[deky]

Ok, the scene is that I need to drive down to Jammu from Jaipur. There are 3 alternatives in front of me.

Option1: Jaipur - Delhi- Ludhiana- Jalandhar - Pathankot - Jammu.


The positives on this route are
- 868 kms, so this will be the shortest
- big towns, so if anything goes wrong, you are in familiar territory

The positives end here and a long list of negatives start
- big & industrial towns, hence lots of truck and local traffic
- I have no choice but to stop at Delhi (relations you see), so entering and exiting Delhi will be a big pain. And I know I cant start from Delhi early in the morning as usually required to beat the traffic
- Jaipur to Delhi higfway also is a mess, so is NH1 I believe
- Driving time will be anywhere between 20-22hrs
- The stress level will be very high on this route, hence I am least interested in this option

Option2: Jaipur- Bikaner - SriGanganagar - Amritsar - Pathankot - Jammu


The positives are
- The complete stretch is a breeze with beautifull roads (till Pathankot atleast)
- Since its mostly border roads the truck traffic is very very less, hence can maintain a good average
- Can break journey at Amritsar and start the next day for Jammu
- Stress level is very less and driving is fun
- Just 4-5 big towns spread at equal distance from each other
- driving time is around 18hrs
- HVK has done this route and I have his excel sheet with excellent description of the route, hence no unknown factor

The negatives
- Well not many except the fact that this is around 200kms longer than the option 1

Option 3: The mega-highway till Bhatinda

Now I have been made to believe that there is a mega highway till Bhatinda and it runs between option 1 and option 2. And since it is a mega highway I am made to believe that the road surface is again excellent. And if I am correct in plotting it on the map, the distance will be the same as in option1

This highway either runs from

Sikar- Ratangarh- sardarshahar- hanumangarh- Bhatinda and onwards to Amritsar


or

Sikar - ramgarh - Nohar- Sirsa - Bhatinda and onwards to Amritsar


But the thing is that no one around seems to be aware of it. I asked a few bus drivers and they suggested to take Sikar - Ratangarh - Hanumangarh and bhatinda route. As per them the road is good. But I really dont know what is their definition of "good" I am more keen on taking this route if the road is indeed good

Hence the question "Does anyone know about the Mega highway from Sikar to Bhatinda?"

Anyone with personal experience or anyone whos friends or family has travelled on this route??

[tsk1979]

I have no idea about the sections in Haryana, and Rajasthan, but inside Punjab, these new "expressways" have been construction all over.

They are not with divider, just smooth undivided tarmac. Due to low traffic, except where you pass towns, you can do fairly good speeds.

From PB when my parents came to Bikaner they took the internal route from Ludhiana-Muktsar-Rajasthan, and they said there was no traffic, and roads were excellent


However, if you do go from New Delhi - Jammu, I would advise against NH1, because one you enter punjab, there are 1-2 hour long jams at Khanna and Sirhind due to flyover constructions.

I would suggest
1. Just 50 meters before Shambhu toll gates(PB border) take a right turn on banur road, go straight till you hit the Chandigarh Ropar road at Kharar.
Continue beyond Ropar to pathankot, and you will find new "phagwara mohali expressway" which is pretty low on traffic. This meets NH-1 probably 50kms before Pathankot.

[deky]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I have no idea about the sections in Haryana, and Rajasthan, but inside Punjab, these new "expressways" have been construction all over.

They are not with divider, just smooth undivided tarmac. Due to low traffic, except where you pass towns, you can do fairly good speeds.


However, if you do go from New Delhi - Jammu, I would advise against NH1, because one you enter punjab, there are 1-2 hour long jams at Khanna and Sirhind due to flyover constructions.

I would suggest
1. Just 50 meters before Shambhu toll gates(PB border) take a right turn on banur road, go straight till you hit the Chandigarh Ropar road at Kharar.
Continue beyond Ropar to pathankot, and you will find new "phagwara mohali expressway" which is pretty low on traffic. This meets NH-1 probably 50kms before Pathankot.

Thanks Tanveer,

I have no inclination of going via Delhi- Ludhiana- Pathankot stretch for the reasons you have mentioned above. I find it too stressful plus there is no fun in driving in stop and go traffic.

Hence if I dont get any specific information on the megahighway to bhatinda I will stick to Bikaner - Ganganagr road.

