[ACM]

Have a slightly different Take on this somehow.

Background.

Am a Surat (Gujarat) Native who has spent his entire life in Bombay and is married to a Bong from Baroda (Gujarat). We make multiple trips from Bombay to Baroda very year, and have of course also travelled a fair bit in maharashtra and made some road trips to Rajasthan as also to Goa & Karnataka.

1) Feel the Roads from Bombay to Baroda and then to Ahmedabad though very good are quite slow to navigate around Surat (due to poor Traffic manners and the Road itself not being made sufficently safe.
2) Baroda A'Bad is great - Superb.
3) Maharahtra road till Manor were quite good 12 years back when they made it the first time and slowly became the worst patch and are again now quite good.
4) Surat Baroda was also very good about 10-12 years back but later the route was spoilt but now again it is the second best section after Baroda - A'Bad.
5) Interior Gujarat Roads are quite good (State highways) - But then Gujarat does not get the crazy rainfall of the Konkan Belt from Bombay to Goa.
6) Two wheelers have right of the way in Gujart - without question in cities but also to some extent on the Highways.
7) Gujarat Cities - A'bad, Baroda, Surat have good roads at one level but one really cannot travel fast in them due to the kind of traffic, besides these roads tend to not be finished off on the sides with pavements - more so in Baroda and A'Bad.
8) Baruch Bridge is under rapair (one half) since a decade and there are is visible work to develop a new one. It at times can be a cause of major jams. I have made Mumbai Baroda (400kms) trip in about 5 hrs but all made the same trip is 9,11 & 13 hrs due to the jam at this particular point.

Yes Gujarat roads are good, yet the adminstation in better but so is the climate and terrain (not hilly) and the difference vs Maharahtra is not that great to considering the environmental factors as well.

The Baroda A'Bad highways lets one drive faster than say even on Mumbai Pune Expressway infact the offical limit is 100 kmph, but one absolutely must keep in mind the kind of terrain that the Mumbai Pune Expressway goes through (Lonavala - Khandala) and the climate as well that is an engineering marvel many more times over than the High speed road from Baroda to A'bad as well as the Jamuna Expressway for that matter purely due to the tough conditions that exist.

[Carcrazy60]

Roads in Bihar have improved. This Is a snap of NH57 . Superb condition. Interior roads have become very good too.

[sanjz]

When one talks of the roads of Gujarat , and the the sole efforts of a certain politician , amounts to taking a narrow view of the whole issue. If one goes into the holistic view , only then a better undertsanding of the issue can be discerned. As we all know Gujarat in general and Gujaratis in particular since times, have been predominantly a business community , who have spread their reach to paractically all corners of the world. Its this over arching bias towards trade and commerce ,which has been mainly responsible for the good infrastructure that is available here , be it of roads, ports, or container depots. The infrastructure was always there , all latter governments have capitalized on them added to that . Besides land acquisition in Gujarat compared to other states is easier , for barring south Gujarat starting from Nadiad which has very fertile land , the rest of Gujarat has large tracts empty /barren land .This makes the construction of new roads , or widening of roads comparatively easier.

Also another point that has been missed out by most, for the good conditions of roads in Gujarat is that , practically all major road contracts in Gujarat for NH or SH have been executed by L&T, one of the best no nonsense contractors in the country having a standing of living up to their expectations and promises.

Lastly I shall also not take away the credit from the present government for the condition of roads. The present government has plugged all the loop holes of corruption , has ensured that contracts are given to companies like L&T , and where L&T have not taken the contracts, it has ensured that the contracts are executed in letter and spirit , and that all quality standards are met thoroughly.

[anujmishra]

One of my friend is saying there are certain sections of Gujarat road in bad condition. These roads are

1. Ahmedabad Airport - Chiloda road
2. Madosa Road Junction till Ratanpur border NH8

Are these roads in bad condition really? Can somebody verify this?

