[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by rahul4640

I crossed the WB-OR border with my car on 22nd of last month. Luckily for me the line of the trucks were not very long and we did not waste more than twenty minutes at the border. And I did not pay the dreaded entry tax on my last two or three visits. All I had to pay Rs 40/- as road toll, for which I was even issued a receipt.

But in case you really wish to avoid the long line of trucks and the tolls at the border, may try this route. I was once suggested by H. V. Kumar to take this road and found it helpful.
West Bengal - Orissa Border - India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com
Regards,
Rahul

Yeah I ended up going through this route only. Took about the same time to cross the border as truck traffic was not bad. NH60 is pretty good. From Jaleshwar to Digha it was a mixed route but mostly good. Will post details once the mini-travelogue is up. One thing is for sure. That bridge in Kolaghat is going to suck and will not be completed even till judgement day is reached . I am thinking of filing an RTI to find out which idiots have made a fortune in trying to build that bridge. Ended up wasting 1 hour trying to cross that bridge @ Kolaghat.

[Sutripta]

^^^
Just checked my tracklog. Jaleswar - New Digha. 40 Km 1:15 Hr. How long did it take you.

Kolaghat and Panagar are the bane of driving out of Calcutta. And have you noticed that there is a bus stop ON the bridge. A bus stops, and all traffic stops along with it. Then one chap (normally another bus!) breaks the line and tries to race ahead on the other lane. Instant chaos.

Regards
Sutripta

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

^^^
Just checked my tracklog. Jaleswar - New Digha. 40 Km 1:15 Hr. How long did it take you.

Kolaghat and Panagar are the bane of driving out of Calcutta. And have you noticed that there is a bus stop ON the bridge. A bus stops, and all traffic stops along with it. Then one chap (normally another bus!) breaks the line and tries to race ahead on the other lane. Instant chaos.

Regards
Sutripta

Sutripta da, I actually came to Tajpur which is another 20 kms I think from Digha just after you cross Balisai, so it took me almost 2 hours since the last 4 kms to Tajpur was on roads which didnt exist in maps (MMI) or in reality .

Yeah there is a bus stop at the entry of the bridge when coming from the Kharagpur side. Dont remember the one in the middle of the bridge? What on earth would cause to have somebody a bus stop in the middle of the bridge? Shipwrecked passengers? Jeeeez.

Generally the traffic cops if one can call them that, regulate the traffic by letting traffic flow one way periodically so from my past experience it shouldnt have taken more than 15-20 mins to cross that 5 mins stretch. Some idiot cop had a brainwave today and held up traffic from the Kolkata side while letting traffic come from the Kharagpur side freely

[Sutripta]

Hi,
The bus stop is on the KGP side of the bridge. But still ON the bridge, where it is two lane, with no room to maneuver. A deliberately planned stop at a choke point.

Regards
Sutripta

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Does anybody have any recent experience of the route to Digha from Kolkata? I have considered the following options. I am actually going to Tajpur which is around 20 kms from Digha.

1. NH6-NH60-SH57 via Jaleshwar to Digha.
2. NH6-SH41-Local Road-SH4 via Contai to Digha.

There are horror stories about option 2, one of them being my own though it was a few years back. The road is potholed and permanently in a terrible shape when my Zen broke down before Contai after having gone through in and out of the numerous potholes on this route. Though there are some recent claims that some patchwork has been done in light of the Digha beach festival. Not sure how far it is true.

Hence I am veering towards option 1 strongly. Has anybody done Option 1 specially SH57 since I know that NH60 is 4 laned and in good shape so should not be an issue.

I am going to Contai today, so will be able to give an update on the road condition.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

I am going to Contai today, so will be able to give an update on the road condition.

Thanks BlackPearl. Any updates from your side? I will be starting late morning on the return leg back to Kolkata.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Thanks BlackPearl. Any updates from your side? I will be starting late morning on the return leg back to Kolkata.

The road condition is good throughout. Patch work is being done at some stretches after Nandakumar.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

The road condition is good throughout. Patch work is being done at some stretches after Nandakumar.

The road is good in most parts except for around 20 KMs between Bajkul to Nandakumar where patchwork is being done and its not been widened yet. Its not bad but average speed hovered around 40-50 KMPH negotiating some remaining potholes and heavy local traffic. But most of it specially from Contai to Bajkul through SH4 was superb. All of it has been relaid and I think in another few months the whole stretch will be butter smooth to drive on leaving aside the local traffic. I was also pleasantly surprised in the stretch from Nandakumar to Mecheda where most parts of NH41 has been completed and was a great drive compared to my experience a few years ago. Seems the new CM has had some effect at least on the infrastructure of this state .

