[meetarin]

Originally Posted by KingCheeese

Hello Meetarin,

Definitely recommend the hyd-vij- Rajahmundry route over the other, especially if you're riding.

Cheers, ride safe!

Hi KingCheeese! I did take that route. The stretch from Hyd-Vijayawada was quite good except for Toopranpet-Malkapur stretch (about 40 kms from Hyd) which was horrible. Vijayawada to Rajahmundry was more pathetic. I got rerouted by Google through the Vijayawada bypass. The road was easily one of the worst I have ever seen. To top it, I was rerouted again through Prathipadu -Nidadavolu road and then entered Rajahmundry through Dowleswaram barrage. Had a horrible experience there which I will document in my travelogue. Reached Kolkata safely last evening.

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

but the road condition from Vijayawada - Rajahmundry was horrible. Somebody in this forum said they are basket ball sized pot holes, it's actually 2 basket ball sized pot holes. If you are riding be extra careful, I just drove by this road yesterday, the road from Rajahmundry to Vizag is good, except for 3-4 road diversions(totalling less than a kilometer).

Can't agree more SKC-auto!

[KingCheeese]

Originally Posted by meetarin

Hi KingCheeese! I did take that route. The stretch from Hyd-Vijayawada was quite good except for Toopranpet-Malkapur stretch (about 40 kms from Hyd) which was horrible. Vijayawada to Rajahmundry was more pathetic. I got rerouted by Google through the Vijayawada bypass. The road was easily one of the worst I have ever seen. To top it, I was rerouted again through Prathipadu -Nidadavolu road and then entered Rajahmundry through Dowleswaram barrage. Had a horrible experience there which I will document in my travelogue. Reached Kolkata safely last evening.

Sorry to hear that Meetarin. But glad you made it to Kolkata safe.
I usually just stick to the main highway but still I'm sure it wouldn't have been much better. The bad stretches are really bad. Especially due to the rains. Some other friends of mine also recently drove and that same road and said the same. Vij to Rajahmundry is definitely very bad. But it gets better from there.
Looking forward to your travelogue

[Subrat Seet]

I am planning a drive in November and the details as follows:

Day 1: Mumbai to Pune.

Day 2: Pune to Hyderabad
So, as I can see in google map, one need to take NH 65 for Pune to Hyderabad.

Day 3: Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam.
Here, I am finding some issue. One needs to take NH 65 then it is getting connected to AH45 and again to NH 16. A detail step by step guide will help.
Good place to stay at Visakhapatnam?

Day 4: Visakhapatnam to Bhubaneswar.
Here, again NH 16 and AH 45?
Overall road conditions?

Regards
Subrat

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by Subrat Seet

I am planning a drive in November and the details as follows:

Regards
Subrat

You can read this travelogue, he has taken Vizag-Hyd route while coming back from Kolkata to Bangalore. You can find staying options in Vizag, Hyd in this travelogue.

For long distance travellers, the only option is Hyd- Vijayawada highway and Vijayawada-Vizag(NH16). NH16 is part of golden quadrilateral, but the Vijayawada- Rajahmundry section is the worst road you will come across, large potholes, many diversions. Rajahmundry- Vizag section is fine.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...freestyle.html (Driving across the Eastern Ghats to be with family : Bangalore to Kolkata in a Ford Freestyle)

[Subrat Seet]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

You can read this travelogue, he has taken Vizag-Hyd route while coming back from Kolkata to Bangalore. You can find staying options in Vizag, Hyd in this travelogue.

For long distance travellers, the only option is Hyd- Vijayawada highway and Vijayawada-Vizag(NH16). NH16 is part of golden quadrilateral, but the Vijayawada- Rajahmundry section is the worst road you will come across, large potholes, many diversions. Rajahmundry- Vizag section is fine.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...freestyle.html (Driving across the Eastern Ghats to be with family : Bangalore to Kolkata in a Ford Freestyle)

Thank you so very much.

[sakya]

Hi Vijay, I am planning to drive Vizag from Lingampally this weekend for Dashera, i would need some help with the road conditions and COVID restrictions if any. Where do you stay in lingampally?

[sakya]

Finally decided to start Hyderabad to Vizag tomorrow early morning, google is recommending the below standard route
HYD--Vijayawada--Eluru--Thadepalligudem--Nidadavolu--Dawaleswaram--Rajamendry--Vizag
But most of our members experienced pathetic road conditions between Thadepalligudem and Rajamendry,
is it better to stick on NH16 at Thadepalligudem (Pathipadu) and proceed via Tanuku, Ravulapalem and join after dawaleshwaram bridge towards Rajamendry--Vizag ?
Please advice on the road conditions of this route.

[antriksh]

Originally Posted by sakya

Finally decided to start Hyderabad to Vizag tomorrow early morning, google is recommending the below standard route
HYD--Vijayawada--Eluru--Thadepalligudem--Nidadavolu--Dawaleswaram--Rajamendry--Vizag
But most of our members experienced pathetic road conditions between Thadepalligudem and Rajamendry,
is it better to stick on NH16 at Thadepalligudem (Pathipadu) and proceed via Tanuku, Ravulapalem and join after dawaleshwaram bridge towards Rajamendry--Vizag ?
Please advice on the road conditions of this route.

Hi, could you please update how was your recent experience on this stretch in terms of road quality, time taken, etc. I am planning to do it in early December this year.

[sakya]

Just to update on my recent drive HYD to VIZAQ:

Onward Journey:

I always wanted to start early but never could, so started very late 12PM from Lingampally Hyderabad followed google map.
The Hyd--Vijayawada stretch was a breeze, followed google map to exit from Vijayawada via inner ring road, this might take 30mn to 45min depending on the time and city traffic.

