[Gannu_1]

The Narmada Golden Bridge at Ankleshwar completes 135 years of service:


Photo copyright: respective owner

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

The Narmada Golden Bridge at Ankleshwar completes 135 years of service:

And exactly the same night we met and I passed the Golden Bridge on the way to Gandhinagar.

There were more than usual cops, but the bridge had very sparse traffic as expected since it was almost midnight.

During return, I tool the usual bridge over regular highway and was on the other side in less than 10-12 minutes!

[nishantbhatia84]

Hello everyone!
I'm off on a road-trip to Mandvi - Kutch and will be leaving (9-10PM) in the evening on 3rd June - so will reach the Golden Bridge around 2AM.
The question I have is: Is the Golden Bridge open to vehicular traffic all day?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by nishantbhatia84

Hello everyone!
I'm off on a road-trip to Mandvi - Kutch and will be leaving (9-10PM) in the evening on 3rd June - so will reach the Golden Bridge around 2AM.
The question I have is: Is the Golden Bridge open to vehicular traffic all day?

Yes indeed. You can take the Golden Bridge at 2am. Read my log here. I took that post 12 midnight.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3716828

There is no reason why Golden Bridge should be closed as its a vital road link connecting 2 towns of Bharuch and Ankleshwar. At 2am it should take you around 15 minutes in all to Exit NH8 for Ankleshwar Exit and Join back NH8 at Bharuch end.

[Jumbo]

Hello,
I plan to do a road trip from pune to Baroda in November. Any advice on what is the best way to cross Narmada ? Any body who has travelled recently, can you please share your experience. I intend to start from pune at around 4.00 am and will be the lone driver on my fortuner. Many thanks in advance

[tiger_stripes]

Folks, will be driving to Ahmedabad this Thursday. Plan is to leave Mumbai at 5.30 AM. Can someone please tell me the current status of the Bharuch bridge? Does it still witness traffic jams, and is it advisable to use the Golden Bridge instead?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by tiger_stripes

Folks, will be driving to Ahmedabad this Thursday. Plan is to leave Mumbai at 5.30 AM. Can someone please tell me the current status of the Bharuch bridge? Does it still witness traffic jams, and is it advisable to use the Golden Bridge instead?

Leaving at 0530 means you might just end up crossing Ankleshwar-Bharuch at peak hours that even Golden Bridge might not really be a time saver - Industries, Schools, Colleges, Vendors, Offices - Lot of local traffic on Golden Bridge for sure after 0900.

The problem still remains but not very drastic as before. However, the best that I have done over the last few drives is to check Google maps just before forking out into Ankleshwar town and assess if I can take the regular highway or just take the Golden Bridge from inside.

That said, if you are passing Ankleshwar-Bharuch anytime before 0800, you can simply take the Golden Bridge without even bothering to check the status on both.

Most of the trucks are allowed to pass Bombay post 2200 and after this they would all be in business clogging NH8 till at least the sun becomes really harsh or local traffic starts to wake up. So plan to start a little early (say 0400/0430) and that remains your best bet.

[Gannu_1]

For those who are wondering about Golden Bridge's situation currently, here's a clip my partner clicked during the drive last weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUm05mIx2Q4

We passed the bridge around 2:45 PM on a Saturday.

[aravind.anand]

Leaving to Mumbai from Ahmedabad this weekend. Planning to reach Mumbai at around 9 in the morning ( going to Colaba ) so what is the best time to start?

I am also thinking of a over night halt somewhere midway - like starting from Ahmedabad at 3 PM on Friday, halt after covering 300 kms, then cover the remaining 200 kms on Saturday early morning.

I am new to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and this route ! so any pointers and suggestions would be really helpful

[ShaileshHinge]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

I am new to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and this route ! so any pointers and suggestions would be really helpful

Watch out for traffic at Bharuch & Vasai Creek. These 2 places can wreck your travel plans by hours. Both have alternates.

For Bharuch you can go through the Bharuch City.
For Vasai Creek - you need to decide early and go from charoti Naka to Wada to Bhiwandi. Big round but better than being stuck in the traffic.

Both places will usually show red in the google maps, just check how far it is. its its too long then go for alternates.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Leaving to Mumbai from Ahmedabad this weekend. Planning to reach Mumbai at around 9 in the morning ( going to Colaba ) so what is the best time to start?

Budget not more than 7-8 hours for this entire journey including breaks. This means you start from Ahmedabad around 2pm (preferably post lunch) to be able to reach Mumbai between 9 and 10pm.

