[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Tgo

I went on this route two times (2016 and 2020) while going to GGN from Agra. On both occasions, exit from E-way at Palwal, has a really bad stretch (felt like 10-15 km). I was travelling in the evening so couldn't comprehend the surroundings much but there was a longish bridge which had a jam consisting mostly of trucks in 2016, and later in 2020 that section had some grading work due to which there were unpaved roads all-throughout.

One needs to be sure where to take a diversion at Palwal for Sohna, gets confusing at night.

Thanks sir - I saw it in google maps. It had a ~40 min delay vs what a similar length of route via Noida would have taken. More than safety - my concern was the smooth surface - if a route takes ~40 min (25%) longer than an equivalent route then clearly there are broken stretches which means my napping wife and son would have been disturbed. That was my primary concern, over and above how lonely the route may have been at 730pm.

Anyhow, route updates -
I left GGN at 515pm reached LKO at 2:40am (1.5 hour breaks). On the reverse, left at 2:45pm and reached home by 10:50pm (50+10 min break)

- Smaller joints such as barista jewar close by 7pm sharp. After 11pm only rest area dhabas are open but the food is decently available. The first dhaba from LKO side (~KM238) was terrible - only pakoras,dosa, chai - while the 100km one towards LKO (Muhabbatpur) was lovely - sleepy owl coffee, energy drinks, candies, name it - they had it.
- Toilets availability is a problem but they are clean everywhere - we had to wait almost 100km when coming from LKO - the last 80km of ALE and then first few km of YE had no loo till the toll plaza
- At this hour (starting 645pm GNoida) the traffic visibly thinned out by Jewar - thereon, you had emergency vehicles every 4-5km on YE (645pm-1030pm) and 10-15km on ALE (11pm-2:30am)

- I did not feel unsafe at any points - no shady characters anywhere
- Of course the highway only has covidiots here. I'm the only one of almost 50 60 people who was even bothering with a mask at Muhabbatpur. Ditto other stops (Jewar/first YE toll on Agra side)


Most epic moment enroute to Agra:

I stopped at km 270 to drink energy drink and whipped out my phone. Within minutes, a highway agency van on the other side stopped and started honking at me as if to ask why I had stopped. When I switched off my parking lights, switched on my headlights and started rolling, so did they. Supremely reassuring!
Had a similar moment on the reverse with a police car that drew up to check on us while we stopped to check the GPS for toilet stops.

[sgiitk]

Now the road branching off to Kanpur has also become a dual carriageway. Earlier it was a narrow single lane road.