[greenhorn]

From my limited experience with highways
TN highways are amazing. Most of the roads are well Maintained. Yes there are some places which could be better, but I'm talking about TN Roads as a whole, compared to Highways (especially the SH networks) as a whole
AP & Orissa Have decent roads. Some Lane doubling etc going on in some major stretches, but I wouldnt hold it against them.
Karnataka, Kerala - Good roads here and there, but majority Could use some improvement. NH 17 was sad, especially around udupi Dt
WB - Worst ever. Apart from Calcutta, the roads are virtually non existent. They look like they've seen better days when you pass through the ghost toll booths.

the Guj Roads seem to be on par with the NH's I've seen in TN/AP/Orissa/Kerala/Karnataka. But how are their SH network?

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

One of my friend is saying there are certain sections of Gujarat road in bad condition. These roads are

1. Ahmedabad Airport - Chiloda road
2. Madosa Road Junction till Ratanpur border NH8

Maybe paraphrase a certain politician they are not exactly Hema Malini's cheeks, but I doubt whether they will be Om Puri's cheeks!!

[suniladhiya]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

One of my friend is saying there are certain sections of Gujarat road in bad condition. These roads are

1. Ahmedabad Airport - Chiloda road
2. Madosa Road Junction till Ratanpur border NH8

Are these roads in bad condition really? Can somebody verify this?

I drove on the road from Vadodara to Udaipur via Halol-Godhra-Modasa-Ratanpur in the first week of December 2013. The entire stretch is absolutely fabulous butter smooth four lane. no issues whatever. No idea about Ahmedabad Airport-Chiloda however.

[VMB]

IMHO Tamil Nadu highways are of equal standards. Especially the Chennai-Bangalore stretch from Krishnagiri with 6 lane roads.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by VMB

Especially the Chennai-Bangalore stretch from Krishnagiri with 6 lane roads.

Vellore- Krishnagiri stretch I would agree. However Chennai- Vellore is real bad.
However in general I would say TN and KL has better state highways compared to NH's.

[Samurai]

Roads are getting better everywhere, even Karnataka. But the trouble is people... who only learn to manhandle their vehicles and not learn driving.

This is Karnataka highway... NH48. The route I travel twice a month, between my two homes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu06RhXQUUo

[sgiitk]

@Samurai; Take the Yamuna Expressway, dawdling in the middle lane with a free LH lane, and some jokers in their high end hardware trying to hit Mach 1. Also, the SUVs (I guess neta types) are just crazy, overtaking from the left, wandering across the highway.... In fact the latter are there everywhere, even more so now at election time.

[pgsagar]

Roads in AP / TN are just as good, if not better. Don't know what all the fuss about Gujarat roads is then. May be another hype about Gujarat. I'm really sick of this Gujarat hype. Gujarat had a headstart over other states since 70s. Nothing more than that.

[Slush_Traveller]

I would like to add that the ahmedabad vadodra express way is best road I have ever travelled across India.

[Sanjay1707]

I lived in a small place called, Kalol, near Panchmahal in late nineties and used to go to Vadodara by scooter. Nightmarish condition of roads. Govt in Gujrat decided to improve the road conditions. Anybody who drove in Gujrat in last 10 years knows that the condition of the road became better before most of other states. On an average roads nowadays are better everywhere.The same cannot be said about roads in Bengal. Karnataka still has to catch up. But, way better than before.

If you want to enjoy your driving, you must be in Rajasthan. Miles and miles of open stretches of good roads with not much of traffic.

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[joybhowmik]

I was pleasantly surprised driving through Purulia's Rarh Anchal (red soil) in West Bengal a few weeks ago.
Even tertiary roads bear signs of having recently been upgraded. Not a single pothole in miles and miles of driving.


I think the better conditions of roads in Gujarat has enforced a sense of competition between the Chief Ministers - at least in West Bengal , hitherto notorious for the atrocious conditions of its state roads!