[mithun]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

In Kerala. the Ernakulam/Cochin to Kottayam road the Vaikom - Thalayolaparambu strech is indeed horrible. Indiscriminately dug on both sides for water pipe laying, the roads are a nightmare with the heavy tipper and private bus traffic. Many cars have come a cropper here. Last week a friend had to shell out Rs 25000 as the zen hit the underbody damaging the engine crank case and getting seized as the oil got drained off.

I would post pictures of this stretch soon.

I don't know why authorities are turning a blind eye towards such a busy road !

[YaeJay]

I havent done a lot of driving lately say 5 years? Bad roads, to me are those you survive even if your sturt doesnt. You really have to live to tell the tale! Bad roads, For the past 15 years and more, Avinashi coimbatore, coimbatore to metupalayam. ofcourse, You are at risk every time you see an yellow board aproachin you straight ahead or behind you. Cant T-Bhp do anything about the cab drivers and RTO? I mean like Rto is used to money, and all that, just a lil relaxation, a little less in their monthly take, for a few lives than giving licence to total idiots. IF t-Bhp can do that, It gets my respect more than, tuning, ffe, and all that nonsense. End of day you have to live to tell the tale, not die because of some 2nd std fail idiot with a cab permit rams into you? ! what say?

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Samples:
- Malda-Raiganj-Dalkola
and even safety issues in Krishnagar-Behrampur-Farakka and Cooch Behar region.

I think Malda to Dalkola is a better stretch than Krishnanagar-Malda but worst nevertheless

thebagchi;1141308 NH31 (Dalkhola - Siliguri) are dream roads.

with absolutely no corners? they are flat and smooth alright but boring,
but make it Dalkola to Bidhannagar(20kms prior as roads start to worsen post that)

[mallumowgli]

It is very difficuilt to judge which is the worst road - there are roads that we think are the worst that we have seen and then there comes another that is even worse. There are tracks in villages which masquerade as roads and then there are some jungle roads that exists as roads only in paper.

We can better rate the worst highways - national or state. my humble opinion

[amoghvc]

All roads in India are dangerous to drive on. Even the new NHAI built roads are no exception. Although in name these are built to ensure two separate carriage-ways, yet we see autorikshaws, scooters, bullock-carts, trucks and tractors driving in the direction opposite to the traffic flow in both carriage-ways endangering not only their own lives but also of others. There is no one to prevent this from happening, and probably no one cares. NHAI builds its highways at a cost of Rs. 8-10 crores per km. But the same road with access control built by private parties costs Rs. 11 - 13 cores. The private parties, are better at controlling reckless driving by the categories of violators I have mentioned earlier. But these operators run foul of politicians and their projects are deliberately done to death.

[speedsatya]

The 30 kms stretch from Bhatkal on the NH17 makes B7Rs tilt dangerously ..so much that almost all bags from the overhead racks fall down on your head.

I remember doing this 30 odd kms immediately after Davangere that some trucker advised us to take when driving to Hampi in 2005.It took us 3 hours to do this stretch in a Santro .

2 kms of road from Kutta near Madikeri recently took us close to 45 minutes in the Lancer .At many places ,we had to get off the fully loaded car to avoid damaging the underbody .

Every year during the monsoon,the Shiradi Ghat on NH48 would definitely find a place in this thread .

A new entry from my side this year -the 40 odd kms from Pumpwell (on NH17 near Mangalore ) till Talapady (NH17,on the KA-KL border) looks as if its been blasted by landmines.This could be used as a testing ground for vehicles across the world.If something survives this stretch for a month ,it can survive any road .Still,the buses ,including the low floor B7Rs do their 60 kms distance within one hour !!!Dunno when will the @!#!~#~!@# politicians listen

[Newpunter]

I recently visited Andhra Pradesh and the roads there seem to have taken a severe beating due to the rains. However, there was one particular stretch of road of about 20 Kms between a place called Aswaraopet and Jangareddy Gudem which was shocking, to say the least. I haven't seen any road worse than that. To be honest, it cannot be classified as a road anymore, coz there wasn't any road at all. The whole road, is filled with potholes ( some of them more than 1 metre deep, and no, I'm not exaggerating at all ). At places, the whole road was a pothole from one end to the other. I had to stop for a while to decide which was the place where the pothole was smaller, so that i can cross. Absolutely shocking. Wish I had taken a few photos but the camera was in a bag in the boot and i was driving.

