[ais]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Don’t venture yet until it's formally inaugurated. The last time I went, there are many bridges to be built and I don’t think this will be ready in the next 3-6 months.

You can use either EPE (continue till Panchgaon and then take the exit for Sonipat) or via Bawal- Rohtak(bypass) - Panipat.

https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructu...c-in-delhi-ncr

Seems like its open now. Any update? Else I'm trying it this week.

Google Maps is showing it as the fastest route from Jaipur to Ambala

[Turbanator]

Yes, looks it’s open. Good luck and update after you travel.

[DeepeshKarnik]

Hello All !

Planning a Delhi-Jaipur roadtrip for this Saturday - 13th August, 2022. The plan is to be at Manesar McDonalds by 7AM for a quick breakfast and take off. Anybody been on this stretch recently ?

I'd appreciate any heads-up around Speed Cams, bad Roads, traffic Jams, alternate routes, good food places, RJ Cops messing with DL registration etc.

Also, a few people at work were talking about the new Delhi to Jaipur stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway being operational now and that we need to get onto the Elevated Sohna Corridor for a quicker drive to Jaipur. Has anybody heard anything about it ?

Deepesh

[ais]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Yes, looks it’s open. Good luck and update after you travel.

I drove from Mumbai to Panchkula with stopovers at Dhar / Mandu and Ajmer, and then to Panchkula using the new "Expressway" via Ambala. Here are the details.

Left at 7.00 AM from Andheri East for a 10 hour journey. Roads within Maharashtra are average, with unmarked rumble type speed breakers at every junction. This was the worst part of the trip. Top speed about 80kmph to be on the safe side, average below 60kmph. Is it better than the Gujarat route? Maybe. Given that the roads turn better as soon as we enter MP, I'd prefer this route.

In MP, the speedbreakers are lesser, and well marked with white rumble strip before them. However, cows seem to prefer such roads too, so be careful! In Rajasthan, the situation is enhanced exponentially- no speedbreakers, but more happy cows!

From Sirsodiya, we turn left and leave the National Highway. The road from here is excellent concrete till Dhar. Super relaxing. Overnight stop here and 1 day spent in sightseeing at Mandu.

From Dhar to Ajmer took about 9 hours on excellent roads and sparse traffic on the state highway. Not too bad on the Quadrilateral, but State highways are a joy. After leaving NH for Ajmer on the State Highway, its a tiring undivided road for about 45 minutes into Ajmer. Exit from Ajmer to Jaipur Highway is better. Overnight halt.

Ajmer to Panchkula was via the new Narnaul Ambala Expressway. This took about 9 hours. Upto Kotputli is the routine- rutted roads, trucks hogging the right lane (which is the norm throughout highways I guess). The left onto the new highway is after Kotputli, and the turn is not highlighted prominently so you'll need to depend on your map. There are small signboards at the turning that say something to the effect 'Good News' but one would have to stop and maybe get down and read them!

The road surface is concrete till Narnaul, then tarmac of average smoothness. This Expressway isn't like Taj or Mumbai-Pune Expressways in terms of driving pleasure. In fact, after you get off the highway, the concrete surface till Ambala is way better. Though vacant presently, the speed limit is 100kmph (80kmph in some stretches). There are no functional services or petrol pumps on the entire Expressway. So do fill your tanks and tummies before embarking. I found the journey boring, and entertained myself by checking out the distance between speed cameras (about 12 Kms). The cameras themselves can be seen well in advance for naughty drivers to slow down, making them useless. Avoid trying this road at night as it is very lonely. Road camber and smoothness is deficient, so the surface will degrade soon enough.

Personally, I find it senseless to build Expressways all over, then set low speed limits, then ignore indisciplined trucks drivers. It would be better to upgrade existing roads to international specifications and discipline road users, especially truckers.

Ambala to Panchkula was bad as ever with traffic, jams etc!

Vehicle was a Maruti Baleno petrol manual. I tried Reliance petrol and found it excellent. The new BMC air filter contributed to extra smoothness and power. Fuel consumption was about 20 KMPL with 2 pax and luggage on back seat and boot.

[channelv]

Originally Posted by realcoolhand

I think you should be fine even in City traffic. There is one flyover near airport and the other one 5-6 kms later which sees you out of city.

Back from a Hyderabad - Bhopal -Indore - Bhopal - Hyderabad Trip

There are lots of bad stretches post Adilabad towards Nagpur (pathetic conditions on return stretch as well)

Rest all the roads were good to very good (except some small bad stretches between Betul and Bhopal)

We need to be careful about small water bridges (Rapat in Hindi) between Betul and Bhopal - some of them overflew over the past week

Crossing Nagpur wasn't a issue this time with all the new flyovers in place.

