[themagicclicks]

Thanks Golam,
I think you are the same person who has the NH34 video on Youtube? Thanks a lot again,the current info much appreciated. So in your opinion if I am travelling by the end of May, opting for the NH34 route might not be that much of a poor decision anymore?

Neelanjan

[mi2n]

Originally Posted by themagicclicks

Thanks Golam,
I think you are the same person who has the NH34 video on Youtube? Thanks a lot again,the current info much appreciated. So in your opinion if I am travelling by the end of May, opting for the NH34 route might not be that much of a poor decision anymore?

Neelanjan

Thanks for the regular updates gmhossain Sir! Really appreciated.

Hello Neelanjan,
If you are traveling after 18.05.2015, I shall hopefully be able to update the current condition of NH34 as I'll be driving to the hills on 17.05.2015 in my Figo.

[themagicclicks]

Great!
I shall be travelling by the last week of May, so your input would be almost definitively real time.

BTW, Mr.Hossain, you already pointed me at this post in your Youtube comment, but I was callous enough to not have found your previous responses above! I thought it was still the old thread I have read earlier! Thanks for your prompt reply, despite having to repeat yourself.

regards,
Neelanjan.

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by themagicclicks

So in your opinion if I am travelling by the end of May, opting for the NH34 route might not be that much of a poor decision anymore?

I would say yes. It won't be a poor choice given the condition of alternative routes. Farakka-Raiganj section has also improved in last few months.

However, be aware of bad stretches too. So plan your time accordingly. Also, carry enough food and water in your car. In case you are stuck in a long jam, you can always enjoy a road-side picnic After all you are on a leisure trip. So enjoy every moment and drive safe!

[rahul_kej]

Originally Posted by themagicclicks

3. And finally, some member noted above about the state of some stretch of the road after Dumka to be in eroded condition, any update on that otherwise better route as noted by all experts here?

Any suggestion to a green horn will be appreciated.

I would suggest you to take kolkata burdwan durgapur asansol deoghar sultangunj bhagalpur purnea dalkola siliguri route.

Its approx. 700kms without much hiccups.

NH-34 is still not suggested may be for another 1.5 years, dumka to bhagalpur is in bad shape, so currently above route is the best option.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by rahul_kej

I would suggest you to take kolkata burdwan durgapur asansol deoghar sultangunj bhagalpur purnea dalkola siliguri route.

That is a bit longer. One may try Amarpur & Banka instead of Sultangunj route.

Will be shorter & surface is albeit the same.

[themagicclicks]

I would suggest you to take kolkata burdwan durgapur asansol deoghar sultangunj bhagalpur purnea dalkola siliguri route.

Its approx. 700kms without much hiccups.

NH-34 is still not suggested may be for another 1.5 years, dumka to bhagalpur is in bad shape, so currently above route is the best option.

I am now once again tilting towards this route. Thank you!

Hello Neelanjan,
If you are traveling after 18.05.2015, I shall hopefully be able to update the current condition of NH34 as I'll be driving to the hills on 17.05.2015 in my Figo.

Still on schedule? hope to hear from you soon

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by mi2n

Hello Neelanjan,
If you are traveling after 18.05.2015, I shall hopefully be able to update the current condition of NH34 as I'll be driving to the hills on 17.05.2015 in my Figo.

Originally Posted by themagicclicks

Still on schedule? hope to hear from you soon

We shall be hitting NH-34 tomorrow (May 19) to go to Malda. Once I reach there, I shall update the current road condition of NH-34 up to Malda. If everything goes according to plan, we shall be heading towards Dooars from our Malda home in the weekend. In that case, I shall be able to update on entire NH-34 road condition after we return from there.

Cheers,
Golam

[mi2n]

Kolkata to Siliguri (all along NH34)

Date of journey : 17th May 2015
Vehicle : Ford Figo TDCi

Let me put up a brief update at this time, as yesterday, the hotel room at Siliguri (Tourist Inn) neither had wifi nor had a good Vodafone signal. I’m posting this from Kaluk, West Sikkim and this hotel (Ghonday Resort) has a reasonable wifi connection and I am getting sporadic 3G data on my Vodafone connection as well. I would base my information on the route partitions provided by gmhossain. Sir, I took a printout of your post and kept writing my timings on it as and when I passed a given waypoint.

