[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Several restaurants in Manor (including a Vittal Kamat's),
McD 7 kms after Vapi
Visamo in Valsad bypass

Sankalp in Vapi right after the flyover to your right.You would need to take a U-turn to come here.It is before Mcd.

[zalaps]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Most of the 6-laning is done, except in a few sections. However, many flyovers are under construction and in those places road narrows down to 2 lanes and jams occur at intersections.

Actually NHAI has not started with all flyover at once. Following are list of flyover between Guj-Mah border & Valsad. This is stretch of 40 KMs with almost 20 flyovers. On an average 1 flyover per 2 KM!

Completed:
Bhilad
Valvada
Vapi (United Phosphorus)
Vapi (GIDC)
Vapi (Galaxy)
Vapi (GEB)
Salvav (McD wala Mall)
Pardi (Main)
Pardi (Market yard exit)
Atul
Valsad (Parnera Entry)
Valsad (Dharampur X)

Following are STILL in progress:
Udvada (Town)
Udvada (Stone quarry)
Pardi (Damani Zapa entry)

Following are yet to commence(!):
Balitha (This will provide heavy vehicle entry/exit to Daman from NH-8. Place is identified by Hotel Bombay & Hotel Western. Actually this is most crucial flyover in this stretch and still not started.)
Morai (Another entry point to Daman from NH-8. This place can be identified just before river KOLAK bridge. Problem here: proposed third railway track & proposed sixth lane are colliding here. Indian Railway is in no mood of giving an inch of land to NHAI.)
Motivada (Existing tolnaka of Bagvada will be migrated to here. God knows ahead)
Khadki (This junction is not a major threat to highway)

I do not see this work completing in another year. And yes IRB is working with pathetic quality. Pardi (Damani Zapa entry) flyover was almost completed in July. Then one bad day, filling clay slides from bridge underneath the asphalt!!! Now IRB is again filling & rolling the flyover. I shall post few pics of the same.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by zalaps

Actually NHAI has not started with all flyover at once. Following are list of flyover between Guj-Mah border & Valsad. This is stretch of 40 KMs with almost 20 flyovers. On an average 1 flyover per 2 KM!

Completed:
Bhilad
Valvada
Vapi (United Phosphorus)
Vapi (GIDC)
Vapi (Galaxy)
Vapi (GEB)
Salvav (McD wala Mall)
Pardi (Main)
Pardi (Market yard exit)
Atul
Valsad (Parnera Entry)
Valsad (Dharampur X)

Following are STILL in progress:
Udvada (Town)
Udvada (Stone quarry)
Pardi (Damani Zapa entry)

Following are yet to commence(!):
Balitha (This will provide heavy vehicle entry/exit to Daman from NH-8. Place is identified by Hotel Bombay & Hotel Western. Actually this is most crucial flyover in this stretch and still not started.)
Morai (Another entry point to Daman from NH-8. This place can be identified just before river KOLAK bridge. Problem here: proposed third railway track & proposed sixth lane are colliding here. Indian Railway is in no mood of giving an inch of land to NHAI.)
Motivada (Existing tolnaka of Bagvada will be migrated to here. God knows ahead)
Khadki (This junction is not a major threat to highway)

I do not see this work completing in another year. And yes IRB is working with pathetic quality. Pardi (Damani Zapa entry) flyover was almost completed in July. Then one bad day, filling clay slides from bridge underneath the asphalt!!! Now IRB is again filling & rolling the flyover. I shall post few pics of the same.

think in GJ, IRB has made commendable progress and except for the Udwada flyover, I do not remember any traffic slow down. But in MH side, progress is very slow and looks an eternity before it will be completed.

[zalaps]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

think in GJ, IRB has made commendable progress and except for the Udwada flyover, I do not remember any traffic slow down. But in MH side, progress is very slow and looks an eternity before it will be completed.

HVK Sir,
Actually when contract awarded to IRB, it was me who made tall claims that it is the same company who made Bombay-Poona eway and etc.

But after this type of shoddy work, everybody made me eat my words

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by zalaps

HVK Sir,
Actually when contract awarded to IRB, it was me who made tall claims that it is the same company who made Bombay-Poona eway and etc.

But after this type of shoddy work, everybody made me eat my words

Actually, the Bombay-Pune eway was constructed by NCC, Pallonji Mistry and L&T. IRB is only the toll contractor. I think they started building roads only recently - especially with Surat-Ankleshwar and after that Surat-Bombay.