But Having said that I will be returning from Dalhousie and will have to come via Delhi ( no options) so it will be very kind of you if you can give me some more details of the Phagwara -Mohali expressway from pathankot side so that I can plot it on the map for return journey

Thanks once again!!

Edit:

Ok I managed to find that route on google maps

1. Will this not take me through the heart of chandigarh?? Or will I be bypassing it??
2. The expressway seems to finish at phagwara, so will it be worthwhile taking such a big detour?

Edit 2:

When your folks did Ludhiana- Bikaner, did they come via Ganganagar or did they take any other route??

[.anshuman]

I'd pick Jaipur-Sikar-Churu-Hisar-Sirsa-Dabwali-Bathinda section. I do not know about the route and roads in Punjab but for Haryana and Rajasthan this is a good route with well paved NH all the way.

[hvkumar]

Check out this linkhttp://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-new-post.html

The route that was taken was the following:
Ludhiana -Malerkotla-Sangrur-Patran-Tohana -Hisar - Churu - Fatehpur - Jaipur

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by deky

1. Will this not take me through the heart of chandigarh?? Or will I be bypassing it??
2. The expressway seems to finish at phagwara, so will it be worthwhile taking such a big detour?

Edit 2:

When your folks did Ludhiana- Bikaner, did they come via Ganganagar or did they take any other route??

1. No, you do not have to go through Chandigarh. you go from Ambala to Punjab border, take a right, and keep going all the way to Kharar, bypassingchd.
When are you going? I will send you GPX of my 2010 trip where I took Delhi-Ambala-Banur-Ropar-Pathankot.
You do not go to phagwara. You leave this expressway for another one.
When I said network of expressways, I really meant a network!
So you do Ropar - Garshankar, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot

Secondly, as for the route my parents took, they just took NH15, they did it via Muktsar.
They had to visit relatives there.
A shoter route is taking NH15 through bathinda

From Jaipur, this route will be longer. I have no idea about RJ and HR from Jaipur.
From either Sangrur or Bathinda, you can take any of the state highways to connect to NH71 at Moga or whereabouts, and then pass through Jalandhar towards Pathankot.

That said, from Delhi, it takes around 7-8 hours to Pathankot when you follow ropar route.

Via ludhiana route it will take you 9 hours. So you can save upto 2 hours.

[deky]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

I'd pick Jaipur-Sikar-Churu-Hisar-Sirsa-Dabwali-Bathinda section. I do not know about the route and roads in Punjab but for Haryana and Rajasthan this is a good route with well paved NH all the way.

Thanks anshuman, I shall try and find out the road conditions on this route, though the length of this route is coming to be almost 100kms shorter than the route via bikaner -ganganagar - amritsar but if the roads are not as good as the bikaner -ganganager route, then there is no point taking this as eventuallu time consumed will be more in the shorter route.

For sure bikaner-ganganager route is excellent and very less traffic

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Check out this linkhttp://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-new-post.html

The route that was taken was the following:
Ludhiana -Malerkotla-Sangrur-Patran-Tohana -Hisar - Churu - Fatehpur - Jaipur

Thanks for this alternate suggestion, but again the quality of the road is doubtfull and again I will be passing Ludhiana, Jalandher and thru other big Punjab towns.

Will keep in mind, justincase the mega highway gets adverse reviews.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

1. No, you do not have to go through Chandigarh. you go from Ambala to Punjab border, take a right, and keep going all the way to Kharar, bypassingchd.
When are you going? I will send you GPX of my 2010 trip where I took Delhi-Ambala-Banur-Ropar-Pathankot.
You do not go to phagwara. You leave this expressway for another one.
When I said network of expressways, I really meant a network!
So you do Ropar - Garshankar, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot

That said, from Delhi, it takes around 7-8 hours to Pathankot when you follow ropar route.

Via ludhiana route it will take you 9 hours. So you can save upto 2 hours.

Tanveer I will be leaving on the 24th or the 25th. So It will be really nice of you if you can send me the gpx of delhi - ambala - banur- ropar - pathankot.

It will be very usefull when I return from Dalhousie to Delhi via pathankot.

Thanks and regards

[deky]

Ok guys, I manage to speak to a bus driver and a taxi driver who do Jaipur to Amritsar almost everyday.

