[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by F50

Whats the condition of NH8, from Mumbai to Surat?

Pretty good,though there are some flyover constructions happening,but overall its in good shape.Ghodbunder-Surat doable in around 5hrs.

[shantyrocks]

guys...iam planning to travel from mumbai to goa next week(6th oct).iam planning to take the NH4 till kolhapur and turn right at nippani and cross amboli ghat onto sawantwadi and ahead.Any updates on this route guys? iam travelling with wife and 3 year old son.
Are there any landmarks/signs to take the right turn from kolhapur?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by shantyrocks

guys...iam planning to travel from mumbai to goa next week(6th oct).iam planning to take the NH4 till kolhapur and turn right at nippani and cross amboli ghat onto sawantwadi and ahead.Any updates on this route guys? iam travelling with wife and 3 year old son.
Are there any landmarks/signs to take the right turn from kolhapur?

Route is pretty ok except for some bad sections around amboli ghat

Landmark is that while coming from kolhapur on nh4 after climbing the tawandi ghat you would see a couple of hotels on to your left,one which is called satyavati palace take the road bang opppsite to thw hotel towards your right that is the road to uttur ajra amboli.

[shantyrocks]

Thanx Ranjit,shall remember this landmark..

[navan49]

Planning to visit Madurai tomorrow. Seems the road condition is oK. But I want to know at what time if I start from Chennai I can cover Sanayapuram and Srirangam on my way.Any updates.

[Fauji]

NH 86 Update - Vidisha - Gyaraspur - Rohetgarh - Sagar - Chhattarpur

Drove on this road last week. PATHETIC. Virtually there is no road. Can be voted as worst road in the country. Could drive in fourth gear in my Scorpio only six times for a short distance of half a KM everytime. Took five and half hours to cover 114 KMs to Sagar from Vidisha.

Pls avoid this road if you are planning any drive between Bhopal and Khajuraho. We took a detour from Sagar via Lalitpur - Tikamgarh to go to Khajuraho as the road from Sagar to Chhattarpur was as bad as between Vidisha and Sagar. It was longer but gave lot of peace

[suhaas307]

I'd been to Goa earlier last week, and the roads are absolutely fabulous! Our Jazz did not scrape the speed-breakers even once! I've written quite a lot and even taken pictures of the roads and their condition in the TL. Out of the 650 km (one way), only 20 km was a little patchy.

Here are some pictures that should help understand what the patchy road conditions were.















This stretch is the Hubli - Yellapura - Ankola stretch. It's about 250 km or so, in terms of distance. It takes about 4-5 hours to cover it, depending on traffic and the speed you average.

So apart from this short little stretch, and some corners around the ghats in Karnataka, the roads to Goa are nothing short of brilliant.

[varun.ppl]

Originally Posted by rajcs

Delhi-Pathankot-Katra- Dharamshala-Delhi

Traveled to Vaishnodevi 06-09 Oct 11. Update on road conditions:

Delhi-Katra 13 hrs including breaks. Avg driving speed 62 kmph

Widening / flyover construction on NH1 is in full swing from Sonepat to Jallandhar. There are diversions every 5 km preventing continuous speeds above 120. Although diversions are one way and traffic moves up to 80 kmph, there are chances of jams in case a vehicle gets stuck. However there are not too many options till Ambala. Beyond Ambala at Shambhu barrier (prior to the check post) took right turn onto the excellent state road to Kharar through Banur. (

Hey Raj,

After Shambhu toll plaza which is just before Rajpura(if I am not wrong), where does that road lead to (as in which location on NH1 or 1A) and does it save time). Coz i have my maternal side of the family in Jammu and road trips 4-5 times an year becomes a real pain after you enter Punjab esp from Mandi Gobindgarh till Jalandhar.

So, how is this Banur road, traffic density & does it save time?

Edit : Ok, i checked out on G-Maps the route from Banur to Kharar. Its fine. But after Kharar where did you head to? and where did you join NH1?

[jealousdiamond]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Happily, traffic is better regulated now and cars must keep to the extreme left both directions since they have a separate lane reserved/ priority crossing.

Sir , is it better now , I am planning to commute from Pune - Jaipur on 22nd Oct (Diwali breaks) and would be crossing this junction around late evening hours . Is it advisable to take the Golden Bridge instead ?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by jealousdiamond

Sir , is it better now , I am planning to commute from Pune - Jaipur on 22nd Oct (Diwali breaks) and would be crossing this junction around late evening hours . Is it advisable to take the Golden Bridge instead ?