[Milind]

Originally Posted by h@r$h@l

Doing that route is 5-6 hours is relatively impossible. With the current road conditions, 6 hours you should be reaching Surat. As mentioned by Mr. Kumar, there are a few road works going on which will take up a lot of your drive time till Surat. Once past Surat you can get to Ahmedabad in about 4 hours.

As mentioned the Ankleshwar - Bharuch Patch is always jam because of one way bridge for heavy vehicles. I would advise you to get into Ankleshwar, cross the Golden Bridge and get to bharuch and get out on the other side and re join NH8. Via the interior route you are sure to be on the other side within 30 mins. If you stick on NH8 you can get out in 30 mins if lucky and if not it can be as long as 2 hours at times. I drive on Ahmedabad - Surat route thrice a month and hence speaking from my own experience.

Getting into Ankleshwar and using the internal route has 2 benefits; less traffic and you also save 16 rs of the toll

HVK sir - would you still advise going via Golden Bridge even today ?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Milind

HVK sir - would you still advise going via Golden Bridge even today ?

Yes, the Golden Bridge is mostly good, I think the jam was a freak event.Go via the towns of Ankleshwar & Bharuch only via Golden Bridge.

[faustus77]

Milind

Hi
I have travelled a few times over the golden bridge and even during peak hours I went through ankleshwar and the bridge in 2nd and 3rd gear (except just before entering the bridge had to wait for a couple of minutes)
Do keep your side view mirrors folded.
Regards
PS You save on toll and distance

[carzone]

Had a mumbai-surat return trip yesterday. 1st of my 500 kms drive in a day.
The experience was awesome just as the roads.

Left from Mira Road at around 7:45AM and touched surat at 12:30PM.
Heavy showers till Vasai but the great roads helped us keep some pace.
The only problem was the trucks jamming all the three lanes and moving at 40kmph overtaking other truck at 30kmph. This things hits the average speed badly.
While going from Mumbai to Surat, took 30 minutes break at Kamats and then non stop to Surat. Nice place with good food.

The return journey started at around 4:30PM and reached Mira Road at 10:00PM. Return journey was a bit fast(considering the night travel) as there were no rains and the butter smooth roads helped the case. Took a break at Sugar N spice just before Valsad. Started from Valsad at 7:00PM and touched Mira Road at 10:00.

I must admit that there is no lighting on the roads all the way from Surat to Ghodbunder and one has to rely completely on the headlights. Good bulbs are highly recommended. The truckers tend to block all the lanes, but if you signal them for overtaking they are bound to give you the side as soon as they complete their overtaking maneuver.

The only thing that disturbed me was the highbeams of the vehicles coming from opposite side that cause blindness. The road ahead almost goes invisible. Most of the trucks had reflectors but there were many of them who had no reflectors or working indicators and one must stay aware of them at all times.

Roads in Gujarat are painted well but some of the stretches in Maharashtra do not have the lanes painted or they might have got erased. This creates great difficulty in judging a median and one might just crash onto it as the medians also have no reflectors. There are some trucks that drive very rashly and put theirs as well as others life at risk, better to let them overtake and stay away from them.

It was my first drive for such a long distance and first drive on the NH8 where i actually got to use my headlights(Read: NIGHT DRIVE). In all the drive was fantastic coupled with good roads. I have earned a respect for truck drivers and have known that they are eager to give you side if you have a little patience. All in all it was a great drive and I would like to thank all team-BHPians for all the points stated in this forum that helped me complete this drive successfully.

[arun_112]

Did Mumbai to Surat on 10-9-2013.
Actualy started from Thane.
The road is too good. Best condition. You can drive at high speeds without botheration and reach within 3.5 to 4 hours easily.
Start by 5 am so that you rarely see any traffic as trucks dont ply and families with kids dont travel early.
I had started at 5 am and rarely got any traffic on way.
The highway is 6 lane and is of very good quality.
You can reach Surat in 4 hours if you drive at 80 to 100 Kmph without break.
Be ready to shell out Rs 250 on toll for a 260 Km drive.
Plenty of food joints all over. Mostly vegetarian food joints.
For more choice, you can take a right turn below 2nd flyover at Vapi and after 100 meters you will come across many good family restaurants.