I returned driving from Rajkot only 3 days back and had passed Ahmedabad Ring Road around 04:00pm and entered Mumbai at 10:30pm with 2 Breaks (one at Honest after Bharuch & second one at Manor).

Please remember that post 10:00pm, Trucks start entering Mumbai and you really don't want to get stuck behind them and have slow progress. It happened to me on Saturday night but I was just lucky as the trucks had barely started to enter Mumbai.

I am also thinking of a over night halt somewhere midway - like starting from Ahmedabad at 3 PM on Friday, halt after covering 300 kms, then cover the remaining 200 kms on Saturday early morning.

Not at all a bad Idea if you intend to do this. Ankleshwar becomes a good choice to Halt and there are many options around NH8 that you can think off to stop by. If this is close, Vapi becomes an Ideal option for that halt too. It will all depend on the progress that you make from Ahmedabad and the time you have started.

I am new to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and this route ! so any pointers and suggestions would be really helpful

Originally Posted by ShaileshHinge

Watch out for traffic at Bharuch & Vasai Creek. These 2 places can wreck your travel plans by hours. Both have alternates.

For Bharuch you can go through the Bharuch City.
For Vasai Creek - you need to decide early and go from charoti Naka to Wada to Bhiwandi. Big round but better than being stuck in the traffic.

Both places will usually show red in the google maps, just check how far it is. its its too long then go for alternates.

+! to what Shailesh says about Bharuch. Call me lucky but during both my onward and return journeys, I took the usual NH8 Bridge without entering either of the towns via Golden Bridge and NO, it wasn't jammed at all during onward although the return consumed around 15 minutes before I moved. Googlemaps is your savior that should help you decide.

100% rely on googlemaps here. What you can do is just where the Exit point for Bharuch town is, pull over and check the Jam. To be honest, for southbound traffic, taking the usual NH8 makes a lot of sense off late. Even with a small bottleneck, my total stationary time never went beyond 15 minutes here when I was driving down for Mumbai.

You can rely on these locations for clean rest rooms and good options to eat too:

Honest Food Court (CCD, McD, Subway etc) 10 minutes after Ankleshwar

Sugar & Spice between Chikhli and Valsad. This also has a good BPCL station attached to it.

Special Instructions:

• Watch out for wrong entrants who would try to overtake from the shoulder on the Ahmedabad-Baroda Expressway
  
• Watch out of Overbirdges suddenly becoming narrow at few sections between Ankleshwar and Surat
  
• All throughout from Baroda till Surat, beware of 2 wheelers which will suddenly cross the road across you through that gap in the median
  
• Construction trucks all along this route would never give way no matter how many times you flash/Honk. Option is to find a lane free (left or right) and pass them

Last but not the least, my cruising speeds remained strictly between 100-110kmph all throughout this trip. So that should answer your query on how fast one really needs to drive.

[aravind.anand]

This is why I team-bhp is always special. Ask a query and the fellow team-bhpians reply with so much care and attention! Making is feel really good A big thanks to Shailesh and Parag for all the useful info, tips and advice. I am planning to leave by around 2, halt somewhere near Vapi - if I make it there before 7:30 ( as I am not planning to drive beyond 7:30 - 8:00 ) and then leave from there to Mumbai on Saturday morning. Will post my experiences here once the trip is done.

[aravind.anand]

Well thanks to all the sound advice and tips from fellow BHPians, I had a safe journey to and back from Mumbai...

Started at around 1:00 PM ( after a long wait for the maid to come, and finish the chores ) and then headed out at blistering pace only to be cut short by traffic a few hundred metres from my apartment... From there it was a slow and agonizing way out of Ahmedabad. Hey come on, why are so many people on the road at this time on a weekday I thought. But once I hit the expressway, it was all smooth sailing till Vadodara - brilliant piece of tarmac. Only quirk in this section was a 'not-so-smart driver' in an i20, with full family inside who was cutting across like no sane man ever would. He at triple digit speeds was cutting into the left most lanes ( meant for pulling over in such expressways with barricades ) to overtake slow moving trucks

Reached Vadodara, had a nice lunch and resumed the journey at 3:30, hoping to hit Vapi by 7 or 7:30 for a night halt. After about an hour of leaving Vadodara, we saw a huge line-up of trucks and busses, and we saw cars going back on the wrong side and using the right side of the road. Some accident I thought as I was opening the Maps application to gauge the traffic jam's length and strength, that is when I saw that haunting word "Bharuch" which immediately made me recall all the tips I got here! Spent a good 30 mins to cross this small city. Never have I seen such horrific traffic on an NH in my life.

