[Sheel]

Can any of you give me the name/s of places between Massanjore to Bolpur, so that I can write them as well as feed it on maps for precise directions?

[Puranjoy]

Hi friends,
leaving on this route tonight for Ravangla -
Kolkata-Dgp expy-SH7(Burdwan-Nabagram-Khargram)-Moregram-NH12/NH34-Malda-Raiganj-Botolbari-Dhantola-Islampur-Siliguri

Just one question - is it safe at night. Will be travelling with my family. Are there any areas that should be avoided at night. Please suggest.
Regards,
Puranjoy.

[NomadicLife]

I would suggest
Kolkata -- Durgapur express way till Burdwan -- NH114 or road to Bolpur -- Road to Suiri -- Suiri to Rampurhat -- Nalhati -- Morgram -- Farakka--malda -- raiganj-- BOTOLBARI or DOMOHANA if the former is closed -- siliguri.

I have done this multiple time and the road is safe.

I prefer to avoid ST 7 as there might sometimes be problem. Moreover the road is not that wide as the one I have told you. This might be a bit longer but really does not matter in the night.

Best of luck!

[themagicclicks]

Originally Posted by NomadicLife

I prefer to avoid ST 7
Best of luck!

Never been much problem in travelling through such places in my experience, for that matter didn't face any trouble travelling through places in Bihar or Jharkhand either. Had to take a detour through Simariya from Phulwaria while coming back from North Bengal once, because a broken truck blocked the road in Bhagalpur that lead towards Katoria, a local Chacha guided me through that very narrow village road where if one car is driving in one direction no other car should enter into it from the other direction, until this one has passed, he advised me to keep honking all the way so that other drivers can know that I am coming.

[Sheel]

I don't think I am driving on NH 34 for a long time to come. Purnia (center) to Sealdah was 475 kms.
Purnia to Naugachia - good roads.
Naugachia to Bhagalpur - mixed, but decent.
Bhagalpur - take the kacheri chowk route till bypass is operational. Please do not take the ulta pool road, it is completely messed up. You will pull your hair out.
Bhagalpur to Bihar/JH border - good roads.
JH onwards - construction is on and I loved this route. I was flying here, it is either from one diversion to other or hopping from one lane (under construction and at a different level than the one in shambles and being patched)
Filled up at Dumka, took the bypass and stopped at Massanjore, our only proper stop.

Took the Birbhum, Bolpur route on suggestion from ever helpful BHPian Samba. I was on phone with 1100D as well.

I will go via the same route in the next 2/3 days.

[Puranjoy]

Hi Guys,
Trip update - just came back to Kolkata from a 5 day tour to Ravangla(South Sikkim). Based on inputs from this thread and local intelligence I took the following route -
Kolkata - Durgapur Expressway - Burdwan - SH7 (via Kuli) - Morgram - Malda - Raiganj - Botolbari - Goagaon - Dhantola - Islampur - Siliguri.

Some finer details -
the road surface is excellent throughout the route except for 10-12 km stretch between Kuli and Khargram. Also the last 200 mtrs of the Botolbari-Dhantola (Bengal to Bengal) road - there is no surface at all It is like going through an off-road obstacle course. Surely going to scrape the bottom of low slung sedans and hatchbacks. While returning you should pass by the Dhantola entrance and proceed for another 500 meters on NH31 and then take left through a narrow lane beside a small Mosque. This will be the 2nd mosque after the Dhantola crossing. This road winds around and meets the Dhantola-Botolbari road in another 500 meters. This way you can avoid the ditches. Follow Google maps during the Dhantola-Botobari stretch - it is pretty accurate. Once I did not follow and landed up in Domohona-Rasakhowa road which is in pretty bad shape. While going you should follow -
1.Botolbari - Rasakhowa Rd
2.Goagaon - Rudel Rd
3.Shahpur - Goagaon Rd
4.Rasakhowa - Dhantola Rd
and obviously in the reverse order while returning (towards Botolbari). There are lot of interconnecting roads like Domohona-Rasakhowa Rd - which needs to be avoided.

