[rnbohra]

Time is coming near for my planned trip Pune to Jaipur. Thanks to Kumar sir and others have the route and times all lined up. Everybody who responded to my earlier post indicated of problems at Surat and Baroda BP but since their experiences were 2-3 months before, would like to know the most recent situation.Anybody having done the Mumbai-Ahm or Mumbai-Baroda recently and willing to respond about the present situation will be highly aprreciated.Thanks guys, and once done will post my experiences upon returnRajesh

[phamilyman]

wait a week, by next thu

[arpandiv]

bbay-navsari is like a runway!
beyond that gets rough,will update next week.

[Raja]

Hi Rajesh

Just did the trip earlier this month (Mumbai - Ahmedabad). Left on Thursday 3 Apr.
Left Borivali (N Bombay) at 6.30am. Average speed between 80-100kph. Never really went over 100 unless overtaking trucks. No traffic congestions at all.
Bharuch-Baroda, due to road widening and flyover construction, speed dropped to 40-60kph. Trucks were driving in the middle of the road (even though there was plenty on room on the left side of the road) and not allowing overtaking opportunities. Reached Ahmedabad at 5.30pm (my house in Ahm).
RETURN journey.
Left on Fri 18 Apr. Left my house in Ahm at 6.30am. Driving at bit faster. Speed was 100-120kph. LOTS of trucks right after the Baroda express way finished. Right after Bharuch tolls, got stuck in traffic to Ankleshwar. Took me 2 (TWO) hours! to do 3 (THREE) KM!. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. I was driving through ditches to overtake trucks, my car looked like it had been through a sand war. After Ankleshwar, smooth again, 80-100kph speed. Reached Mumbai house at 7.30pm.

Leave some spare time, on the way TO Ahmedabad, very smooth drive. Not a single congestion at all. That got me over-confident on the return journey.
Hope I haven't missed anything. Let me know if you want further info.
Good Luck
Raja

[rnbohra]

Thanks Raja for the prompt response, phamilyman and arpandiv, will hold you for ur response after u finish ur trip. I plan to leave on 9-5-08 early morning from Mumbai so hope to get ur input by thenTake Care

[hvkumar]

Secret is to leave as early as possible. I have left at 300 am from Thane and crossed Sura by 640 am without any jams and even Ankleshwar town was a town to flash by. You have to be as athletic as possible, using road shoulders to the extent possible.

[sanjaykhm]

I covered that stretch in March. Mumbai-Ahmedabad was on March 19th, 4:00 am departure from Vapi and I was past Baroda just by 7:30 am. Some traffic, mostly trucks but not too bad, average speed did drop to about 60.

Ahmedabad - Mumbai was on March 30th, departing from Udaipur by 7:00 am. More traffic but no jams. Baroda-Surat was covered starting at Noon and I was in Vapi by 4:00 pm. Took 30 minutes more due to heavier traffic, lesser trucks, more local traffic though.

Cheers .. Sanjay

[arpandiv]

we left bbay at 12.30am and reached navsari at 3.15am !! so doing the strech in night does make a lot of difference.

[Dhanasekaran]

I did this stretch during early March. We left from Lokhandwala (Kandivili) around 2:30 PM and reached Baroda (Sayanjiganj) around 8:00 PM.

There heavy traffic at Bharuch and Surat cross junctions. When you cross after long waiting at these junctions, you will be left with no clue, why you were standing there for hours?

All the best.

[rnbohra]

Did the trip on 9-5-08 0300 hrs starting from Bombay. Had no problems up to Ankleswar, but beyond that eventhough the time was 0815 hrs lot of trucks and bikes on the road. Could only reach the Baroda - Ahm e-way at 1010 hrs. Still on the road will give detailed account with photos once back at base.

[Anurag_Gupta]

Originally Posted by rnbohra

Did the trip on 9-5-08 0300 hrs starting from Bombay. Had no problems up to Ankleswar, but beyond that eventhough the time was 0815 hrs lot of trucks and bikes on the road. Could only reach the Baroda - Ahm e-way at 1010 hrs. Still on the road will give detailed account with photos once back at base.

From Bharuch, you can take a left to leave NH8 and go for Jambusar highway. It will lead to Vadodara and is very good road. It will be like 10-15km more compared to normal route.

Anurag

[dushmish]

I will be driving down to Jaipur from Mumbai on the coming Saturday (16th May 2009) in my Zen. Please let me know the road conditions between Mumbai and Baroda. I last drove on this section on Jan 26th 2009. The section between Ghodbandar and Manor was bad. Surat to Baroda was full of diversions thanks to the numerous flyovers being constructed. Also the road was being widened. Baroda bye-pass was also not a smooth ride.

Road onwards up to Jaipur was very good. Please let me know the latest condition of the roads. Shall help me plan my journey. I will be travelling with my wife and 2 yr old daughter.

I will drive between 80kmph to 100kmph depending on road and traffic conditions. I am a conservative driver. There is no rush to reach Jaipur.

Current plan is to start at 3:00 am.
Cross Baroda by 11 am (depending on the road and traffic).
Reach Udaipur by 6 pm. I know it should take 5 hours to reach Udaipur from Baroda but I have provided some buffer for lunch and loo breaks for my princess.
If this goes well, the plan is to reach Ajmer the same night and stay overnight. If reaching Udaipur is delayed due to unforseen reasons, then we will spend the night in Udaipur.

I am not planning to reach Jaipur in one day. I know HVK (and others) do that.

Comments and suggestions, in helping tune the plan, are welcome.

[hvkumar]

Ghodbunder-Manor road is not a great road, but all patched up and a comfortable drive.
Drive till Surat is wonderful as before. 6-lane construction work has started between Valsad and Navsari, but so far no disruption.
Surat bypass is much the same as before although one of the 3 flyovers is almost over. Your early morning start should see you comfortably through Surat bypass.
From Surat to Ankleshwar is quite OK, most of the 6-lane road complete and in place.
Problem is only in Ankleshwar town which has been a major traffic bottleneck ever since they started flyover construction (2 of them). One of them is almost complete but the second one is quite a time-waster, the road narrowing down and traffic jams being common.
After clearing Ankleshwar town, it is a fantastic drive all the way/. The Ankleshwar-Baroda road is fully 6-lane and a fast drive. Baroda bypass is also complete, all the flyovers giving you a great fly-by.


Therefore, you have to work on crossing Ankleshwar as early as possible.
Udaipur is an easy drive with a 3 am start, and maybe you can revise your overnight halt target to Chittorgarh or Bhilwara.

Chittorgarh bypass is also complete, and you do not have to cross the town anymore.

[dushmish]

Namaskar HVK,

Thanks so much for all the guidance. The 3 am starts are inspired by your trips. I always believed in starting early but 3 am does wonders. The overnight halt is more to do with relatives living in Udaipur and Ajmer.

Shall be referring to your logs for help on the road. They are simply amazing! Looking forward to meet you someday soon.

Take care.
Dushyant

[David Murx]

I agree with HVK, the drive from ankleshwar to baroda is fantastic due to 6 lane. The stretch between surat and ankleshwar is mess. I had been to surat from vadodara on 24th May and it really pissed me. The work of 4 flyovers is going on and due to this the stretch between ankleshwar to surat is tiring. If you are leaving early then not a problem but during day time it is not advisable to do the drive as there is lot of traffic jams. I am attaching some pics to show you how i was stuck up inspite of being travelling on sunday. The drive from Ankleshwar to Vadodara is very good, fast and flyovers construction done in excellent way.