Note for Support: We do not encourage speeding on public roads. Your post has been edited to remove references to high speeds

[vivekz]

Hello guys. Had a query regarding the state of Mumbai Surat highway. I am planning to drive from Mumbai to Surat in March but unfortunately I will have to start in the evening say around 6PM from Ghodbunder Road.

How long shall it take given that I plan maintain a sedate top speed of 80kmph on an average? Any flyover cosntruction/ diversions to be wary of? Can I expect to make it in 5 hours?

Would really appreciate a reply.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by vivekz

Hello guys. Had a query regarding the state of Mumbai Surat highway. I am planning to drive from Mumbai to Surat in March but unfortunately I will have to start in the evening say around 6PM from Ghodbunder Road.

How long shall it take given that I plan maintain a sedate top speed of 80kmph on an average? Any flyover cosntruction/ diversions to be wary of? Can I expect to make it in 5 hours?

Would really appreciate a reply.

I did the Baroda-Mumbai stretch in november and the roads are excellent throughout. I covered the above distance in 5 hours. So for you it should not take more than 3-4 hours. Do not worry at all. The only traffic snarl that you encounter is at Bharuch but you will be reaching your destination way before itself. So go ahead and enjoy your drive.

[vivekz]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I did the Baroda-Mumbai stretch in november and the roads are excellent throughout. I covered the above distance in 5 hours. So for you it should not take more than 3-4 hours. Do not worry at all. The only traffic snarl that you encounter is at Bharuch but you will be reaching your destination way before itself. So go ahead and enjoy your drive.

Thanks a lot.

Well the idea is to continue next morning from Surat and head towards Udaipur.

So the Bharuch snarl cannot be avoided. However, I am guessing taking the highway will be the better option. Still how much time would be lost there?

Also by when can I expect to cross Ahmedabad, say if I leave Surat by 7AM? Heard Udaipur is further 4-5 hrs from Ahmedabad .

[lapsi]

Originally Posted by vivekz

So the Bharuch snarl cannot be avoided. However, I am guessing taking the highway will be the better option. Still how much time would be lost there?

Good news and bad news.

I think the snarls at Bharuch are a thing of the past and in any case you have the option to go through Ankleshwar and take the Golden Bridge to avoid the NH8 at Bharuch.

The bad news is that there is work going on at the Ghodbunder bridge and it could take you an hour or more to cross it at peak times. If you are starting from Thane, you could consider taking the Bhiwandi bypass > Wada > Manor route to avoid this jam.

Win some, lose some.

Originally Posted by vivekz

Also by when can I expect to cross Ahmedabad, say if I leave Surat by 7AM? Heard Udaipur is further 4-5 hrs from Ahmedabad.

The first question is whether you should head for the Kamrej exit or the Kadodara exit from Surat. Kamrej is the Northern most exit and hence it would be preferred when you are heading North. However, there was construction going on on that road when I last took it in October 2013. Do not know if it is entirely sorted. Hence it might be better to take the Puna-Kumbhariya Road to Kadodara.

The distance from Kadodara to Udaipur is 500 kms. Beautiful roads. Getting an average speed of 70 - 80 kmph is a breeze even if you do not cross 100 kmph.

A few years ago, I had done Surat to Nathdwara in about 8 hours with a detour of some 30 - 40 kms. And that was on 4 lane roads, not 6 lane.

Enjoy the wonderful drive.

Cheers!

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by vivekz

Thanks a lot.

Well the idea is to continue next morning from Surat and head towards Udaipur.

So the Bharuch snarl cannot be avoided. However, I am guessing taking the highway will be the better option. Still how much time would be lost there?

Also by when can I expect to cross Ahmedabad, say if I leave Surat by 7AM? Heard Udaipur is further 4-5 hrs from Ahmedabad .

The Bharuch traffic scenario depends upon your luck. I have travelled on that stretch 5 times in the last one year. Thrice it was perfectly smooth sailing, once I spent some 20 odd minutes there but the last time while returning from Mumbai to Vadodara I got stuck there for almost an hour. The travel time from Surat to Ahmedabad is not much and to be honest you can cover it in around 3 and half hours plus whatever time you spend while crossing Bharuch.

Do remember to put that yellow tape on the car's headlight as there are cops at the very end of the Vadodara-Ahmedabad expressway always looking to stop outstation number vehicles.