[julupani]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Ok... for all those planning to do Hyd-Kol route now or in future here is an update. I did this route some 3 months back. The world has changed, and how! I was dreading my entry into Odisha after the smooth highways of AP (past experiences) but it all turned out to be mere apprehensions. Someone used a magic brush and presto the roads in Odisha have changed for good.

In fact I drove to a friend's place in Berhampore in Odisha on the first evening (starting from Hyd at 6.30 am). The next day I started early from Berhampore at around 6.00 am expecting a long, tiring day through the dust bowls of Odisha (from my past epxeriences). As it turned out I had a bit late lunch at 2.30pm at home in Kolkata!!!

Wow, you have not taken to the Odisha highways for quite some time now. The NH5 has been pretty much done for the past couple of years now. And even before that the stretch north of Balugaon has been complete for more than 5 years now.

But even then 8.5 hours from Berhampur-Kolkata is pretty impressive. You must have really lucked out with the traffic and construction through Bhubaneswar town, as well as on the chaotic WB-OD border.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for the update. Gramps used to call it Rambha ghat and the name stuck . I think the old route is south bound. It is the stretch from BBSR to BAM. I may be mistaken though, as I've not driven in that area for more than 11 years.

The incline on that route after the sharp right was so much that my uncle's fully-laden Amby (with a ton of rice in the boot) started rolling back. He was forced to return and take the longer route via Khallikote town to Berhampur. And boy o boy, did he get angry when we started giggling at the inability of the car to climb the ghat!!

Actually, the old route is north bound, ie BAM-BBSR. The older route rises higher and is more steep. The inclines towards Berhampur are more gradual while the inclines on the BBSR side of the hill are more steep. The newer BBSR-BAM, south bound route has made the incline a bit more gradual, but even so trucks still struggle up it, and get stuck sometimes. Most experienced truck drivers wait for a gap in the traffic at the bottom of the hill so that they dont get stuck behind another struggling truck.

The steepest section ,where your Uncle's Amby got stuck, is now on the north bound route, so vehicles dont have to climb up it.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by julupani

Actually, the old route is north bound, ie BAM-BBSR. The older route rises higher and is more steep. The inclines towards Berhampur are more gradual while the inclines on the BBSR side of the hill are more steep. The newer BBSR-BAM, south bound route has made the incline a bit more gradual, but even so trucks still struggle up it, and get stuck sometimes. Most experienced truck drivers wait for a gap in the traffic at the bottom of the hill so that they dont get stuck behind another struggling truck.

The steepest section ,where your Uncle's Amby got stuck, is now on the north bound route, so vehicles dont have to climb up it.

Thanks for the clarification. Now things are clear to me.

I have a question for you on bypassing BBSR. I remember there is a route via Nandankanan that touches the NH5 close to Katjori bridge. Isn't that a good bypass?

Further, I am not sure if you are aware that the route I mentioned was the regular route to Nandankanan for those living in Cuttack. It was a fair-weather road then. If not, one had to cross BBSR and take a right turn at Khandagiri Jn, and then proceed to the rear entrance to Nandankanan. In other words, the route from Jaidev Vihar Jn to Nandankanan via Chandrashekarpur did not exist till the mid-70s.

[julupani]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for the clarification. Now things are clear to me.

I have a question for you on bypassing BBSR. I remember there is a route via Nandankanan that touches the NH5 close to Katjori bridge. Isn't that a good bypass?

Further, I am not sure if you are aware that the route I mentioned was the regular route to Nandankanan for those living in Cuttack. It was a fair-weather road then. If not, one had to cross BBSR and take a right turn at Khandagiri Jn, and then proceed to the rear entrance to Nandankanan. In other words, the route from Jaidev Vihar Jn to Nandankanan via Chandrashekarpur did not exist till the mid-70s.

Yes, there is a way to bypass Bhubaneswar at least, though not Cuttack. It takes you by the old entrance of the Nandankanan Zoo. This road was recently repaired by the state govt to function as a bypass for Bhubaneswar, as NHAI refused to make a bypass. They tried to encourage truckers to take the route and bypass the city, but they didnt really succeed. The road is in very good shape, but it is frequented by quite a few trucks of real estate projects and is a 2-lane affair.