But once we crossed this city, things were smooth once again, and by the time we crossed Vapi, my wife was all game to get to Mumbai directly. Also, I had found good rhythm with a Suzuki Ciaz, which was driving in a really nice way ( using indicators while changing lanes, fast but never rash ) and I din't want to miss this company, so pushed along smoothly and reached Mumbai by about 11 in the night.

The way back was nothing eventful, as we started by around 10:10 in the morning, and reached at 7:30 in the night - thanks to the restaurant we had lunch at - wasting about 1.5 hours for not-so-worthy food.

But overall, if you discount the truck traffic and start a little earlier than I did - Mumbai-Ahmadabad is a piece of cake ( that too, a smooth and enjoyable cake like say a black-forest )

[subuiyer]

Did a Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Udaipur - Mumbai trip end of March on my Duster AWD. This was the first time I was doing 500+ Kms on a single day.

The first leg was Mum - Abad:
Day of week: Thursday
Start time: 5:30 am from the Western suburbs
Route: NH8 - NE1 - Outer ring road to SG highway
Detours: via Golden Bridge at Baruch
Planned breaks (breakfast): 45 mins at Sugar n Spice
Distance registered on the ODO: 512 Kms
End time: 1:30 pm entered a hotel on S.G. Highway
Total time: 7 hrs 15 mins


Roads are excellent after Bhayandar (Fountain hotel junction) till about Vapi, after that they are fantastic with the National Expressway 1 (NE1) between Vadodra and Abad taking the prize. Even though I am a sedate driver and this was my fist time long distance (500+ single day), was pleasantly surprised how quickly and more importantly comfortably I managed it (stress free too)! The total toll including at the SP ring road came up to ~495.

Scarry moment: While I had read Sugar n Spice will be between lanes, still got caught by surprise when I first saw the hoarding. I was going at 100kmph on the first lane. Thankfully I managed to slow down in time to turn into the exit but it is dangerous that travelling in the fast lane vehicles would slow down to take an exit turn to the right on a national highway (incorrect by standard design norms). A quick glance at the rear view mirror confirmed this because a Fortuner that had been happy to follow me for the past 120 odd Kms was bobbing (indicating heavy breaking) and honking furiously (obviously he didn't expect me to slow down at that point). The same is true on the southward lane too.

Since I had read every page of this thread (and others covering this route) taking Golden Bridge at Baruch was in my plan. Reached Ankleshwar around 1030am and Google map as expected showed red on NH8. There was sparse traffic leading into the town and up to the heritage bridge. Only stopped 100 mtrs before the bridge where they have thankfully narrowed to one lane and blocked all possibilities of cutting/overtaking. Driving through the bridge is both exciting and scary. Especially since I was driving a relatively wide vehicle, I had to slow down each time a similar sized or larger one came from opp. direction (the Fortuners, the Bolero milkvans, one LC and of course fellow Duster/Terranos). The lane separator is misleading as it is not exactly along the center of the bridge. However, the narrowness does enforce discipline; even oncoming bikers hesitate to overtake.

During my return (was actually from Udaipur on a Monday) I was able to breeze through NH8 over the Narmada bridge at 40-60kmph around 2 pm. The new bridge under construction looked 2-3 years away even for L&T.

My avg speeds Mum - Abad:
Mumbai to Vapi: 60kmph (pre dawn truck taffic)
Vapi to Ankleshwar: 90kmph
Baruch to Vadodra: 75kmph (general traffic)
Vadodra to SP ring road: 100kpmh (could have gone faster)

Overall, very comfortable drive. A piece of cake indeed!

[mkbksc]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Well thanks to all the sound advice and tips from fellow BHPians, I had a safe journey to and back from Mumbai...

Started at around 1:00 PM

Reached Vadodara, had a nice lunch and resumed the journey at 3:30, hoping to hit Vapi by 7 or 7:30 for a night halt.

The way back was nothing eventful, as we started by around 10:10 in the morning, and reached at 7:30 in the night - thanks to the restaurant we had lunch at - wasting about 1.5 hours for not-so-worthy food.

But overall, if you discount the truck traffic and start a little earlier than I did - Mumbai-Ahmadabad is a piece of cake ( that too, a smooth and enjoyable cake like say a black-forest )

Which restaurant at Vadodara?
Which restaurant at Surat?

Information could be useful!