I covered the entire route at night both while going and coming. Driving at night helped me avoid traffic jams at the usual points like Burdwan, Farakka, Kaliachak, Malda and Raiganj. But as luck would have it - while going I got stuck in a jam at Mangalbari Railway crossing near Malda due to a truck breakdown resulting in a deadlock. That took about an hour to clear. While returning same thing happened at Farakka where a truck had broken down near the barrage entrance. Overall I found the route safe and good. I was travelling with my wife, two kids, friend, his wife and his one kid

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I will go via the same route in the next 2/3 days.

I came back yesterday and followed the same route.

It was the usual timing and traffic, nothing special.

Between NH 34 and this route, pick your poison

[pyrodrive]

We were driving from Bangalore to Guwahati last week and as expected, the Kolkota to Siliguri stretch was the worst of all the roads in that 3400km road trip.
Took the Burdwan- bolpur- suri - rampurhaat-moregram route. There was reports of floods in the state highways, so we decided to rough it out on the NH34 instead of going on the smaller roads.

Update- Burdwan to suri : good but narrow roads.
Suri to rampurhat: mostly good roads.
Rampurhat to moregram :bad roads with potholes
Moregram to Farakka(nh34): great 4lane road.
Farakka, kaliachak and malda - narrow roads, but surface is ok. Got stuck in the usual truck traffic in this sector for a couple of hours.
Malda to Raiganj - mostly 4 lane with good surface.
Raiganj to dalkhola : It is still the nh34 of old, big craters and all. Even the good GC punto got an underbody hit in one of the craters. However they are repairing the potholes nearer to, and inside dalkhola.
Dalkhola to siliguri: great roads. 4 lane throughout except few kms in the end and a small section in Islampur.
A question for the veterans of this route.. how safe is the botolbari road at night? We were in two minds whether to take that road or not (mostly because of the flood) , and then stopped near the junction to ask the local shopkeepers, they advised us not to take that route at that hour ( it was 9pm) and said that a few ' incidents' had occured. Did not elaborate though.

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

A question for the veterans of this route.. how safe is the botolbari road at night? We were in two minds whether to take that road or not (mostly because of the flood)

I think this stretch better be avoided in the night. While some untoward incidents cannot be ruled out in the night, I would be more worried about the multiple sharp turns that are present in this stretch. It's basically an interconnected MDRs (major district roads) not a state highway.

However, during daylight it's much more predictable route and given the current situations at Dalkhola level crossing, I would take it on any day.

Best,

[Sutripta]

^^^
Roads which pass too close to the Bangladesh border are always slightly suspect. Though nowadays with border fencing and patrolling, and also much heavier traffic, I guess shouldn't be so much of a problem anymore.

Regards
Sutripta

PS I used to avoid the Ghoshpukur - Phulbari Siliguri bypass at night. High chance one would find the level crossing closed, making you a target in the middle of nowhere.

[themagicclicks]

Been to Gorumara and back right during the heaviest deluge of 21st to 25th of July, used the SH7 route from Bardhaman to Moregram, perfect condition except for about 55km between Kuli and Moregram, Kaliachawk now has good roads, Rosulput and Malda crossing was not a problem either at around 1 PM during the day. Itahara Ranigunj stretch is pretty good too, took Botolbari-Dhantola bypass for the first time, the initial few kilometers a little narrow and you have to keep giving pass to local Bolero taxis of North Bengal, but after that it's a picturesque route through North Bengal villages and the people are generally nice and helpful if you ask for route confirmation. I have earlier always used the Jharkhand Bihar route and this route was a treat for me as a first time. Took the Phoolbari Ghoshpukur bypass and the diversion from there to take the Gajoldoba Canal Road to Gorumara. This is one beautiful road I have ever seen, a long stretch of perfect tarmac with hills in the horizon, the canal on one side and the forest on the other. Took this route because people advised against the Sevoke route and this is shorter too if you are going to Gorumara.