[mi2n]

Just drove back from a Digha-Shankarpur-Mandarmoni roundtrip. Excellent roads both the NH as well as the SH. The only small gripe was the road to mandarmoni, which is a bit too narrow for comfort and bejeweled with numerous bottom scraping bumpers and ditches. The road to Digha is outright excellent currently, and the little bit of patchwork going on at a very few places posed no issues. Mammoth expansion work is being done on the NH between Kolaghat and Nandakumar resulting in a few diversions, but the drive was pleasant enough. Mandarmoni to Kolaghat took me 2:30 Hrs including a 30 minute stop to allow a massive rally of school children on the SH near Nandakumar. Rushed into town to join office only to get stuck midway through Vidyasagar Setu for a1:30 Hrs long snarl to get into the city.
Summary :
Distance Travelled : 460.5 Kms (including 35 kms on the beach of Mandarmoni)
Excellent Road : 75%, Good Road : 20%, Narrow bottom-scrapers : 5% (only the approach road to Mandarmoni).
Traffic : Light : 60%, Very Light: 25%, Moderate : 12%, Dense: 3%

[SupratikDebnath]

Hi all,

I am planning a Digha trip from Kolkata next weekend. Please help me choose a road suitable to make it there safe and sound with a, lowly (GC-wise) :P Alto!

A recent road surface update would be really nice.

Thanks.

[rahul4640]

Originally Posted by SupratikDebnath

I am planning a Digha trip from Kolkata next weekend. A recent road surface update would be really nice.

One of my friend had been to Digha barely a fortnight ago, with his Santro. He had reported that the road was good, except for may be only one or two places and he had no problem.

[SupratikDebnath]

Originally Posted by rahul4640

One of my friend had been to Digha barely a fortnight ago, with his Santro. He had reported that the road was good, except for may be only one or two places and he had no problem.

Oh! OK. Thanks for the update. But which route did he take? Usual via Nandakumar or via Jaleshwar (SH57)?

Thanks again. :-)

[rahul4640]

Originally Posted by SupratikDebnath

But which route did he take? Usual via Nandakumar or via Jaleshwar (SH57)?

No, it was the usual route, via Nandakumar. I think Jaleshwar was possibly the preferred route when the road condition between Nandakumar and Digha was poor. And I guess people nowadays prefer the shorter route.

[mitrajdeep]

Originally Posted by SupratikDebnath

Hi all,

I am planning a Digha trip from Kolkata next weekend. Please help me choose a road suitable to make it there safe and sound with a, lowly (GC-wise) :P Alto!

A recent road surface update would be really nice.

Thanks.

Went to Mandarmoni on the 4th of July through Nandakumar , Contai route.

The roads were very good and doing 70 / 80 kmph is possible. I did the whole trip in 4 hours one way with no stops.

No problem with GC, i drive a Fiesta.

[SupratikDebnath]

Finally pulled off the trip to Digha, last weekend (1st + 2nd September, 2012) and thought of sharing some observations.
------------------------------------------------------------
1. NH6 and NH41 stretch is good as usual. Except only a little section, where there is a diversion in place. So till Nandakumar, there is no horror! That part can be covered within 1 hour (counting from Second hooghly bridge toll gate and not counting any stoppages).

2. Post Nandakumar, say after about 10 kms or so, the road condition suddenly deteriorates. Actually that piece of tarmac is getting relaid. So it is bound to smooth-en out in a week or so. There was a huge traffic pile-up, since one side of the road was blocked for work in progress. Recommended speeds in this section would be 40-50 kmph.

3. Once you manage to snuggle out of this section, you are fine. You can manage 70-80 kmph throughout till Digha.

Journey to Digha took around 4 hrs 30 minutes of driving (including the traffic jam, excluding stoppages).
Journey back was done in 3 hrs 40 minutes of driving (including no traffic jam, excluding stoppages..he he).

Time for some traffic updates:
------------------------------------------------------------
The less said the better. Some observations:
1. Government buses literally push you off the road, unless you are riding a bi-cycle!
2. Overtaking means, reduce your speed so that the honking maniac tailgating you can go ahead and lick his heightened ego!
3. Locals show terrible road sense. But I believe that is something quite common.

Strange incidents:
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Cars were stopped to ask for monetary help to execute the last rights of a monkey. It seems it was hit by a car moments ago! I said go and complain to the nearest police station. Sounded empathetic and got away without paying anything to these You-work-I-take policy-holders!
2. Indian Oil outlets were selling petrol at 76.56 Rs / liter, where it should be 76.14 Rs / liter. When I asked the manager, he said price varies depending on the distance from the distribution center. Is it so?

Fuel efficiency (calculated tankful to tankful):
Kol-Digha -> 14.5 kmpl (with 100% AC on)
Digha-Kol -> 22 kmpl (with 20% AC on)
I would attach the difference to the traffic hold-up post Nandakumar, en-route Digha!

Sad part: Saw one over-turned M800 around 30 kms from Nandakumar. It was resting turtle atop a village hut by the road-side. It was a pretty ghastly site. Not sure of the cause. :-(