[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by crossroads

Hi,

I am planning a trip to visit BodhGaya - Rajgir - Baidyanath Dham (Jyotirling temple in Jharkhand) with my family that includes elders and kids. I am planning to hire a car from BodhGaya to Baidyanath Dham and visit Rajgir, Nalanda on the way. The distance between the two places seems to be around 200 kms and online maps suggests that it could be covered in 3 hours.

A) How good is the road condition between these two places? Maps show that the journey would be on NH 333. Any idea about the road condition?

B) I am planning to start from BodhGaya in morning and visit Rajgir, Nalanda and other places. With this plan, my aim is to reach Deogarh around 9-10 PM. How safe is it to travel on these roads after dusk?

C) Any other places apart from Rajgir and Nalanda that can be covered on the way?

Could you please help me with your suggestions?

Multiply the online timings by a factor of 2 considering the traffic that is present on this stretch. Other than that, Nalanda would not take more than 2 hours and depending on what all you want to cover at Rajgir, the time spent would be 2-4 hours.

A) Road condition is generally good. Only that you'll have lots of traffic in the town areas.
B) I'd suggest to start early and avoid traveling after dark, but then if you are hiring a taxi, probably the driver would be a local and he would know the nuisance involved.
C)Pawapuri is also a POI, but then you'll have to break your journey and make it a two-day affair.

I returned from a 7 k km trip of HP/UK/RJ on 18 Sep 2013.

Some of the bad stretches in different parts of India:

1. Between Satara and Pune: pity, we have to pay toll to get our cars thrashed and beaten up

2. Pune NH 4 bypass: hell at loose

3. About 40 km near Shirdi in MH SH: pain in all parts of the body

4. Indore to Lebad Chowki: some stretches are 4-laned; bad stretches inbetween them

5. MP/RJ border to Chittorgarh: off-roading is inevitable

6. Amritsar to Pathankot: 4-laning works are in progress

7. Pathankot to Dalhousie via Nurpur/Dhunera: many bad stretches/rough/single lane/narrow roads plus a toll of 30 is to be paid on entering Himachal Pradesh, which is valid for 24 hours

8. Dalhousie to Dharamsala/Mcleodganj via Dhunera/Nurpur: many bad stretches/rough roads

9. Mcleodganj to Dehradun/Mussoorie: many bad stretches in Himachal Pradesh

10. Mussoorie to Bikaner via Paonta Sahib/Hisar/Churu: many bad stretches/road improvement works in Rajasthan; petrol is not available in many petrol pumps even on NH; only diesel is available.

11. Bikaner to Mount Abu: road widening works in progress between Pali and Sirohi in Rajasthan; petrol is not available even in IOC COCOO, Sanderao, RJ; my Linea had tankful only at the fourth pump.

12. All the interstate borders except KA-MH, RJ/GJ and GJ/MH are in terrible state: MH/MP, MP/RJ, RJ/PB, PB/HP, HP/UK, HP/HR and HR/RJ.

Now comes the good roads:

13. HP/UK border to Dehradun/Mussoorie

14. Abu Road to Bangalore via Palanpur/Mumbai/Pune: Excellent 4 lane roads except NH 4 Pune bypass and Pune to Satara. My Linea returned the best fuel efficiency in this stretch only!

[ST7677]

Originally Posted by ST7677

How is the road condition of NH234 from Koti Linga Temple near Bangarapet to Pernampattu?

I am planning a trip from Bangalore to Golden Temple in Sripuram, via Koti Lingeswara temple.

Return will be via Krishnagiri.

I traveled this route on Saturday (NH234 from Koti Linga Temple near Bangarapet to Pernampattu).
The road is mostly decent but there is only single lane for both side traffic. Worse part is that the shoulders on both sides are 6" lower so getting off the road and back on is a problem. There are occasional potholes and cuts on the sides.
The autos coming from opposite side will never give you way, so you must get off the road to avoid them.

The average speed you are likely to get on this road is about 30 kmph.

[BlackBerry]

Folks, I am planning for a Bangalore-Allahabad roundtrip in October 1st week. Need suggestion on the best route (want high-speed roads) and information on night halt. I will be travelling with my family (wife and son).
Many thanks.

[bonnie]

I am planning to travel with my family from Bangalore to Tarkarli in Oct 1st week and from Tarkarli to Mahableswar and back.

