[ramkya1]

HVK left Ahmedabad today morning 3 am and has passed Manor now. He says the all flyovers on Baroda BP are over, the section from Baroda to Ankleswar is a breeze, about 140 kms, he took around 1 hour to do. The section from there to Surat work is on, but still messy. That's heartering news, looks like in about 6 months, this section would be finally over except perhaps the over bridges around Surat.

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[hvkumar]

Thanks for the update, Ramky.

Yes, the Baroda bypass is lovely now, all the flyovers complete and 6-laned glory. so is the entire stretch from Baroda to Bharuch. I drove the 63 kms from the end of Baroda bypass to Bharuch (River Narmada bridge) in 45 minutes.

But from Ankleshwar onwards, it is still a sad story till Surat. Ankleshwar town flyovers are incomplete and the first one (North end) looks like it may take another year to complete. Narrow Road through the town is still constricting traffic flow. From ther eon, many sections are 6-laned, but there are bridges and sections which are incomplete. The surat bypass flyovers are also incomplete. Thanks to my early timings (I left A'bad at 310 am), i did not get stuck in traffic jams.

My timings were;
Ahmedabad City, 310 am, 0 kms
Expressway, 330 am, 16 kms
Baroda bypass, 437 am, 100 kms
End of Baroda bypass, 454 am, 24 kms
Bharuch, 538 am, 63 kms
Ankleswar, 554 am, 15 kms
Surat Bypass, 645 am, 46 kms
Vapi, 830 am, 121 kms
Thane, 1045 am, 154 kms

6-laning work has started in the sections after Navasari till Valsad.

[genesis]

Just got back today from Jamnagar to Mumbai via the Ahmedabad expressway. Expressway continues to be a runway!

The Baroda to Bharuch stretch is a dream run. Big change from when i moved to Mumbai from Delhi in June. Sweet is the one word i can use

Ankleshwar et all is still a bit of a mess. (single lane sometimes deeply grooved roads where the flyovers are coming up).

Roads are good after Surat also for the most part apart from occasional construction diversions for short distances.

Coming in today I did not hit any jams between ankleshwar and surat though the traffic next to the under construction flyovers got slow at times.

As hvk said, it is very advisable to leave mumbai/ahmedabad as early as possible.

Slightly off topic: On the way out on Thu afternoon, after ankleshwar was standstill traffic. I somehow ended up on the 'old' road to bharuch which had a great bonus of having to use the over 100 year old narmada bridge. (a marvel of british engineering). I had to fold the innova side mirrors in for peace of mind!

Here are two photos

The bridge


Inside the bridge

[pkumar]

How is the stretch now?
If somebody has travelled recently, please publish the timings.

[malgudi]

one of my friends did a baroda - borivali trip in 5 hours in his civic last sunday. He said the road conditions are excellent.

[devoo]

I drove on 25th July, on way to Ladakh.
After Kamrej flyover go on service road, other than that part road fantastic Baroda all flyovers ready and working, driving time from Surat to Sarkej exit 2hrs 45 minutes after Tapti

[hvkumar]

A friend drove by 2 days ago. He had a tough time getting from Ghodbunder to Manor thanks to some bad road sections in Virar and the terrible long Qs at the Virar toll gate. He also got stuck in Surat BP for over 1 hour. Net result, he took nearly 11 hours to reach Ahmedabad! Ankleshwar town was no problem. He is also on his way to Ladakh like devoo.

[ramkya1]

Today's Times has the details of an exciting item:

Ahmedabad-Baroda : Completed - about 100 kms
( one can do this easily under 60 mts)

Baroda- Surat: Work on 6 lanes complete: 150 Kms.
( I think most people are doing this under 3 hours, anyone done this recently?)

Surat-Mumbai: 6 laning work in Progress to be completed by 2011, distance 239 kms.
(Anyone done this recently...... to know the timings?)

