[iamitp]

Dear BHPians,

Starting this poll with a thought that would have certainly crossed every BHPians mind,

Which State has the best Highways in India?

I was inspired by our thread on the 'Best Roads in India' which has some great posts based on individual experiences.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...-india-29.html (The Best Roads In India)

The objective of this thread is to quantify such experiences and read what the numbers have to say!

• Please do vote based on your personal driving experience on the State and National Highways passing through the States & UTs.
• Preferably vote only for those States where you have personally driven more than 500 KMs.
• Kindly refrain from basing your vote based on city/town/village roads as that deserves a separate poll.
• Let us keep UTs apart from this poll due to their small Highway network length.

[fiat_tarun]

Nice thread idea.

I have 2 favourites - Tamilnadu & Rajasthan.

TN highways have always been brilliant with proper markings, road signs and are a pleasure to drive on. Absolutely love driving on TN highways.
Recently did a Pune - Bangalore - Valparai - Mysore - Pune trip which took me back on TN roads after quite a gap. I am still reminiscing this trip even though it's been 3 weeks since.

Anyone who has driven in Rajasthan will testify for the brilliant roads they have - arrow straight in quite a few places with super surface quality. The biggest downer are the interceptors waiting to catch you if you are over 80kmph . I thoroughly enjoyed RJ roads during my Pune - Udaipur - Deogarh - Jodhpur- Jaisalmer - Pune road trip

Suggest the poll be made multiple choice, as I can't choose one among these two.

[Aniket Verma]

Answer to this question is very subjective.

My answer to this question has been changing over time, It started with Gujarat, followed by MP, AP (Combined AP & TG) and now UP.

IMHO Best highways are not those which only provides best surface or landscape. They are the one which also provide following benefits:

1) Reduction in Journey time
2) Road safety
3) No. of towns being connected / lives being touched
4) Future Socio-Economic potential

UP is undergoing once in a lifetime transformation of its infrastructure; P.S.: not only Expressways, but the quantity and quality of other Greenfield Highways (both NH/SH), Town Bypass, Bridges.

Best part is all these projects are not concentrated in few pockets like in other states, but these are spread across the state.

[anandavinash]

This may be a tricky question for most of us. I wonder how many people have driven in all the states regularly in the last 3 years to vote keeping in mind consistency of the quality.
My vote comes from having driven in Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra (most) and Andhra Pradesh. I have travelled extensively by road in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand etc too.

My first vote would be TN (which I have) closely followed by Gujarat. Although my drive on Gujarat highways was back in 2015 which was already pretty impressive.

[saikarthik]

As few pointed out, it's very tricky to answer this as there are variables and also you NEED TO DEFINE BEST.

- Best in safety and safety services availability,
- Best in travel time reduction,
- Best in amenities near highways,
- Best in relaxed and stress free driving,
- Best in derived fuel economy -again splits to ability to maintain constant speed, traffic congestion, shortest route connecting important places, reduced resistance (elevation changes, surface - asphalt/concrete, turns),

Also, except few, not all people here have driven in many states in almost all the parts, we cannot say UP has best roads as it has 1 or 2 expressways which are most used, but same people haven't driven in other parts of UP.

All aside, I have voted for TN with my experience.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Voted for TN.

People who wonder what use is cruise control in the Indian context - should really try the Kanyakumari highway, especially south of Madurai.

[Comrade]

i have driven in TS, AP, MH, GJ, RJ, KA, GA, TN and KL states in last 2 years and can easily say TN has been my favorite so far.

[Dr.AD]

It is really hard to vote on this because I have not driven in all the states to really say which is the "best". I have driven in all the Southern states and then a couple of Northern states, and a couple of Western states. But definitely not enough to comment on the best highways in entire India.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Voted for TN.

People who wonder what use is cruise control in the Indian context - should really try the Kanyakumari highway, especially south of Madurai.

I agree 100%. Based on my experiences, I voted for TN too. TN has in general the best roads.

However, thankfully, Karnataka is catching up too. For example, we now have good highways in all four directions from Bangalore. Even the newly completed Chitradurga-Hampi expressway (NH50) is really awesome! Neither Chitradurga nor Hampi are Tier 1 cities, and yet they have such awesome highway connecting them.

Not just the national highways, but even state highways in Karnataka are nice. Most of the state highways in Coorg, Chikmagalur, Shimoga, Bhadravathi area are awesome! These are some of the best roads I have driven on.

So maybe I should say both TN and KA have some of the best highways that I have driven on most consistently.

[ninjatalli]

Very subjective view - people would have driven a few parts/sections of a state and basis that will have a view/rating. Not accurate.

For me, TN roads come the top pick with Gujarat & Rajasthan coming next. But I haven't extensively driven across interior TN (as much as MH, GJ, KA) but voting basis the limited driving I have done in that state.

[Kosfactor]

I travel down south. My vote goes to TN, followed by AP followed by KA. I find traveling in KL highways the most time consuming but scenic nevertheless.

There are political and geographical factors related to highway development, but this is my impression.

[Raghu M]

I wouldn't just vote for a state. I am not sure what good roads mean. Is it pure nice tarmac or everything else that goes into making a highway a good highway. Neat markings, proper side lanes for parking, speed limit indicators at regular intervals, emergency assistance when required - all these go into making a journey beautiful. I think instead of states, we need to rate the national highways. States would have highways built by the NHAI and not the local governments. The NHAI doesn't build a road for a specific state, it mostly traverses into various states. So, a poll on which NH is the best would be ideal.

[SS-Traveller]

With very few people having driven through ALL the States (I for one have not driven through TN at all, though it garners 42% of the votes), there cannot be any proper judgment on the quality of highways in a State. For example, a trans-UP journey on the YEW, ALE, and parts of NH19 from Noida to Benaras (~800km) can be done in 10 hours without exceeding the speed limit. But travel elsewhere via the SH of UP, and you'll not be able to maintain half that average speed.

If average speed of travel is the criterion for judging how good our expressways are, the YEW and ALE in UP are perhaps miles ahead of any other road in India. I have travelled Delhi to Lucknow (~550km) in 6 hours without exceeding the set speed limits for these stretches.

[am1m]

Completely subjective and based on my very limited experience driving through some states and not at all in some states...but a fun poll anyway!

I'd say Gujarat, best roads on average but most boring also. Good balance of good road and good scenery-Goa roads. How Kerala even makes the list I don't know- interesting scenery but too narrow mostly. Having driven the most in my home state I can proudly say Karnataka has the worst overall roads for such a rich state! (All generalized observations guys, not meant to cause regional heartburn!)

[clevermax]

I am surprised that Kerala has managed to bag three votes so far!

IMO, there are no highways in Kerala. We just have two-lane roads with the name "National highway" or "State highway". These roads are nothing but very crowded urban roads. Yes, there are very few nice 4-lane stretches in the state. But again, they do not span a significant portion of the state's length, hence I wouldn't call them highways either.

If you want to have a visual sense of what I am talking about, check this video out - this shows the everyday battle of someone driving through the so-called Kerala highways!

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

Night drives are far better though. Still I wouldn't call these roads as highways. The video below has the exact same stretch covered at night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji5-2gLNez4

[condor]

I think this poll should be made multi-choice, esp since most of us have travelled only in a few states

TN - I have heard has good highways
KA - National highways are good.
GJ - was good even 15 years back - I was on a project there, and travelled a bit.
AP/TS - national highways that i have travelled on have been good.