[jd10ent]

Having driven/ridden extensively across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal, Ladakh, Sikkim, UP, MP, Telangana, Andhra, Goa, Karnataka I can safely say that in terms of road conditions Maharashtra is the absolute worst. Not just for the general conditions but also in terms of sheer lack of significant improvement over the last decade.
I've never ridden/driven in Kerala so cannot vote for it over Maharashtra, but frankly hearing the horror stories of Kerala's single-lane highways coupled with reckless driving, the contest does seems to be a toss-up between the two.
UP used to be bad but has improved drastically over the last decade or so.

[shrjun]

I would say Kerala Highways even if I haven't been to my home State in 16 years! I have fond memories of MH roads where I spent my college years and rode around MH quite a bit.

[atnyia]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Haryana, dear friends. We are just as bad!!

While I agree that situation has deteriorated especially on erstwhile NH1, I don't think Haryana roads are bad, in a relative sense. Towns are well connected, even most state highways and connecting roads between towns have been good for a long time. Maybe a drive across Yamuna puts things in perspective. Try doing a Delhi-Saharanpur instead of Delhi-Ambala. Having driven extensively in both HR, UP and HP, I disagree that HR highways are the worst even in the North, let alone in the whole country.

I haven't been to Kerala, but having lived in MH and KA for a few years, MH roads takes the cake for absolutely worst state/national highways. For people in the North, it's worse than UP of 2010s. Coastal Kerala may be big city like. For a highly industrialised and rich state like MH that is a transit point of north south movements and west coast ports, having such poor roads is almost criminal.

[KL54]

I think the votes for Kerala is also a reflection of how many of our members are from that state.
I didn't vote on the poll because there is no way anyone can objectively say which highway is the worst - it's at best subjective in nature and biased by personal experience on a minuscle sample set.

[jayhind]

Interesting theme for a discussion, but this is grossly misleading on so many levels!

1. I'm not a trucker, but unless one has travelled in all states, one should not be voting (clearly this criteria wasn't asked for, but that didn't stop folks from exercising any restraint or exhibiting any self censorship). In the very least, something like 15 states' experience should have been a qualifying condition - so that would be a fair question to ask Indian truckers, but in this group that approach would have reduced the sample, ergo....

2. Apples and oranges - Conflating between National and State highways. People are interpreting the prompt differently!

3. More apples and oranges - Not clear if it is about the road conditions or the driving attributes of the people in the state. In the absence of this clarity, folks are voting for one and a varied weight of the other.

4. And the worst, is that there is a bias in the sample. There is a risk that more respondents are from the MH, KA, KL belt, and their responses are reflecting their familiarity.

All said, this is unscientific and qualifies as a clickbait in my book

[Raptron]

Originally Posted by jayhind

Interesting theme for a discussion, but This is grossly misleading on so many levels!
...

Actually, we can take this a bit seriously even though it is unscientific as you correctly said.

Maharashtra's car drivers / bike riders are pissed off and voted against our road condition because of multiple things.
a) MH has extremely high road taxes on vehicles and also the toll charges are very high.
b) In general, number of vehicles and transport traffic in MH is very high due to high industrialization compared to most of the other states.
c) I have travelled to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal, Ladakh, Bengal etc. Highways in Karnataka and more so in Tamilnadu are way better. Even Rajasthan has many good highways and surface quality is generally better. Himachal, Ladakh, Bengal etc have far worse roads than MH - but that's not the point!

MH being the #1 state in terms of industrialization and bringing very high tax income to the government from all sources, why citizens of MH are being subjected to such terrible roads?

Comparing MH with UP or let's say Himachal Pradesh and being happy is not appropriate. When we take a look at the population, the traffic, toll income, other tax income, compared to that in MH the roads are quite terrible!

Also, people of MH (similarly in Kerala as well) are in general more aware, are more used to raising questions and are more used to creating larger movements historically - so it is reflecting to some extent on Team BHP as well.
I am not saying people of other states don't do all what I mention about MH but it's a larger share in MH.

[Kosfactor]

Kerala State is one big town, the highway is like a ring road - high traffic density, full of speed cameras and lots of traffic signals - again has traffic violation cameras too.

This is the only state down south where you cannot maintain a good highway speed.

[binand]

Originally Posted by vivekkp

I have driven in wayanad, palakkad, malappuram, ottapalam, ernakulam, kottayam and no where did i encounter a stretch of road which was bad.

That's quite surprising, because the bad condition of the various west-east (NH 66 to NH 544) link roads in Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram districts are well-documented even here, for example in the thread on Kerala roads.

[sac23]

The reason for Kerala getting highest votes for the worst highway in India doesn't necessarily have to do with the condition of the highway.
A major part of highways in Kerala are narrow single lane roads without dividers. To add to this there are small roads connecting to the highway in every nook and corner. It's a dangerous task to overtake a slow moving vehicle.
Due to the geographical shape of the state, it's basically a horizontal area with a highway running from head to toe. Throughout the length, there are homes and shops on both sides. Due to this, widening is a big hurdle. The central govt. have passed funds for a 4 lane highway for the entire length of the state. As of now, the land acquisition is going on. Hopefully it'll be finished in another 5 years.

[RaghavEvoX]

I am surprised with Maharashtra at No.2.

I think Mr. Gadkari has to first concentrate on improving the condition of his home state.
With regards to Kerala on top, I have travelled there numerous times and the quality of roads and cleanliness is quite good.
But the roads are quite narrow and because of that movement is quite slow near towns and cities.
But I always felt keralites were quite happy with trees on both sides of a narrow road.