They have advised me to take the mega highway that is from Ratangarh all the way to Amritsar. They have confirmed that 95% of this route is 4 lanned with very good roads. So I have more or less decided to take the so called Mega Highway

I plan to do a status check and decide if I need a halt at Amritsar or if I can carry on from there to Pathankot and then to Jammu

So while going my route will be the following

Jaipur - Sikar - fatehpur - ratangarh (take a right) - Sardarsheher- Hardesar - Rawatsar - Abohar - Muktsar- Faridkot - Taran Taran- Amritsar.

The total distance till Amritsar from Jaipur on this route is 678kms and from Amritsar till Jammu is 205kms

So the total distance covered will be 883 kms

Now waiting for Tanveer to send me the return journey GPX from Dalhousie - Pathankot- Delhi via the inside route. And then I am all set

[Turbanator]

Jaipur - Sikar - fatehpur - ratangarh (take a right) - Sardarsheher- Hardesar - Rawatsar - Abohar - Muktsar- Faridkot - Taran Taran- Amritsar

hi

I don't think you will need to go to Abohar ,

Jaipur - Sikar - Churu - Sirsa - Batinda - kotkapura - Tarantaran - Amritsar - Jammu

At Tarntarn you have two options - either go straight to amritsar or ask for NH1 - in which case you will be able to bypass Amritsar city by taking right towards Wagah Border just before you enter Amritsar and then take a right for Batala from verka Chowk

Option 2

From Sirsa - go to Barnala - Ludhiana - Jallandhar - Pathankot

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India to Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, India - Google Maps

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

hi

I don't think you will need to go to Abohar ,

Jaipur - Sikar - Churu - Sirsa - Batinda - kotkapura - Tarantaran - Amritsar - Jammu

At Tarntarn you have two options - either go straight to amritsar or ask for NH1 - in which case you will be able to bypass Amritsar city by taking right towards Wagah Border just before you enter Amritsar and then take a right for Batala from verka Chowk

Option 2

From Sirsa - go to Barnala - Ludhiana - Jallandhar - Pathankot

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India to Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, India - Google Maps

Interesting re-routing, Turbonator, but I guess the advantage of the Ratangarh-Abohar route is that it is 4-laned?

[Turbanator]

Hello HVK Sir

I have not traveled on this but have seen lot of truckers referring to route of Bhatinda from Kishangarh - may be this is the same road but given the fact that he will be travelling mostly on 2 laned roads and this 4 lane is not going to be a major portion , he can avoid a detour . And there is anothe option from Kotkapure - he can also go to Jallandhar / Ludhiana - there are lot of options

I travel very often on Gurgaon - Hissar - Sirsa - Dabwali - Muktsar - Ludhiana route - almost once in 2 months and most of this route after Rohtak is breeze - + 140 on these roads sometimes even higher post Fatehabad..

[tsk1979]

Okay, here is the GPX track of my route.
If you look at this, iits actually almost similar to "as the crow flies".

A note of caution, since it was late night, we accidently passed through hoshiarpur. I am told there is a bypass too.
Delhi Pathankot.gpx

[Turbanator]

Dalhousie and will have to come via Delhi ( no options) so it will be very kind of you if you can give me some more details of the Phagwara -Mohali expressway from pathankot side

sorry no such highway - in fact its one of the most looted tolled 2 lane Highway in India - you will be paying tolls after every 30 Kms or so from Mukerian to Balachaur

better you plan - Dalhousie - Pathankot ( there is a bypass after Chaki for NH1) - Jallandar - Delhi or from Dasuya ( a little ahead of Mukerian ) you can take a left for Hoshiarpur - Garsankar - Nawanshar -Balachaur -Ropar - Kharar - Banur - Rajpura - Ambala or if you want to visit chandigarh - than from Kharar go straight to Chandigarh instead of Banur . From Chandigarh you can come via Ambala to Delhi.

There is one more road from Dalhousie that will take you to Talwara & then Hoshiarpur - I am not aware of road conditions at the moment - i shall be able to check with my knowns on Monday and update

Continue beyond Ropar to pathankot, and you will find new "phagwara mohali expressway" which is pretty low on traffic. This meets NH-1 probably 50kms before Pathankot.