About 25,000 cars ply betweeen Ahmedbad and Baroda every month, volume increasing by 10% every year!!!!
=======

This is something to look forward to, a drive from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in 5 hours!!! Power to the motor-heads.

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[pkumar]

I did Mumbai (Virar) to Ahmedabad in 6.5 hours, 3 days back. Started at 11 pm and was at Ring road ahmedabad by 5:30.
Road conditions are good except 2-3 kms.

[rammishra]

Hi evryone

I did Ahmadabad to Mumbai on 4th September. Road is in excellent condition from Ahmadabad till Manor. But i came across some really bad roads with pot holes between Manor and Ghodbunder.

Ram

Originally Posted by pkumar

I did Mumbai (Virar) to Ahmedabad in 6.5 hours, 3 days back. Started at 11 pm and was at Ring road ahmedabad by 5:30.
Road conditions are good except 2-3 kms.

[ramkya1]

Great news for road-heads who will travel inside / through Gujarat, specially the GQ as per todays TOI's item.

TOI 20-11-2009 - NHAI PLANS
Ahmedabda - Udaipur - Kishangadh - 6 lane - 4284 Crores.
Ahmedabad - Baroda - 6 lanes - 1962 crores- Work starts in March 2010.
Ahmedabad - Rajkoat - 6 lanes - 2000 crores - work starts in March 2010 -
Samakhialia - Khandla - converstion to 6 lanes
Gandhidham - Mundra - 2 lane to 4 lanes
Ahmedabad - Dahod - 2 lanes to 4 lanes

The road till Gujarat border is OK already, it's the MP stretch from thereon that's hell. If that improves, it would be a lovely run to MP and a treasure trove of destinations.

This would also mean a temporaty disturbanc on these routes but in the long run shortened time on the GQ and these roads.

What say you TBHPns???

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[hvkumar]

Bad news!

Why?
We are just recovering from teh delays due to 6-laning in the Sura-Baroda sector and are just about pleased that it is all over and drive is smooth, although they have started Surat-Manor-Bombay widening now!

I presume that Ahmedabad-Baroda widening is on NH8 and not on NE1 (expressway), so it does not matter for those travelling to Ahmedabad and beyond.

Surprised that they are widening A'Bad-Rajkot, that road is not so congested except for the first 20 kms beyond Sarkhej. Always thought that road has lots of room.

The Samakiyari-Kandla requires widening badly, since it takes the brunt of the truck traffic from North India to the ports of Gujarat. Definitely welcome.

Dahod road can do with the extra width, but as you said, MP is unlikely to change.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Bad news!

Why?
We are just recovering from teh delays due to 6-laning in the Sura-Baroda sector and are just about pleased that it is all over and drive is smooth, although they have started Surat-Manor-Bombay widening now!

I presume that Ahmedabad-Baroda widening is on NH8 and not on NE1 (expressway), so it does not matter for those travelling to Ahmedabad and beyond.

Surprised that they are widening A'Bad-Rajkot, that road is not so congested except for the first 20 kms beyond Sarkhej. Always thought that road has lots of room.

The Samakiyari-Kandla requires widening badly, since it takes the brunt of the truck traffic from North India to the ports of Gujarat. Definitely welcome.

Dahod road can do with the extra width, but as you said, MP is unlikely to change.

Back in 2003 when they were 4 laning the Ahmedabad - Udiapur secton, it was a nightmare; 8 hours, took me about 9 hours once on my Santro, now 3hours + in most cars. There's a lot of trauma till the work is completed, in the end it think it pans out OK for long distance travel.

Is the Surat-Manor work affecting drive times?

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[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Is the Surat-Manor work affecting drive times?

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Thankfully, not yet! Looks like the work is progressing very slow (IRB again) and I have not seen any disruption of traffic.

[Akadian]

This is fantastic news, ramkya. I'm sure after this work is over Gujarat will be at par with China in terms of road infrastructure. High time state authorities woke up in MP as well. North-South and vice versa travellers like us will get multiple options that are good if that happens