[matchvan]

Greetings,
Keralites want to be No.1 in everything.
Agreed the roads are congested, narrow roads owing to the geography of the state. But the road conditions and the signages are proper.
Maharashtra, it is guys.
The Marathwada region needs to be visited to test the limits of your patience as well as the ability of the vehicle to get pushed to the max.
Unsigned speed breakers, the tarmac uneven and the road with potholes which would swallow a Alto. I'm not exaggerating, Nanded to Latur road has these.
Voted Maharashtra.

[sierrabravo98]

Originally Posted by Raptron

Actually, we can take this a bit seriously even though it is unscientific as you correctly said.


c) I have travelled to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal, Ladakh, Bengal etc. Highways in Karnataka and more so in Tamilnadu are way better. Even Rajasthan has many good highways and surface quality is generally better. Himachal, Ladakh, Bengal etc have far worse roads than MH - but that's not the point!

MH being the #1 state in terms of industrialization and bringing very high tax income to the government from all sources, why citizens of MH are being subjected to such terrible roads?

Comparing MH with UP or let's say Himachal Pradesh and being happy is not appropriate. When we take a look at the population, the traffic, toll income, other tax income, compared to that in MH the roads are quite terrible!

Also, people of MH (similarly in Kerala as well) are in general more aware, are more used to raising questions and are more used to creating larger movements historically - so it is reflecting to some extent on Team BHP as well.
I am not saying people of other states don't do all what I mention about MH but it's a larger share in MH.

You would wish that MH had roads comparable to UP (and I am not even bringing in expressways, something in which no state can even hope to be compared to UP in the foreseeable future). Although I don't live in MH, I have had frequent visits due to a lot of family there. The road conditions are comparable to Bihar of 2010s (and not UP of 2010s as some other member mentioned) and Harayana of 2022 (especially that godforsaken Delhi - Jaipur stretch )

Residents of MH would be much better placed than a Delhiite/UP-Bihar waala as to why such is the case especially considering that road infrastructure has seen MASSIVE overhaul throughout the nation in the recent 6-7 years.

P.S: I don't know when you were last in HP/UK but road infrastructure has seen a quantum leap in recent years. The infrastructure will only get better with the Char-Dham project due to be fully completed in the next 2-3 years and the 4 laning of NHs' in Himachal under the Bharatmala progressing at a very rapid pace too. All things considered, HP/UK are already ahead of MH in terms of road infrastructure and the gap only seems to be increasing.

[jayhind]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

I think Mr. Gadkari has to first concentrate on improving the condition of his home state.

That's not a fair expectation. He's a Central minister, we should demand fairness, and not implicitly endorse partisanship.
To the extent the problem is with the State highways, I think the state government is to be questioned.
Which merits a comment on the interesting observation that the top states in this survey are some of the more antagonistic administrations to the central government.

[ankitsharma]

I have traveled quite a few of the states in this pandemic. Did multiple Blr->Del->Blr in the last one year. Below are my observations:

Uttar Pradesh:
NH 44 -> Mostly good. Cattle on the road. No lane, pedestrian discipline.
Yamuna Expressway -> Good road not the best though. Patching is very bad.

MP:
NH 44 -> All good. Some bad patch near the MH border. Cattle on the road again. 0 driving sense on the road.
NH 46/47 -> Mostly being built but the roads are pathetic. Potholes laden and at times no tar on the surface is what I can say. Everything on the road.

Maharashtra:
NH 44 -> Uneven surface. Pothole before and after every toll. Axle breaking potholes at times.
NH 48 -> Again uneven surfaces. The golden quadrilateral road looks like the olden triangle. Even more bad patch when you enter Mumbai.

Telengana / AP:
NH 44 -> One of the best roads in the country. Specially the Adilabad -> Hyderabad stretch is one of the best ones. Trucks drive in a lane and readily gives way. No potholes / speed humps. But the stretch from Hyderabad -> Bangalore is the worst of this highway I believe. Very high humps at crossings. No road discipline.

Karnataka:
Roads near and inside Bangalore are the worst in the country. But if you move towards Northern or Western parts in Karnataka you will get good roads. Best of the lot has to be NH 48 towards Hubli.
Anmod ghats are in the worst possible conditions right now.

Goa:
Roads are mostly good with occasional bad patches. Worthy mentions: Zuari bridge, Anmod ghats section road.

Gujarat:
By far the best roads of the country. Most of the highways are well built. Special mentioned to the NH 48, Golden Quadrilateral, which has the best quality here and the NE1 to Ahmadabad which is even better. Even State Highways are awesome and better than most of the National Highways. Smooth tar roads with mostly 4-6 lanes.
The only black spot in this otherwise good state is the NH27. Probably the worst National highway I have seen till date in India. Cannot drive more than 60 kmph and you will feel continuous judder while driving.

Rajasthan:
A mix of some of the best and worst roads. The same NH27 which is the worst in the country somehow becomes butter smooth here in RJ. Special mention to NH48/NH27 between Udaipur and Ajmer. One of the finest road again. But after Ajmer and specifically Jaipur the same Golden quadrilateral become olden triangle again. Got a tyre bulge while driving from Jaipur ti Delhi.

Summary
Best of the Lot:
1. NH44 in MP,Telengana,AP.
2. NH48 in Goa,KA,GJ and RJ.
3. NE1 in Ahemadabad.
4. Yamuna Expressway.

Worst of the lot:
1. NH46 in MP.
2. NH44 in Bangalore,KA.
3. NH27 in GJ.
4. NH48 in MH & RJ.

[GeeTee TSI]

One more reason for my disdain on KL roads (and my vote too!) is that there is a lack of highway joints for a decent (nature's) break. Busy little towns have some restaurants but rarely parking in front. Strangely, one finds more 'Bakes' than proper restaurants along KL highways

I dread getting stuck in slow moving traffic along KL highways especially with senior passengers aboard