots on maintaining a decorum. Its a free for all out there.

Quite a stark difference between both highway and city road manners.

[fi.robin]

This Feb I drove across the Little Rann of Kutch. I could drive faster than I can drive in Bangalore. I could comfortably do 80-90 in Kutch. Shame DVS and BSY!

I have driven in more than 10 states and UTs. Gujarat def. has the best roads, including the SH. They have roads and electricity in places where you won't find population for miles. A lot of inner roads are undergoing 4 laning. Rajasthan is another state having good roads but I haven't driven through the inland.

I don't think the road discipline is too different from other places except maybe the truckers who seem more sensible than their counterparts from other states.

I hate Maharastra when it comes to roads. I frequently do Bangalore - Vapi and roads in Maharastra have max toll tax and bumpiest road, except Pune - Mumbai expressway. Even worse is the unruly behaviour of people at Toll plaza near Kolhapur. Total disregard for people in line.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by -xplora-

An example is BRTS, which has won numerous awards world-wide, started by Mr. Modi.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

The BRTS is Ahmadabad looked exactly the same to me as in Delhi. I have only been to Ahmadabad once and hence may be wrong. The same fundamental problems of bus stands being in the middle of the road forcing commuters to jump down from the bus and then run to the side of the road through vehicular traffic plague it here too.

A big part of this Gujarat success story owes it the media. Not saying everthing is a hype, but some part is. This extensive 6 page article in ET presents a detailed picture. What works and what doesn't in Narendra Modi's Gujarat - Economic Times
A sample is the Gujarat canal Solar project which was launched with full page ads all over India. Every newspaper went gaga over this project, which in reality generated only 1MW!!!. Contrast this with the amount of power generated by TN's Windmills. 6000MW. But no one puts up full page ads to announce this outstanding achievement. Probably the highest amount of clean energy generated by a state in the whole world. Even people in TN are not aware of this awesome figure. These things make me suspect whether the same hype that the media created, when Chandrababu Naidu was CM(he was referred as CEO) for Andhra are being played again. Babus seek CEO Chandrababu?s touch - Times Of India

[columbus]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

You have to experience them to believe it.

Well even I was surprised at this. Infact it became really funny on a lot of occasions in the first 100 kms of my drive. So atleast on 5-6 times I moved to the left lane, prepared to overtake and at the same time found the guy ahead of me moving to the left lane too with a puzzled look on his face. Only then I got the hang of things and started the good old practice of sticking to the right most lane.

Disclaimer: I am not trying to encourage anyone here to overtake from the left.

Yep same experience here. Recently did Bhopal-Abad-Bhuj-Abad-vadodara-bhopal. The roads are an absolute hoot to drive with fantastic discipline on highways. Since the roads were so good i drove Bhuj to Bhopal via Abad Vadodara a distance of 1150 kms in 17.5 hrs.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

What makes driving on GJ highways a different experience altogether is the discipline and the common sense that prevails among the road users here (I will rather say Car/Cabs/Buses).

However:

• The stretch between Viramgam and Morbi on NH8A is super dangerous due to wrong side driving that you then start to hate driving on Gujarat roads too just because of this small stretch.

Summary : With some patience, you will always end up overtaking a vehicle from Right in Gujarat and this is what makes driving a fantastically safer experience on the already good quality roads it has.

Absolutely right about all the points and bang on for **** called MORBI. That was perhaps the most dangerous stretch to drive on. There are no rules... everyone drives on wrong sides at full speeds, barriers have been broken and even trucks enter through them. I had to keep my eyes to cross that stretch.

Ahemdabad traffic has rules of itself.

1. Two vehicles approach and drivers have eye contact. Now look for the head signal.. if its a nod then he will cross first. If its a head swing then you go first.
2. People have a habit of darting at the last minute. You will find a vehicle approaching and intersection very slowly and suddenly he will press the pedal and sneak into place.
3. Autowallahs don't give hand signals for turning. They put their legs out..

Took me a while to get into the groove of A'bad traffic with lot of help from T'bhpian Ramky.