Team-BHP - Bangalore - Guwahati : Route Queries

Hi all

Planning for a long drive. From Bangalore to Guwahati in March end. I have planned most of the breaks but need info about few stretch.

Day 1. Bangalore - Chittoor - Nayudupeta (NH5) - halt at Vijayawada or Visakapatnam
Day 2. Vijayawada or Visakapatnam - Kharagpur - halt
Day 3. Kharagpur - Koch Bihar (near Siliguri) - halt

My Question in on this part, I dont want to enter Kolkata. I need to reach Koch Bihar from Kharagpur. In fact if there is a better place to halt before Kharagpur that is also fine with me. In other words what is the best route from Visakapatnam to Siliguri bypassing Kolkata

Day 4. Koch Bihar - Guwahati. Any update on road condition?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockyb (Post 2218351)

Hi,
You can avoid going through Cal proper, but you'll be grazing by it. Maps will show NH60 from Kharagpur to Ranigunj/ Durgapur. Don't even think of it.

Why the fixation with Cooch Behar?

Regards
Sutripta

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockyb (Post 2218351)

Hi all

My Question in on this part, I dont want to enter Kolkata. I need to reach Koch Bihar from Kharagpur. In fact if there is a better place to halt before Kharagpur that is also fine with me. In other words what is the best route from Visakapatnam to Siliguri bypassing Kolkata

From Kharagpur stay on GQ, merge on to NH2 towards Delhi on GQ. Continue on NH2 towards Burdawan. Bypass Burdawan and look for Darjeeling More. Take a right turn at Darjeeling More towards Illambazar->Suiri->Rampurhat->Nalhati to merge on to NH34 towards Siliguri.

I'm not sure about the latest road conditions , but it should be okay. Bhp-ians take this route regularly.

All the best with your trip!

I am attaching a excel file prepared by me for someone who drove from Coimbatore to Bhutan & Guwahati.You can trace your own route from Palmaner onwards via Nayudupeta to Kharagpur, Kolkata, the Darjeeling More route till Siliguri. From Siliguri, my friend took the direct route to Bhutan, but in your case, you can trace his return route from Guwahati to Siliguri in the end of the trip.

Doing Bangalore-Vijaywada is OK, but pushing onto Vizag calls for some zestful non-stop high-speed driving with early morning starts and no-break drive policy.

From Vizag to Kharagour is doable.

Road conditions are great till the AP-OR border, after which widening is incomplete, but roads are ostly in decent condition. North of Bhubaneswar, after Bhadrak till Baleswar, roads are again 2-laned, but quite decent.

Watch out for traffic jams at the AP-OR border (Ichchapuram) and OR-WB border (Jaleswar).

No need to go into Kolkata, NH6 (Kon Expressway from Kharagpur) merges into NH2 (Durgapur Expressway) at Dankuni and proceeds via Bardhaman to Darjeeling More.

Road between Darjeeling More and Morgram via Siuri, Rampurhat and Nalhatti is not great but no major bad sections. Day traffic can be a nuisance though.

Drivng from Kharagpur to Cooch Behar is virtually impossible considering the distances and slower driving conditions. The only chance of making it are if you drive through the night from Kolkata (no miscellaneous traffic). Be war of traffic jams at the WB-BR border (Kishanganj).

The route on the south bank via Cooch Behar and Goalpara is the only good road currently from Siliguri to Kolkata. Road is narrow and twisty in WB, but straightens out into fast-laned beauty in AS. Be wary of frequent bandhs and hartals in AS after Goalpara between Dudhnai and Guwahati.

I recently went to Siliguri from Kolkata and back. Went (07-01-2011) via NH2-Darjeeling More-Rampurhat-Moregram and returned (12-01-2011) via NH-34-Baharampur-Krishnanagar-Barasat.

Road Conditions:
Darjeeling More-Moregram : Average road. Not great but at least satisfactory. During daytime, be prepared for some traffic while crossing towns.

Moregram-Dalkhola : Mixed. Some very bad sections with huge pot holes (crater like). Likely jam at Kaliaganj (faced it both ways).

Dalkhola-Kishanganj : Almost excellent with four lane expressway and a few bad stretches (where road construction is going on). But Beware, there is no road sign of end of expressway.

Kishanganj-Siliguri : Mixed. Some very good four lane expressway followed by some horrible roads. 30-40 kms before Siliguri (just after expressway ends), road is in terrible condition with huge craters. You should have some high ground clearance vehicle. I scrapped my car (Chevy Beat) :Frustrati at least 3-4 times if not more.

Siliguri-Chalsa : Good. Till Bagrakote, the road is excellent. Thereafter, a few bad streches.

Chalsa-Murti : Excellent.

Sorry, Don't know the road condition beyond that? Please note that whatever you do, don't take NH-34 via Barasat. The road condition is much more worse.

I think HVK is right, it will very difficult for you to drive from Kharagpur to Cooch Behar considering the road condition and traffic jams.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockyb (Post 2219538)

Thank you HVK for detailed sheet.

Thank you Joy for lastest update.

If not Kharagpur - Cooch Bihar in one day what are the suggested breaks?

Definitely Siliguri, although it will be quite a long driving day thanks to heavy traffic in WB roads. Please bear in mind that the only decent hotels are in Malda in between.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar (Post 2218740)

The route on the south bank via Cooch Behar and Goalpara is the only good road currently from Siliguri to Kolkata. Road is narrow and twisty in WB, but straightens out into fast-laned beauty in AS. Be wary of frequent bandhs and hartals in AS after Goalpara between Dudhnai and Guwahati.

Not clear about this route. You mean Siliguri to Guwahati? Any more pointers / google map

Had done Siliguri-Guwahati by road about a year back. According to my experience neither road are really great in condition, but due to different reasons.

The NH31, ie via Rangia on the north bank is very crowded and haphazard work of four-laning is underway. Though some smooth newly surfaced sections exist, but most of it is just about average, not to mention very dusty and lots of diversions. Dont know how much the work has progressed in the last year or so.

The NH37, ie via Goalpara on the south bank, is far less crowded, mostly used only by truckers. No four laning work, and average surface throughout. A much more memorable drive through rural Assam. My suggestion would be taking this rout as shown in Google Maps above.

I didnt travel via Cooch Behar, as I was actually travelling from Guwahati to Gangtok, so we had gone via Bongaigaon, Alipurduar, and directly to Sevok, instead of going via Siliguri. That stretch was also decent.

Though, i will say, road conditions may have changed, for better or worse now, as my experience was almost a year ago.

Good luck Rocky, I have always wanted to do this route. Just looked up google maps, the road via Hyderabad-Jabalpur looks to be 200km or so shorter, but maybe it would not present you with the pleasure of the GQ road.
For one thing, the GQ road is well drivable by night, the lane markers shine up in the headlight beam for excellent guidance of the road ahead and one can do fair distance in small time without the normal worries of day time, but caution, local inputs and preparedness is always a good thing.