Quality of washrooms at most eateries have taken a hit between December 2021 and now.

In terms of travel time: we started at 6 AM from Bhopal and were at Nagpur by 11.15 AM including a 25 min break at an eatery called Meghna near Betul.
We finally reached Gachibowli by 8.30 PM.
there was a huge traffic jam before ORR entry point on Nizamabad Medchal highway

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by channelv

...

There are lots of bad stretches post Adilabad towards Nagpur (pathetic conditions on return stretch as well)

Rest all the roads were good to very good (except some small bad stretches between Betul and Bhopal)

Care to elaborate a bit? How bad, and how long were these stretches? Doable in a typical hatchback? I'll be driving from Bhopal to Hyderabad (onwards to Bangalore).

...We need to be careful about small water bridges (Rapat in Hindi) between Betul and Bhopal - some of them overflew over the past week..

There were reports of bridge damage at Sukhtawa on Hoshangabad-Betul stretch. How is traffic being rerouted?

[channelv]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Care to elaborate a bit? How bad, and how long were these stretches? Doable in a typical hatchback? I'll be driving from Bhopal to Hyderabad (onwards to Bangalore).

There were reports of bridge damage at Sukhtawa on Hoshangabad-Betul stretch. How is traffic being rerouted?

Some of the potholes post Nagpur towards Adilabad were really bad. I was in a Fortuner and we were able pull it off in crawling speeds with 4*2. But yes, the stretch does run about 4-5 Kms. Even trucks had to crawl.

The good part is there were signs of road work being carried out on Adilabad Nagpur side. hopefully it will be fixed soon.


On the Betul - Bhopal side, try cover it in day time as there is significant cattle menace on MP highways at night. The bridges were open on Aug 6 and 14 (to and fro dates for me) but were reportedly under water (don't have a source there)

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by channelv

...The bridges were open on Aug 6 and 14 (to and fro dates for me) but were reportedly under water (don't have a source there)

Thanks.

I've been following local news in MP and most water bodies are reportedly running close to or over their flooding watermark. I have another week before my drive, so will watch what happens in the meantime.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

Pune -> Nasik -> Dhule -> Indore -> Guna -> Gwalior -> Agra

Update on the road conditions:

The roads from Pune right up till Maharashtra border are in bad condition, given that the highest toll is charged here.
There are many potholes, some of which are pretty deep along with the speed breakers and mindless speed limits such as 50kmph, 65 kmph on long straight stretches, makes this road best avoided atleast for now.
Saw many car owners with flat tyres and bent alloys on my return leg. Thanks to the pathetic road conditions between Nasik and Pune.
Once you cross MH border, things change for better.

It took me 18 hours non-stop drive to reach Agra from Pune. While it took around 20 hours non-stop drive back home.

[sridhu]

Is the construction completed on the Kanchipuram bypass from the Walajapet side to Bangalore -Madras highway ?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Is the construction completed on the Kanchipuram bypass from the Walajapet side to Bangalore -Madras highway ?

Your question is not clear. Walajah or Walajapet is near Ranipet. Walajabad is closer to Kanchipuram.

Even if its the latter, which bypass are you asking about? Walajabad-Miltary Road-76th km milestone or the bypass on NH4?

[sridhu]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Your question is not clear. ?

Wajajabad. Apologies

There were road works happening near the Varadaraja Perumal koil side. Google still avoids that road and hence the question.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Wajajabad

Walajabad-Miltary Road-76th km milestone was taken for a toss 2021 monsoon. I haven't gone near this year.

However SH120 from Oragadam-Walajabad road is fully 4-laned. This joins NH4 at Sunguvarchatram bypass. Wrote about it here (Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore : Route Queries). SH120 is 3 km from Walajabad.

This route would be faster than Walajabad-Military Road given it is heavily trafficked and slow even before 2021 NEM took it to task.

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by GTO

Yuck, this is the worst highway I've ever driven on in the last 10 years. Encountered a minimum of 100 potholes from Mumbai - Nashik. The highway is in pathetic condition. It's a throwback to the 90s really, when we had more or less accepted road quality to be poor. But in 2022? It's a shame.

Avoid this road as much as you can.

Pulling this to an appropriate thread.

Should have tried going further on Mumbai Agra Highway, Dhule onwards till MP border. Guaranteed puking.

It felt like one of those games I played on a Gameboy while avoiding all the potholes that came up every couple of seconds. It was raining all day and I was scared to use the water washer spray lest I miss one of the potholes in that split second and crack my wheel.

Aa someone has mentioned earlier in this thread. The MP stretch is a delight.

[CANPUSH]

Looking for update on Bhopal - Sagar - Chattarpur - Khajuraho road.

Anyone has travelled on this section recently? Please update.