Team-BHP - Hyderabad - Vizag : Route Queries

Did Vizag to Hyderabad trip this weekend with family (4 adults, 1 kid). Started early at 5.30 AM and reached by 6.20 PM with two major pit stops for Breakfast 35 mins [after Ankapalle], and lunch 40 mins [Food Plaza]. 1 fuel+bio break at a petrol bunk (BP COCO).

Took Google maps suggested routed via gundugolanu, and overall road conditions are good with multiple trucks enroute. Vizag to Rajahmundry has multiple diversions, but manageable. Very bad stretch(big pot holes/craters) while entering Rajahmundry (approx 20 kms) and going over Godavari river bridge . On top of it, toll booth just at the edge of Godavri bridge seeks toll as cash only as they do not have device to read fast tags.

As usual, Vijaywada to Hyderabad is smooth and 15 kms before entering ORR has bad patches as road top is depleted/patched up unevenly so avoid speeding.

Overall toll paid around Rs 900/- and at least 3 toll booths were struggling to automatically read and had multiple manual intervention to read fast tag.

A caution note - had 3 closed shave with animals coming out from nowhere out of divider that are lush green. Rainy days with ample green fodder on divider attracts cattles/calves. If possible, drive in second lane away from road divider to get ample time to react for sudden "peek a boo".

Did Hyderabad - Vizag - Hyderabad on 10,11,12.
Total KM driven - 1350
FE as shown on car cluster - 24.5 (swift Dzire) :cool: I've never got this much till now.
Re-fueled both times at the same BP COCO after crossing Paritala.
Got a discount of about 0.7% both times. Toilets are clean. It has western toilet.

Tolls:
Toll plaza before Godavari river accepts only cash. Rs.60
Total toll while going Rs.839
Total toll while coming Rs.734 (came thru the other bridge on Godavari since way was closed and on one toll (Rs.45) had to wait for over 3 minutes, mentioned calmly to the manager that I’ve waited enough, he let me go.

Started on 10th at 6.30am - crossed Vijaywada at 11.00am. reached Vizag at 6.30pm. This includes 4 stops for meals and prayers. Breakfast at Hotel Vivera Narketpally. Nice place. Snacks at Habitat and Lunch at JAS. (Links to these given above in different posts).

While coming back we wanted to reach Hyderabad after 10pm so started at around 9.30 but we were delayed by a couple of jams and one at a toll plaza near gundugolanu. It was here I did not pay. Reached home after midnight.

Hyderabad - Vijaywada is pretty uneventful at any time of the day and totally doable in 4 hours. Vijaywada onwards you need to be vigilant for potholes, diversions, animals and what not.

Did Hyd-Vizag yesterday. Below are the road conditions and my thoughts:

Start Time - 4:30 AM
Destination Arrival Time - 6:30 PM
Travel buddies - My wife and a 4 year old Golden retriver
Distance Traveled - 696.2 KM
Fuel Economy - 26.3 km/l (according to car dashboard, however when calculated manually I think it’s around 25.1)
Tolls - 13 in total. Rs. 959 paid through fast tag and Rs. 60 paid in cash while crossing Kovvur Godavari bridge.

Hyd Gachibowli to ORR Exit 11 - I don’t think there is any need to comment anything on this. Anyone who as ever been on ORR understands that the tarmac is excellent and you’ll really enjoy driving on ORR.

ORR Exit 11 to Vijaywada - After you cross ORR, the initial road of the highway is patchy and has potholes. Still it’s easily manageable with average speed of 60 Km/h. I think the road is like this for 10-15 kms. After that the road is really smooth and you can easily cruise at your own speed. We reached Vijaywada around 9 while taking multiple breaks (4 in total, 3 road side stops so that my dog can relieve himself and to calm down his nerves and 1 loo break for us totalling around 1 hour). Be careful on google maps when you reach Vijaywada. There are multiple traffic jams, and gmaps took us inside the city’s narrow streets to avoid that. It’s better that after reaching Vijaywada you stick to the sign boards mentioning Vizag instead of blindly following google maps.

Vijaywada to Gundugolanu - We exited Vizag around 10:30 AM and reached Garuda Food Court around 11:45 AM. Food here was really good but keep in mind that till 12:30 PM they only serve breakfast items. However there is KFC also and you can eat there if you are interested. Washrooms were really clean and good. Started again around 12:40 PM. Roads are good with few diversions and on some patches few potholes.