Vijayawada -- Eluru stretch is good, reached Tadepalligudem about 6PM with good 45min break for lunch (we carried own food- decision was no eating outside), but at Tadepalligudem google map wants me deviate from NH16 towards Rajahmundry via Nidadavole but our brothers in this forum suggested to stay on NH16, so i decided to ask a vendor selling fruits at the diversion just to find out, he said he corrected so many travelers who were taking this diversion and confused, I stayed on NH16 but Google was persistent to take deviation for some time but good that i stayed on NH16.

However, Eluru -- Tadepalligudem -- Tanuku -- Ravulapalem -- Rajhmundry stretch was bad with top surface eroded in lots of places leaving sizable potholes, one can't cruise comfortably without swaying to avoid them, my truck (Dmax) took them decently but i see at least 3-4 cars changing flat tyres, so drive carefully on this stretch ( It was night for me, I had success following extreme left or right or dead center lanes to avoid potholes).

Rajahmundry -- Annavaram -- Anakapalle -- Vizag route was decent, one can cruise at triple digit, i reached vizag and checked in to Marriott by 11:30PM, i pre ordered dinner and rested for the day.


Return Journey:

As usual we started at noon 12:00PM from Bheemli Beach resort with a detour to Thotlakonda Buddhist Complex, packed food from nearby Nellore mess and headed back following google maps reached Rajahmundry outskirts by evening with a good lunch break, this is where google map ask you deviate from Vizg-Ravulapalem (NH16) road to Rajahmundry lalacheruvu road but i stayed on Vizg-Ravulapalem (NH16) but gmaps were persistent for quite some time asking me to take U-turn but i was stubborn and stayed on NH16, initial 3KM road stretch was horrible due to road widening, leading
towards a dancing stretch Rajhmundry -- Ravulapalem -- Tanuku -- Tadepalligudem -- Eluru (one should drive carefully and be wary of medium to large size potholes). Rest of the stretch till home was breeze, reached home (Hyderabad lingampally) by 2:30AM and rested.

Long queues at CASH lanes at most of the tollbooths as there was only one extreme left lane allotted for CASH, so i got fastag at panthangi toll plaza added 1000/- using gpay which worked flawlessly all through.

[KingCheeese]

Originally Posted by sakya

Just to update on my recent drive HYD to VIZAQ:

However, Eluru -- Tadepalligudem -- Tanuku -- Ravulapalem -- Rajhmundry stretch was bad with top surface eroded in lots of places leaving sizable potholes, one can't cruise comfortably without swaying to avoid them, my truck (Dmax) took them decently but i see at least 3-4 cars changing flat tyres, so drive carefully on this stretch ( It was night for me, I had success following extreme left or right or dead center lanes to avoid potholes).

Thanks for the update sakya!

I was planning to go on that stretch the following week and now I know the conditions there.

Unfortunately I was one of those guys changing a flat tyre on my 530d when I drove in June this year. I was hoping they would've fixed the road but I guess they haven't.

I am definitely not going to drive until they do as that stretch is honestly too nerve wrecking and the average falls down a lot on that particular stretch .

[papr23]

Folks, I have a Vijayawada-Vizag drive coming up in the next few days. Did the quality of roads improve between Eluru and Rajahmundry or is it still the same with massive potholes?
Alternatively, I am considering taking a slightly longer route: Vijayawada-Kalipatnam-Yanam-Kakinada-Vizag.
This is longer by 55kms.
Does this route have any better roads or should I stick to NH16?

[ramjiramu]

Originally Posted by papr23

Folks, I have a Vijayawada-Vizag drive coming up in the next few days. Did the quality of roads improve between Eluru and Rajahmundry or is it still the same with massive potholes?
Alternatively, I am considering taking a slightly longer route: Vijayawada-Kalipatnam-Yanam-Kakinada-Vizag.
This is longer by 55kms.
Does this route have any better roads or should I stick to NH16?

The road condition between Eluru and Rajahmundry has improved slightly. I drove this route on 13th Nov and noticed potholes repairs being taken up in many sections. There are still lot of big potholes but my advice for this section is to drive on left lane at 70 speed and maintain at least 10 cars gap in front.

[papr23]

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

The road condition between Eluru and Rajahmundry has improved slightly.

Thanks, ramjiramu. I had a change of plans and driven the same day as you and started in the afternoon. LOTS of patch work is there and made me wonder how much longer it would have taken with so many potholes!
It was a challenge dodging the potholes in the dark. I had to drive with fog lamps on for better visibility.
The sad part is the legal speed limit is 100kmph when the roads are bad and 70kmph from Rajahmundry when roads improved!

[ramjiramu]

Originally Posted by papr23

It was a challenge dodging the potholes in the dark. I had to drive with fog lamps on for better visibility.
The sad part is the legal speed limit is 100kmph when the roads are bad and 70kmph from Rajahmundry when roads improved!

I agree, its very challenging dodging potholes on this stretch. Its even more painful and risky during dark. Good to know you managed well.

I bumped into few during my drive at the start of this stretch and it reminded me of earlier posts in this thread which clearly warned to be careful.
So, I slowed down until I crossed Rajahmundry to save my car suspensions.
Also, I was driving all the way from Pune with overnight break in Hyderabad. Hence didn't want to take any risks with car breakdowns.

I passed this stretch between 1:00 - 3:00 PM hence didn't see much traffic and could maintain steady speed of 70-80. It took bit longer but car and occupants spines were safe

[sidhu.algods]

Can I do the Hyderabad - Vizag trip in Honda City?

Thanks in advance ��