[Joy73US]

The worst road that I have ever seen is in Western UP while going from Delhi to Saharanpur via Loni, Bagpat, Shamli. I have been travelling on this road since I was of the age of 5 years. Road was never like a highway but now one has to really Stop his car and think from where he can pass those big potholes.

Any wrong decision and your car will land in the service center.

[rjalihal]

Hmm, ever been on the Hebbal-Whitefield stretch of the ring road in Bangalore off late? Try it during the peak hours. You will all change your minds about your choice of bad roads. This road is the epitome of unorganised traffic, absolute no discipline, haphazardly built diversions which are full of moon craters, 50% of time no traffic lights/street lights, just to name a few. And when the rain gods unleash their fury - Oh what a joy!

[wanderernomad]

Try the Gwalior- Shivpuri road and you will know the real meaning of worst road. Will try to post a video of it later today. The only other road which was worse than this is probably the border road leading to Gelephu in Bhutan.

[sagarpadaki]

The stretch between gokak and mahalingpur(north karnataka) is the worst stretch i have ever driven!The potholes(craters) can swallow your cars!In rainy season its a nightmare since you cant even judge the depth of the craters.Took me 2 hours to cover some 40 odd kms in heavy rain!You literally have to drive in a zig zag pattern the whole stretch
But its one of the best off road course one can get to test the endurance of the "char guna chars"

[sushrutha]

My newest addition is Gooty - Bellary, It's in Pathetic condition. Much of the road is not road at all, It's like as if you are travelling on hills n mountains filled with potholes and rocks

[rpmx1000]

The worst road in India is actually the Mysore-Mananthavady road via HD Kote.
something like 4 hours( in a rugged bus) to cover 107 km. 4-5 hours of pure
torture. Pity the buses which run on this route. Unbelievably bad. Not sure of its present condition I had been there in 2002-3. Still haven't forgotten the jars and judders of that journey in an ordinary K(erala)SRTC bus. Needless to say, the bad part of the road is only in Karnataka.

[aryasanyal]

Originally Posted by rpmx1000

The worst road in India is actually the Mysore-Mananthavady road via HD Kote.
something like 4 hours( in a rugged bus) to cover 107 km. 4-5 hours of pure
torture. Pity the buses which run on this route. Unbelievably bad. Not sure of its present condition I had been there in 2002-3. Still haven't forgotten the jars and judders of that journey in an ordinary K(erala)SRTC bus. Needless to say, the bad part of the road is only in Karnataka.

I'd rather say that to be the Nagarhole-Mananthavady stretch. Mysore till the Nagarhole N.P. gate is 2 laned but a great drive. I drove there in September this year, while going to the Kabini resort.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by sandygordon

In Kerala
..
There is practically no road from Kuttipuram to Edappal/ Changaramkulam !!

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Bad roads? - Welcome to Cochin. I want to post the pics but then it would take ages for me to upload the pics.

Not just in Cochin, or around Kuttipuram, any stretch of road in Kerala will beat its nearest competitor by a very H-U-G-E margin!

The National Highways (I prefer calling them as "Non-Highways") are the worst of the lot in Kerala - especially NH17 and NH47 (I don't mean other NHs in Kerala are any better). Roads are inexistent in most stretches between Mannuthy and Walayar on NH47. On NH17, Parur to Kodungallur, Ponnani to Edappal (this is now a SH, was earlier part of NH17), Ponnani-Kuttipuram, etc are non-existent.

Here is a sample pic from NH17 (This was shot between Parur and Kodungallur - I drive through this stretch daily).



Here, I usually end up taking 25-35 minutes to cover just 11 kms, thanks to the potholes, narrow road and heavy traffic. I then cover 22 kms on the same highway in less than 30 minutes.

Notice the width of the road. The Santro ahead of me has very little space to its left.

EDIT: This pothole was recently "patched". But the condition is deteriorating again.