This is the route you are talking about.



The above way to bypass Bhubaneswar will be moot after the end of next year, as there is an elevated corridor being built inside the city which will allow highway traffic to pass unhindered through the city. This should be finished by the end of next year. Also a major western bypass is also planned, which will bypass the entire Bhubaneswar-Cuttack region, but this is still quite a few years from completion.

For further info, the road connecting Nandankanan from Jaydev Vihar square via Chandrashekharpur did not exist till the late 80s or early 90s.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by julupani

For further info, the road connecting Nandankanan from Jaydev Vihar square via Chandrashekharpur did not exist till the late 80s or early 90s.

Thanks for the updates. BBSR looks promising, with all its new fly-overs. I went there in Feb and was amazed.

BTW, there did exist a route via Chandrashekarpur to Nandankanan, but one had to go via Acharya Vihar Chowk and RRL and merge near the spot where NALCO office is located. The small stretch from Jaydev Vihar to the NALCO office was not there till early 90s or so.

[julupani]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for the updates. BBSR looks promising, with all its new fly-overs. I went there in Feb and was amazed.

BTW, there did exist a route via Chandrashekarpur to Nandankanan, but one had to go via Acharya Vihar Chowk and RRL and merge near the spot where NALCO office is located. The small stretch from Jaydev Vihar to the NALCO office was not there till early 90s or so.

Yes, Bhubaneswar's roads are probably the best thing about its infrastructure. There is even a Ring road which recently started work. The above picture also shows the bypass towards Puri from the NH5, marked as the new NH203 which earlier passed through the city.

The present route towards Nandankanan always existed, though it was more of a fair-weather path rather than a proper road. There are a couple of nallah which would swell up with rain water drainage making them impossible to cross. It was only in the late 80s or early 90s that the present entrance to the Nandankanan came up and a proper road with bridges connecting it to the city were built. And now with further development this route passing by the Nandankanan entrance will become an alternate route between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack once an extra bridge is built. This will allow a good percentage of the BBSR-CTC traffic to move off the NH5.

The following picture shows the approximately the upcoming ring-road and the new route to Cuttack.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by julupani

The present route towards Nandankanan always existed, though it was more of a fair-weather path rather than a proper road. There are a couple of nallah which would swell up with rain water drainage making them impossible to cross. It was only in the late 80s or early 90s that the present entrance to the Nandankanan came up and a proper road with bridges connecting it to the city were built.
Attachment 1137376

I guess that road to Nandankanan was built in 1985. I used that road for the first time when my brother got married that year. I took 3 of his pals to Nandankanan on that road on 2 scooters, and that bridge close to the zoo was very new at that time. But colonies like Chandrashekarpur had just started coming up in those days. The road was deserted, and presented a pleasant shortcut to the zoo.

[Ravi Yadav]

Guys ,
Is the new bypass route to Cuttack functional . I was looking for a route to bypass BBSR.

[Krishroy]

Recently I drove from Hyderabad to Kolkata. Sharing the experience.

Vehicle: Hyundai Verna Petrol

Weather: Sunny

- We started from Hyderabad at 8:00 AM and reached 7 Foodcourt on NH9 at 9:30 AM. This part of NH9 is 4-lane, excellent & spotless (169 KM)

- We started from 7 Foodcourt at 10:15 AM and hit NH5 at 12 noon taking Vijayawada Bypass Road. NH9 is excellent again. However, there can be city traffic on the Vijayawada bypass road depending upon the time you are travelling (Note: Vijayawada Traffic Police is currently trying to reduce pressure on tunnel road by diverting traffic towards Milk Factory road) (150 KM)

- We took GNT road from Gundugolanu (towards Kovvuru), which hit Godavari fourth bridge bypassing the entire Rajahmundry city crowd. Again we hit NH5 at 2:30 PM. NH5 is 4-lane and smooth drive road. GNT road is 2-lane; but the road condition is mostly good; except few patches. There is no good restaurant on this road (150 KM)