Hi - this is not correct - Phagwara - Mohali road is a simple 2 lamed Tolled Road with very high traffic - this road connects Chandigarh to Jallandhar and meets NH1 at Phagwara about 20 Kms before Jallandhar - Pathankot is way away from phagwara about 130 km ahead ..

[breezydrive]

Originally Posted by deky

Ok, the scene is that I need to drive down to Jammu from Jaipur. ...............
Hence the question "Does anyone know about the Mega highway from Sikar to Bhatinda?"...................

Anyone with personal experience or anyone whos friends or family has travelled on this route??

Mega highway is term used by RIDCOR (a Govt. of Rajasthan initiative), who are building roads in Rajashtan; see the link here:
Project Philosophy

I recently went to a Highway developed by them & touched near a place called Balotra near Jodhpur. Took a flight from Delhi to Jodhpur & k a cab further to hit this highway.

While moving on the highway, I saw sign boards showing Pathankot - 1147 km; as Pathankot is my hometown, I took a note of the route. Actually this highway was leading to Bikaner.

Further, one can take road to Ganganagar - Ferozepur - Amritsar - Pathankot.

One of the RIDCOR employee told me that as Pathankot is a junction town and a gateway to J&K & Himachal, this has been delibrately marked to attract Truckers towards this route. The Trucks & Big trailers to & fro from Kandla port can directly head to Punjab, J&K and North Himachal without passing through Haryana & Delhi, thus saving State taxes & tolls.

I noted that the distance mentioned on the sign boards were not reliable. Amritsar was shown as 853 km and Pathankot as 1147 km.

In actual, Amritsar - Pathankot is 110 km only. I pointed this to RIDCOR people, they were ignorant about this. They pointed that the idea is to Highlight major towns so that Truckers can get a note of this.

However, the name MEGA Highway is within the state of Rajasthan only for a few identified Roads (combination of National / state highways)

Quote from the site

By far, Rajasthan Mega Highways Project is the single largest road project taken up under public-private partnership framework
Another noteworthy feature is that considering the existing low level of traffic on some of the identified road corridors, they would be unviable or marginally viable on stand alone basis.
However by aggregating them under a single entity and Project, it has been possible to cross-subsidise low trafficked roads by high trafficked roads which has enabled the Company to take up improvement of all five corridors at one instance

Unquote


BTW, Amritsar -Pathankot Route is a 2 lane road, in Bad Shape, passes through congested towns Batala, Dhariwal, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar to name a few. It takes 3 Hours to reach farther end of Amritsar from Pathankot, distance is 110 km.

However, Ganganagar - Amritsar is quite good.

You can take Jaipur - Sikar - Hisar - Narwana - Ambala route. Total is 565 km as compared to 470 km via Delhi. From Ambala follow the route as suggested by Tsk in above posts.

Alternate scenic route from Ropar onwards is Via Anandpur Sahib - Nangal -Una -Mubarakpur - Chintpurni -Talwara - Jasur - Chakki. From Chakki (10 km from Pathankot) you have option to go at Dalhousie or take NH-20 to Kangra , Dharmsala etc.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

better you plan - Dalhousie - Pathankot ( there is a bypass after Chaki for NH1) - Jallandar - Delhi or from Dasuya ( a little ahead of Mukerian ) you can take a left for Hoshiarpur - Garsankar - Nawanshar -Balachaur -Ropar - Kharar - Banur - Rajpura - Ambala or if you want to visit chandigarh - than from Kharar go straight to Chandigarh instead of Banur . From Chandigarh you can come via Ambala to Delhi.

There is one more road from Dalhousie that will take you to Talwara & then Hoshiarpur - I am not aware of road conditions at the moment - i shall be able to check with my knowns on Monday and update



Hi - this is not correct - Phagwara - Mohali road is a simple 2 lamed Tolled Road with very high traffic - this road connects Chandigarh to Jallandhar and meets NH1 at Phagwara about 20 Kms before Jallandhar - Pathankot is way away from phagwara about 130 km ahead ..

Actually you mistook my post. I just meant taking a part of phagwara mohali highway.
The route in my gpx is the same you are mentioning
Hoshiarpur - Garsankar - Nawanshar -Balachaur -Ropar - Kharar - Banur - - Ambala

You do not have to go to Rajpura from Banur, ambala is a short distance away(20 minutes) from banur.

Route is well marked in GPX.