Gundugolanu to Kovvur - This is where the newly constructed road really shined. There was barely any traffic and it’s a 6 lane highway. You can easily drive around triple digits speed here.

Kovvur to Vizag - After crossing the Godavari bridge, the road is horrible. Only one side of road is open and that too road has many potholes. This goes on for around 12 kms and then you can re-join the divider world. However, still the road is in bad shape. There are potholes around the size of basketball. After some times road improves but you’ll still find these scary big ass potholes in the middle of a perfectly good road! I observed multiple people changing their tyres. So drive a bit carefully. After an hour or so of driving I think, the rood was good again and you’ll enjoy driving. We then stopped at a petrol pump (https://goo.gl/maps/p6QAWbpfFvK5escs7) for a small break around 4:30 PM. Gents restroom was really good here, however according to my wife ladies washroom was not clean. Was about to start and suddenly it started raining torrentially. Visibility was reduced to 5 meters and speed to 40 km/h. Roads were good with few potholes which I was unable to locate due to the roads being filled with rain water. After entering Vizag, traffic as usual. Reached Hotel Winsar Park at 6:30 PM.

If anyone wants to know about the pet friendliness of the hotels/dhabas along the way, it’s very limited. We were not allowed inside the AC hall and had to eat outside without any fan/provision. However they were considerate enough to give us chairs so that we can sit outside. But in the scorching sun, it was really difficult to manage.

I am moving ahead now travelling to Haldia (Near Kolkata). Will post the travel blog soon!

Going on a trip to Vizag with family(myself, wife and 2 kids(7 and 1) tomorrow by road. Starting at 12 and will be stopping over at Vijaywada at a relative’s place for the night before starting for Vizag early in the morning.
Starting from AS Rao nagar in the afternoon.
1. Please suggest good stops for veg lunch at outskirts of Hyd and then for evening snacks on the way.
2. Please suggest breakfast stops on route to Vizag from Vijaywada and for lunch too considering we will be racing past lunch time according to Google.
3. Is Fastag accepted throughout the route? And what are the toll charges? Online it shows 775 one way!
I know it’s too late to ask but I hope there’s no RT-PCR test requirement in case of fully vaccinated people.
Thank you in advance!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhaskar.guru (Post 5152627)

I can help you with only few of the questions :)

1 & 2 ->We did not stop at any of the eating joints and carried ours. However, there are multiple joints open on the way.

3. There was only 1 toll I remember where they accepted cash as Fast tag had some issues rest everywhere it was smooth sailing.

There were no checks for the RT-PCR anywhere throughout the trip.

There is 1 stretch that I remember where potholes were the size of craters and just be careful on that stretch. This stretch is on Godavari Fouth Bridge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhaskar.guru (Post 5152627)

1. Please suggest good stops for veg lunch at outskirts of Hyd

Try 7 Food Courts (https://g.page/foodseven?share) . It should be around 2 hours after you start from Hyderabad.

Quote:

2. Please suggest breakfast stops

I would highly recommend Garuda Food Court. They serve delicious breakfast (https://g.page/garudafoodcourts?share)
For Snacks, you can check out below options
https://goo.gl/maps/EMEmSLEfyeEDuGDt7
https://goo.gl/maps/k5nVATWL3rhT7MH89
https://g.page/hotel-jas?share

Quote:

3. Is Fastag accepted throughout the route?

Fastag is accepted everywhere except the kovvur Godavari bridge. You need pay rupee 60 cash there. And yes, the tolls total would come around rupee 900!

Quote:

I know it’s too late to ask but I hope there’s no RT-PCR
Thank you in advance!

I traveled on 16th from Hyderabad to Vizag and there were no checking whatsoever. However, Final Vaccination certificate is now usually accepted everywhere in place of RT-PCR test.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingCheeese (Post 5172020)

please share the details on the condition of the roads from Hyd to Vizag?

Thanks, road trip was a breeze. The road condition was extremly good compared to my last drive in Nov 2020.

Eluru - Rajuhmundry stretch is a breeze now. Approx, 2 KM stretch before Godavari river crossing near Kovvur Toll Plaza is full of pot holes but don't avoid this route.

Vijaywade by-pass road is also very good now and avoids the congested Benz Circle.

Also, I was surprised to see that the speed limits in many sections of NH16 is now 100KM and hence could cover the entire distance in less than 10hrs. I started on a weekday hence traffic was very less and could drive on cruise mode most of the stretch.

Go ahead with the road trip, you will be surprised to see that most of the flyovers and overbridges are now completed and fully operational. Happy Driving :)