A. Airport to Bara Jaguli : Left home(Madhyamgram) at 0400 sharp and reached Bara Jaguli at 0440 via Barasat. No holdups. Very good surface. Note : Almost all oncoming vehicles were running on High Beams.

B. Bara Jaguli to Krishnanagar : Crossed Krishnanagar at 0610 with a 10 min tea break at Ranaghat. Very good surface with a few diversions. Note : Bottom scraped at Ranaghat level crossing, thankfully the only one till today. Stray dogs, lots of them. Unmarked diversions. Stay really alert.

C. Krishnanagar to Bethuadahari : Reached Bethuadahari at 0740. Huge snarl at Nakashipara railway crossing due to accident. Took unknown diversion through kacchha muddy village roads and rejoined NH34 at Bethuadahari. Note : Lots and lots of diversions, unmarked.

D. Bethuadahari to Baharampur : Crossed Palashi at 0810 and Baharampur at 0915. Missed the Sargachi Bypass. Overall, barely livable roads. Note : Unruly local traffic, diversions, degenerating roads, couple of markets(hats) bang on the road causing minor congestions. 1st can of Redbull.

E. Baharampur to Shibpur Toll Plaza : Reached the toll plaza at 0945. Good roads, did not get held up anywhere.

F. Shibpur toll plaza to Farakka : Reached Moregram at 1005. Stopped for breakfast at the Dhaba adjacent to BP Bunk. 30 mins break. Reached Farakka at 1120. Excellent roads, but if I may say, not exactly NH2 quality, many intersections. Note : Good food at the Dhaba. Had to be. Was recommended by a BHPian. The roads? Oh what a respite. Pedal to the metal mode : ON.

G. Farakka to Kaliachowk : Crossed Kaliachak at 1200. Bad roads approaching Farakka Barrage and afterwards. Slow progress. Notes : At Kaliachowk, you become the errant driver! As Pumba ( The Lion King) once said “When the world turns it’s back on you, you turn your back to the world.” Wrong side of the road, wrestling for space with loaded trucks and rickety old buses, local rickshaws, few ORVM kisses with other cars and full use of that trumpet horn. Oh and how did I miss this one – diversions!

H. Kaliachowk to Maldah : Crossed Hotel Golden Park at 1320. Livable roads, local traffic. Note : Places to see : Plastic scrap capital of the world! 2nd can of Redbull. And wait, diversions.

I. Maldah to Itahar : Reached Itahar at 1410. Excellent roads. Notes : Pedal to the metal mode : ON. Please see : Diversions!

J. Itahar to Dalkhola : Crossed Raiganj at 1435 and reached Dalkhola at 1535. Mostly good roads. Notes : Felt blessed while crossing the railway crossing, had to take to the wrong side to overtake around 40 trucks and claim my spot at the start of the que. The gates opened in 5 minutes. I have seen pot holes, I have seen craters and then there is this thing right after Dalkhola railway crossing!!

K. Dalkhola to Siliguri : Filled up both the car and the tummy at BP Dalkhola. Excellent roads. Patched up till Kishengunj. Blissful thereafter. Entered Siliguri at 1830.

Notes : The food was good albeit delayed. The Figo took in just 27 litres. My first tryst with concrete surface on NH31. Tea estates.

Total Time taken : 14 hours and 30 minutes
Fuel Economy : 18.15 kmpl upto Dalkhola (90% AC)

Planning to take the Siuri-Bolpur route on my way back. Any heads up on that? Signing of which a teaser click :

[gmhossain]

Here are some updates on NH-34 road condition based on our today's drive (May 19).

For Krishnanagar Baharampur section:

Good: Plassey/Mirabazar section has been resurfaced. The remaining road stretches have been reasonably patched up. It's still uneven but way better than what it was last month.

Bad: Most diversions in this section remains horrible. Apparently, SEW Infra (the company which is building this section of NH-34) has ran out funds. So 4-laning work in this section is currently stalled.