It would be nice if anyone can tell the road conditions for the following -:

Bangalore to Tarkarli - planning the belgaum-amboli-sawantwadi-malvan route

Tarkarli to Mahableswar thru chiplun-poladpur or gaganbawda or Radhanagri
Would like to select the route based on route condition and scenery.

[pareshkose]

Nagpur-Delhi road condition & updates. current as of 30/9/2013.
Vehicle: Renault - Scala Diesel. April 2013 registration
Here are details of the journey undertaken from Nagpur to Delhi(Faridabad) from 27/9/2013 to 29/9/2013.
Google route is via N-S corridor. The road condition between mansar-khawasa (approx 45 km) (mansar is 40 km from nagpur) are horrible. Reported that no tar road exists between these 2 stations. Road between Jhansi to Gwalior (approx 105 km) is again horrible. This is as reported by locals of the area.
SO decided to go by alternate route. The planned trip is
Nagpur - Pandhurna - Multai - Betul - Itarsi - Hoshangabad - Bhopal - Guna - Shivpuri - Gwalior - Agra - Delhi (Yamuna expressway)

Nagpur - Pandhurna 89 Km , 2 hrs. Road in good condition. 4 lane work in progress but still road is good. Ground speed of 50 Km/Hr is comfortable without any taxing on vehicle or driver.
Pandhurna - Multai 38 Km , 1 Hr. From here road conditions start deteriorating. still road is motor-able, lot of traffic , no bypass on many small towns & lot of local traffic.
Multai - Itarsi 90 Km , 3 Hrs. From here it becomes terrible. First whiff of MP roads where roads are either non-existent or resemble a riverbed without water. Many potholes. No tarring on many stretches for 10 Km or so.
Itarsi - Hoshangabad 18 Km , 40 min. Road condition still bad. Terrible traffic & terrible road.
Hoshangabad - Bhopal 77 Km , 3 Hrs. Road condition remains terrible.
Nagpur - Bhopal , 364 Km, 10.30 hrs of driving.
Halt at Bhopal. No condition of either drivers to take the ordeal further.
Bhopal - Guna 213 Km , 7 Hrs. This is the worst road ever encountered in my life. Potholes are so large that you have to navigate your vehicle through them & make sure that you do not bump front , rear or under-body of the vehicle. No town , city , village has bypass. Biora has a bypass which is worse than a field. Each & every bridge is in dilapidated condition, Road on bridge is specially worse, a 10 meter bridge will take about 5 min to cross. broken down bridge between Aman to Ragogarh. main road not available. Requires a detour from smaller villages to reach Raghogarh. Small village roads for about 30 Km. Road speed achieved 18 Km/Hr. Dont try this route for any reason whatsoever.
Guna - Shivpuri , 99 Km, 3 Hrs. Same road condition.
Shivpuri - Gwalior 120 Km, 2.30 Hrs. Road condition becomes motor-able here. Still lot many pothole. The potholes are small & not too deep. However takes a toll on tyres & suspensions.
Stay at Gwalior
Gwalior - Agra 120 Km, 2.30 Hrs. Road is like heaven after MP roads. Good road condition. Good tarmac, no potholes, less traffic.
Agra - New Delhi (Noida) via Yamuna Expressway Excellent road by any standard. Toll tax Rs. 320. for Agra- Noida. Watch out for over-speeding on this stretch. One tend to cross speed limit (100 Kmph for cars). Many cameras on the road, many watch and maintenance vehicles along all of the route. Saw one speed ticket being issued at Palwal Entry point.

Total journey 1140 Km. 2 drivers. 3 days.
10.30 driving hours on first day, distance covered 364 Km.
12 driving hours on second day, distance covered 433 Km.
4.30 driving hours on third day, distance covered 343 Km.

Anybody interested to travel across India from North-South or East-West, please avoid journey in Madhya Pradesh. The roads are terrible. If you have an old vehicle in reasonable condition, DO NOT repeat DO NOT travel through MP. The only good roads i found all along the way is Bhopal city. If you crossing Bhopal, please do not take bypass. Its easier on vehicle & driver to travel through city.

Questions are welcome.

[vinukm]

Hello Friends,

Planning for a Weekend visit to Kukke Subramanya temple. Can some one please let me know the road condition?