Very difficult to say. Sometimes traffic is orderly, sometimes all lanes are blocked by trucks.
To be on the safer side, I would take the Golden Bridge

[rajcs]

Delhi-Pathankot-Katra- Dharamsala-Delhi

Traveled to Vaishnodevi 06-09 Oct 11. Update on road conditions:

Delhi-Katra 13 hrs including breaks. Avg driving speed 62 kmph

Road widening / flyover construction on NH1 is in full swing from Sonepat to Jallandhar. There are diversions every 5 km preventing continuous speeds above 120. Although diversions are one way and traffic moves up to 80 kmph, there are chances of jams in case a vehicle gets stuck. However there are not too many options till Ambala.

Beyond Ambala at Shambhu barrier (prior to the check post) took right turn onto the excellent state road to Kharar through Banur. (Thanks to @turbanator for this tip).

At Kharar joined the dual carriage NH21 to Rupnagar. From Rupnagar, took the Phagwara Highway up to Balachaur. A signboard at Balachaur indicating Pathankot diverted me to another Rohan & Rajdeep state road to Garhshankar and further onto Hoshiarpur finally joining NH1A at Dasuya.

This diversion from Shambhu to Dasuya through Kharar-Rupnagr-Balachaur-Garhshankar-Hoshiarpur is through some excellent roads through rural Punjab built by Rohan & Rajdeep and is a pleasure to drive.

NH1A from Dasuya to Mukerian has a few diversions but Mukerian to Jammu through Pathankot is excellent dual carriage highway barring the chaotic crossing into J&K at Lakhanpur.

Jammu-Srinagar NH1A is a very busy single carriage highway that sees frequent traffic jams. So turning off to NH1C made by Border Roads towards Katra was a welcome relief.

Pathankot-Dharamsala Less than 2 hrs

On return leg took NH20 from Pathankot to Gaggal and turned left to Dharamsala. Although a single carriage twisty road, good speeds can be maintained due to overall good surface and moderate traffic.

Dharamsala-Delhi 11 hrs including two meal breaks. Avg driving speed 53 kmph.

Returning from Dhramsala to Delhi I decided to follow MapmyIndia routing, which was Kangra-Ranital-Jwalaji-Nadaun-Una-Ananadpur Sahib-Kiratpur-Rupnagr-Kharar-Banur-Shambhu-Ambala-NH1. The roads in Himachal were through NH20 till Nadaun and were quite good. From Nadaun to Una, I was routed through some lonely village roads, which are not even covered in google maps. The speed was low but landscape picturesque. Eventually I joined Amb-Una road which would have been excellent but for the recent landslides. Beyond Una, it was again some very good roads by Rohan & Rajdeep till Kiratpur, when I joined NH21 from Manali to Chandigarh. Followed this road till Kharar and took the Chandigarh bypass through Banur and Shambu.

[rajcs]

Originally Posted by varun.ppl

Hey Raj,

After Shambhu toll plaza which is just before Rajpura(if I am not wrong), where does that road lead to (as in which location on NH1 or 1A) and does it save time). Coz i have my maternal side of the family in Jammu and road trips 4-5 times an year becomes a real pain after you enter Punjab esp from Mandi Gobindgarh till Jalandhar.

So, how is this Banur road, traffic density & does it save time?

Edit : Ok, i checked out on G-Maps the route from Banur to Kharar. Its fine. But after Kharar where did you head to? and where did you join NH1?

Sorry I posted prematurely by mistake. Have given full update above. The Shambhu-Banur-Kharar road is well surfaced and traffic is moderate mostly cars. So you can do some good speeds. Visibility is good too.

[varun.ppl]

Originally Posted by rajcs

Sorry I posted prematurely by mistake. Have given full update above. The Shambhu-Banur-Kharar road is well surfaced and traffic is moderate mostly cars. So you can do some good speeds. Visibility is good too.

Thanks Raj,

I checked out the route specified by you and its 11kms shorter than than the regular NH-1 till Dasuya and the way you have described the roads they seem to be a paradise in front of hellish roads & traffic on NH-1, esp from Rajpura till Jalandhar.

Btw, getting specific here, but how much estimated time it took you to cover this route i.e. from Shambhu Toll Plaza till Dasuya (I am sorry if i m getting picky). Coz it usually takes around 4.5-5.5 hours to cover this route on the main highway.

[rajcs]

Originally Posted by varun.ppl

Btw, getting specific here, but how much estimated time it took you to cover this route i.e. from Shambhu Toll Plaza till Dasuya (I am sorry if i m getting picky). Coz it usually takes around 4.5-5.5 hours to cover this route on the main highway.

I don't remember the exact timing for this stretch. But looking at the time stamps of some of the snaps I can say that I turned at Shambhu around 10.30 AM and had crossed Kathua in J&K by 4 PM.

Here are some of the snaps of this stretch:

Shambhu-Banur


Banur - Kharar


Rupnagar - Balachaur

[dushmish]

A friend is planning to drive from Mumbai to Nagpur. Please guide on which route should he take? He will be driving a Dzire.