However while returning, the rains have already taken it's toll on the Canal Road and at many points roads were blocked off and we had to ask locals and turn back and take a diversion to the Falakata Level Crossing to be back on the Canal Road, on the return leg found NH34 ( NH 12 ) to have dramatically deteriorated due to the monsoon, and since reports on TV of flooding along the Panagrarh-Moregram expressway were being shown, avoided that and planned to stick to SH7 instead, but then reached Moregram at 4:20 PM despite leaving Gorumara at 7:30 AM in the morning, heavy and blinding downpour and deteriorated road conditions and the diversions along the Canal Road and Mahananda Barrage took the extra time, so instead of getting into village roads in the evening and in the heavy rain, decided to stick to NH34, and visited hell once again after 2014, reached home at 1 AM after a prolonged 18 hours straight drive with only maybe 2 breaks to take a leak and one break at Malda when I got off to withdraw cash from an ATM.

My 8 month old boy braved the long journey well, but that honestly was a wrong decision to not halt at Malda, 18 hours is a torture on a little body, his mother literally held him suspended on her arms all along the broken NH34 till we reached home, because when we entered the City through Kalyani, we were surprised to see the toll the rains had taken on the city roads too!

[mmchak@gmail.co]

I will be travelling to Lataguri from Calcutta with my 5 year old daughter on 22nd September, with another friend and another car. (Total two cars). We plan to halt at Raiganj and next day collect a few more friends from Bagdogra. Between May and now, there are many changes in roads to north Bengal. Please advise – should we take right from Burdwan, take Badshahi road or we take right from Darjeeling more and take Panagarh Moregram highway? Is there any other suggestions. Cheers … M M Chakraborty (Swing)

[themagicclicks]

Originally Posted by mmchak@gmail.co

I will be travelling to Lataguri from Calcutta with my 5 year old daughter on 22nd September, with another friend and another car. (Total two cars). We plan to halt at Raiganj and next day collect a few more friends from Bagdogra. Between May and now, there are many changes in roads to north Bengal. Please advise – should we take right from Burdwan, take Badshahi road or we take right from Darjeeling more and take Panagarh Moregram highway? Is there any other suggestions. Cheers … M M Chakraborty (Swing)

In July the Panagarh-Moregram highway was damaged by flood at some places as far as I could conclude ( I didn't take that route on the onward journey so can't mention the actual status before the flood ) but the SH7 was good, in North Bengal check if going via Sevoke is an option before moving ahead, since often GJM blocks that route, in July most of Dooars was inaccessible, Samsing, Suntalekhola all had to be avoided. Planned to go to Phoentsoling but news came that last evening there was trouble, I avoided going there since I had my 8 months old boy with me, and any hold up would be a big problem. But was a good decision in the end, the very next day or the other, saw on TV how GJM peaceful protest turned violent and properties were vandalised.

If Sevoke is off limits, take the Phoolbari - Ghospukur bypass to the Canal Road, that road has a very good surface and is very pictureseque ( adding a photo of that road ) , but once again, after the rains, and the flooding of Mahananda, there might be damages there too. While returning on 27th July, already there were some damages and had to divert through Falakata.

Malda was flooded badly so the section of NH34 after Itahar, that was already pothol ridden, will be a little more damaged indeed.

[mmchak@gmail.co]

The Canal Road that one joins from the Phoolbari-Ghoshpukur was in excellent condition in July.

Thanks a lot.
We will take SH7 and heard work has started in malda. Since the GJM activities are in a bit of control dooars now easier to go than what is was a month back.

[themagicclicks]

By the name Swing and the name M M Chakraborty, if I am guessing right, you could be someone I think I have seen on photos of my childhood friends Ujjal Mukherjee, Indronil Bhattacharjee or his batch mate and my Facebook friend Rajib Sengupta.