[Sudipto-S-Team]

There is a serious flood like situation going on in the districts around Orissa-Bengal border. Any update on NH60 between Balasore and Kharagpur? Dantan is flooded, I know. What about the highway? Keleghai river on that sector is known to flow dangerously over the highway. A friend is scheduled to come on Saturday from BBSR. Any pointer will be appreciated.

[ranjitp1]

Does anybody have any update on the Kolhapur-Hyderabad route via Athani,Bijapur,Jevargi,Manneguda,ORR

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vinukm

Planning for a Weekend visit to Kukke Subramanya temple. Can some one please let me know the road condition?

The road conditions are good from Bangalore to Sakleshpur. Shiradi is in shambles as per latest reports but I guess you don't have a better option when going from Bangalore so you should just bite the bullet and endure the Shiradi ghats till the turn off to Kukke.

You may find more relevant information in the following threads:
Bangalore-Kukke
Bangalore-Mangalore/Udupi

[nayaksrinivasv]

Hello Team-BHPites,

I plan to travel from Pune to Karwar(Pune-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Karwar in November and have a small 2 night vacation. Wanted to know some of the following.

1. Hows the road condition these days especially after the rains.
2. Any precautions I should take while. I have my wife and our toddler with me.
3. Any good locations or resorts to stay in Karwar. I checked JLR but that seems to be very pricey(comes to 15k for 2 nights).
4. Hows the road condition if I intend to travel from Karwar to Mangalore via NH17.

Any thoughts would be welcome

Regards,

S

[slicvic]

Originally Posted by nayaksrinivasv

4. Hows the road condition if I intend to travel from Karwar to Mangalore via NH17.

Small stretches near Bhatkal and Kundapur are spoilt, the rest of the drive till Kundapur will be ok. Total of about 15 Kms of bad bad road. between Kundapur and Mangalore road widening and 4 laning is in progress so you need to watch for lane switches and oncoming traffic on your lane.

[TheTeacher]

We drove from Udupi to Sirsi via the coastal Hwy 17 on the 16th.

Udupi - Kundapur is ok.

Starting from inside Kundapur, the road is a shambles till around Murudeshwar. There are no potholes, there are craters. Massive ones. Across the full width of the road. Even lorries and tankers were coming to a full stop, shifting to first gear and negotiating them gingerly. There is no choice as to which crater to put your car in; there are craters everywhere. My June 2013 Linea (refreshed model) with 16" wheels and 195mm ground clearance had problems despite being careful; the ABS warning light came on. Need to take it to FASS to get it fixed. It is a crying shame that a National Hwy is in this condition. India Shining at its best :(

Honavar to Kumta is ok.

Kumta to Sirsi: I have travelled this stretch before and have suffered with bad roads and construction delays. But the road is freshly laid and is in awesome condition. It has also been widened now. Kudos to the people in charge.

Did a short drive (about 20 kms) from Sirsi to Sonda via the Yallapur Hwy. A tad narrow, but excellent. Very scenic.

Drove back from Sirsi via Siddapur, Sagara, Shimoga. This stretch is in absolutely fantastic condition. They even have the white broken center stripe and the continuous white stripe on the edges of the tarmac like they do in the US. No spreed breakers, just a delight. Once can drive this stretch for the sheer pleasure of it. Whoever is in charge should be recognized!

Shimoga - Bhadravathi - Tarikere - Chickmagalur is ok. Ghat section before Chickmagalur is twisty and narrow, slows one down. Surface is quite good.

Chickmagalur - Mysore via Belur and Hassan is full of speed breakers which kill average speed, but surface is good.

Originally Posted by NPV

Shiradi is in shambles as per latest reports but I guess you don't have a better option when going from Bangalore so you should just bite the bullet and endure the Shiradi ghats till the turn off to Kukke.

Wouldn't Bisle Ghat Road be an option? Sakleshpur - Hiriyur - Hethur on Route 107, then Route 85.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Wouldn't Bisle Ghat Road be an option? Sakleshpur - Hiriyur - Hethur on Route 107, then Route 85.

From what I know - Bisle Ghat is mostly offroading territory. This route can be done albeit very cautiously till the Bisle View point and from there to Kukke is very treacherous.
There are several posts on TBHP in other threads as well about Bisle Ghat condition.

[nayaksrinivasv]

Any comments on the state of the roads from Belgaum to karwar (SH 34 and NH 4A). Would appreciate if some one has traveled that road recently. I know that Kolhapur to Belgaum roads are awesome.