- We continued on NH5, till we reached Vizag bypass road (i.e. AP state highway 38) at 5 PM. There is no decent restaurant on this road. However, we took a 30 mins break for lunch in a road side eatery, which serves basic South Indian thali. Taste of the food was not too bad. There is a CCD 5 KM before Tuni on the left side and another good looking dhaba, named Dolphin dhaba 15 KM after Tuni on the left side. Though we didn’t try any of these, as we already completed our lunch. This is a fully 4-lane road with very good condition (165 KM)

- Next we took AP state highway 38 to bypass the Vizag city traffic. This is the worst road in the entire trip. Unfortunately, it was already dark when we were passing this portion. This road was a 2-lane road full of mid-sized craters and evening traffic. We hit NH5 back at 6:10 PM, which took us 1:10 hours to cover 45 KM

- We took another break of 30 mins in a restaurant adjoining BP petrol pump and drove up to Srikakulam. We stayed at Hotel Blue Earth, which is a decent hotel offering AC room at a price of Rs 2000. We reached the hotel at 8 PM covering last 80 KM and call it a day. No complaints on road again.

- Next day morning we started at 4:45 AM from Srikakulam and reached Rambha Pantha Nivas 7:30 AM, where we stopped for breakfast. There were some speculations on road conditions in Odissa. But, honestly this is another super road, full of natural beauty (200 KM)

- We started from Rambha at 8:15 AM and reached Bhubaneshwar at 10 AM (125 KM).

- We gave a break at Bhubaneshwar and started again at 3:50 PM. We reached the outskirts of Balasore around 7 PM and stopped for dinner. There are few patches in this stretch where road work is going on, hence there are few diversions; otherwise good 4-lane road throughout 200 KM

- We started from Balasore at 7:45 PM, took diversion towards NH60 and entered West Bengal at 8:45 PM with small fuel break at around 75 KM from kharagpur. There was no scope to complaint about the road again, except a very small patch at Velorachowk, which is around 40 KM from Balasore. This 4-lane road has few roadside Dhabas with proper road-signs. We continued till Kharagpur without break and experienced some odd situations at the junction of NH6 & NH60. There were 4/5 KM queue of trucks stuck on NH60 blocking both the lanes. Inspired by some other vehicles around, I took a U-turn and drove from wrong side and hit NH6 at 10 PM. Later I came to know that blockage was made by local goons asking for subscription of Kali Puja, which is a big festival in Bengal (140 KM)

- Remaining 120 KM was also smooth with 6-lane road. There were few diversions as road work is going on in few patches. However, there was no road-sign available in this road and no lane demarcation in most of the places. We find queue of truck in some more places on this road (probably for the same reason). However, they ensured one lane open for private vehicles. Finally, we hit second Hooghly Bridge at 12 midnight.

- Petrol (for one side) Rs 8000 (approx)

- Toll Tax Details
o Telangana – Rs 150
o AP – Rs 756
o Odissa – Rs 415
o WB – Rs 220

- In total, it took 22 hours driving time to cover 1500 KM

[dpkbehera]

Bumping up an old thread for suggestions on this route. I am planning to drive down to Balasore (enroute Kolkata) from Hyderabad. My plan is like this i.e.
Day 1 : Leave for Vijaywada by 5 pm from Hyderabad.
Day 2 : Halt at Gopalpur.
Day 3 : Arrive at Balasore.

Any feedback/suggestions would be appreciated.

[Combustion29]

Hey guys,
I am planning to cover Hyderabad to Durgapur Later this month in my Ecosport, it will be and a couple of my friends, i was thinking about an alternative route, rather than the route via Vizag. i remember sometime around January this year when i checked the route from Hyderabad to Kolkata it showed a route via Raipur, and personally i have done Hyderabad to Raipur a couple of times and the roads were good, Hyderabad to Adilabad are one of the best roads I've seen in the country, and the roads are manageable until Nagpur, and post that until Raipur the roads are good and really pretty. Right now google maps is showing a route via Jagdalpur. I am confused i would prefer taking the route via Raipur even if it's around a 100 kilometers more but, i have only driven till Raipur and i wonder how the roads are beyond Raipur.