Ugly: Bethuadahari and few adjacent stretches have gone from bad to worse. In fact some amount of off-roading skill would be useful here

Kaliachak remains a bottleneck as usual. It took me an hour to cross it today as there was a massive jam. However, thanks to the police. Otherwise it could have been even longer. They were allowing all passenger vehicles to use left-side of right-carriageway and forcing most Malda-bound trucks to remain on left-carriageway. So we could reach Kaliachak Chowrangee crossing relatively earlier.

Approaching Kaliachak using right carriageway


Just before Kaliachak where Malda-bound traffics were being merged




Cheers,

[gearhead_mait]

Originally Posted by mi2n

Kolkata to Siliguri (all along NH34)

Date of journey : 17th May 2015
Vehicle : Ford Figo TDCi
..

Which road did you take to Kaluk? Put up a Travelogue.

[mi2n]

I took the Melli - Jorethang - Zoom - Soreng - Kaluk route.
After Jorethang / Nayabazar a narrow and very steep climb to Zoom with lots of hairpins. Was very unnerving to say the least. But freshly laid tarmac saved me.

[themagicclicks]

Originally Posted by rahul_kej

I would suggest you to take kolkata burdwan durgapur asansol deoghar sultangunj bhagalpur purnea dalkola siliguri route.

Its approx. 700kms without much hiccups.

NH-34 is still not suggested may be for another 1.5 years, dumka to bhagalpur is in bad shape, so currently above route is the best option.

After recent accounts by both BHPians who have posted their route experience along NH34, I am very tempted to not to follow the route along NH34 I followed last December, true the Farakka-Kaliachak-Malda section saps almost all the energy.

Originally Posted by Sheel

That is a bit longer. One may try Amarpur & Banka instead of Sultangunj route.

Will be shorter & surface is albeit the same.

Do you have anything further to help about this route? And any Google Map reference about the Tetari Durga Mandir Bypass please?

Originally Posted by mi2n

Kolkata to Siliguri (all along NH34)

Date of journey : 17th May 2015
Vehicle : Ford Figo TDCi

Great Journey, been to Kaluk in May'14, loved the Mandarin Resort the most, stayed there, next time I must drive up to Kaluk, great trip!

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by themagicclicks

Google Map reference about the Tetari Durga Mandir Bypass please?!

Its there on this thread, please do search for it.

The bypass for Tetri is still required? Main road is still bad?

With monsoon, expect deterioration and with saawan month, expect pilgrims/traffic in Deoghar/Sultangunj route.

On 4/5 April 2015, I drove from Priya, Bhubaneswar to Summit Milestone, Siliguri via Kharagpur>Bankura>Raniganj>Chittaranjan>Jamtara>Sa rath>Deoghar>Banka> Purnea>Bhagalpur>Siliguri.



After checking out of Ginger, we had sumptuous and delicious meal at Priya, Bhubaneswar and left at 2:20 pm on 4 April 2015.

I paid a toll of ₹ 10 to Chittraranjan Panchayat for using the Chittraranjan-Rupnarayanpur road at 00:35 hours.



My XUV 500's MapMyIndia [MMI] navigator guided me perfectly alright except the Jamtara - Sarath sector in Jharkhand at the ghostly hours by taking me through some interior villages! First, I doubted the route shown by MMI. There were nobody available in those villages to seek guidance. Finanally, a group of villagers were returning with their families on motorcycles and auto-rickshaws from a festive congregation in Sarath, who confirmed the route and guided me further to Sarath>Deoghar.







The roads were good all along in Jharkhand and Bihar. Navigating through the crowded and congested Bhagalpur was painful even at the early hours of the day. I did not face any traffic jam at Vikramshila Setu although armies of trucks were parked all along the road, which confused me whether it was a traffic jam or trucks using the road for parking. Thank god, it was the latter!



Crossing Purnea was easy on the bypass. But there were some rough sections even on the 4-lane NH from Dalkhola and Siliguri, not to speak of some stretches remaining as 2-lanes between 4-laned road.

Finally, we reached our hotel at Siliguri at 12 noon on 5 April 2015 after driving 995 km - 1,019 km as per MMI! - in 22 hours.

In the return journey, I drove through Siliguri>Purnea>Begusarai>Bihar Sharif>Pavapuri>Bodhgaya>Barhi>Ranigunj>Bankura>Kh aragpur to Bhubaneswar, where we had halted before returning to Chennai.