[no1lives4ever]

I did the return trip from Delhi to Kolkata on Sun and Monday (22nd and 24th of Oct).

We started from Delhi at 8am, got filled with petrol and tyres checked, etc by 8:15am at Nehru Place. Took DND, Gr Noida Expressway, Taj Expressway, Agra Lucknow Expressway and then on to NH2 from the ALE-NH2 interchange. Reached Varanasi turnoff at NH2 by around 5:15pm and reached hotel in cant area of Varanasi by 6pm. This was almost 800km done in 10 hours. We did only 1 food break on the Yamuna Expressway and a few small breaks along the way. If we had tanked up and gotten tyre pressure checked the previous evening and carried some food with us, we may have been able to save another 30 or so mins.



Some observations from Day 1:

• Number of dead dogs in the roads were way lesser.
• The interchange between ALE and NH2 is incomplete and there is no way to get onto NH2. I took the on ramp for Del-Kol direction NH2 -> Agra-LKO direction expressway, went in opposite direction and then did some slight off roading to reach NH2.
• Post this interchange, the road till Etawah had some diversions and not too good roads. So overall I would recommend anyone hitting this road before 4pm to just use the Etawah-Mainpuri route i have detailed in my previous posts, that is a nicer route with proper exits from the ALE and no under construction stretches. The time taken should be similar for both options.
• Agra Lucknow Expressway had toll booths operating in Trial mode this time. So I am assuming that soon they will be opening the expressway for tolled traffic.
• Traffic on ALE this Sunday was like 10x of what I had seen when i came to Delhi. Then I had hardly seen any vechicles. This Sunday there were tons of vehicles.
• We did not find any major traffic till we crossed the Allahabad bypass. From the end of Allahabad Bypass to Varanasi turnoff, there was a lot of traffic. Faced similar traffic situations on the way from Kolkata to Delhi.
• Between Delhi and Varanasi, we faced construction only between NH2 interchange of ALE & Etawah and for a small section before the turnoff for Varanasi.
• We did some pretty high speeds on the ALE. I suppose that would not be possible once they open the road and have regular patrols.
• There were no diversions on ALE this time around.
• I saw a TN-01 numbered silver coloured ford fusion/fiesta with a team-bhp sticker somewhere after kanpur.
  

On Day 2, we left Varanasi late around 11am and took around an hour or so to reach the NH2 via Mughalsarai. Post that we faced traffic and under construction roads. We also faced a major traffic jam at the Dehri on Son bridge. We did not face any other jams. The toll booth at aoura where we had faced a massive jam on our onward journey was pretty empty.

Once in West Bengal, we saw that police was enforcing some kind of a no entry for trucks. Saw hundreds of trucks parked on the side of the road and post Panagarh, we got pretty empty roads and I was able to maintain decent speeds.

I also noticed that the Durgapur expressway does not have trees on the divider in many sections post Burdwan.

We finally reached the Vidyasagar Setu at around 10pm after a quick stop at one of the sweet shops in Shaktigarh.

We did not do any proper lunch break on the return leg. We had heavy breakfast and I stopped for some litti at a random roadside stall in Bihar. We did stop for an ATM and to pick up water, chips and biscuits somewhere in Mughalsarai. But I dont think we spend more than 25-30 mins total in all the stops on Day 2, including petrol refilling stops.

-- no1lives4ever

[themagicclicks]

Drove from Kolkata to Delhi on the 9th and 10th of March with the usual night halt at Varanasi ( with my one year 3 months old baby on board, but roads are good and he was happy with it ) , roads as expected were good and have been detailed several times over by travelers along this route. But I took the route to Delhi from Varanasi via Lucknow and it passes through NH31 and NH30, and my update would be on this only, don't know about the NH19 route via Allahabad and Kanpur since I drove back along the Lucknow, Raebareilley, Machlisahar, Jaunpur, Babatpur Varanasi route too.

If you have to drive from Varanasi to Lucknow start very early because the Babatpur-Jaunpur bypass is pretty narrow and while returning, in the evening had to pass through very narrow lanes with evening bazaar on both sides and an occasional truck could make it a pretty tricky situation. I had to almost ride over a vegetable vendors aloo spread on the rag on the street, and people had to move benches and chairs of a tea stall, out of my way to let me pass so that the truck can move on.

The rest of the stretch till Lucknow, all along NH31 is beautiful, but then between Mohanlalgunj and PGI Lucknow, careful about the State Transport Buses, driving along the right at breakneck speeds, and cows of course. Lucknow traffic is mad but you'll pass mostly through new Lucknow on to the Agra Lucknow Expressway.

Another notable annnoyance, bikers on the highway all along Bihar.

[Turbanator]

Need suggestion for finalizing this itinerary for next month

Gurgaon - Kolkatta - Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Delhi.

For Delhi- Kolkatta, should I use the regular NH2 listed in this thread

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Gu...d22.572646!3e0

Or

Continue to Lucknow and then via Raebareli to NH2

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Gu...d22.572646!3e0

And on Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Lucknow segment, anything that I should be concerned about?

[ALTIMAed]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Need suggestion for finalizing this itinerary for next month

Gurgaon - Kolkatta - Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Delhi.

For Delhi- Kolkatta, should I use the regular NH2 listed in this thread

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Gu...d22.572646!3e0

Or

Continue to Lucknow and then via Raebareli to NH2

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Gu...d22.572646!3e0

And on Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Lucknow segment, anything that I should be concerned about?

Hi, I did Kol - Del and Del - Lko - Kol last year (Nov / Dec). My suggestion would be, incase you do not have any work at Lucknow, there is no point in going all the way. The Lucknow Rae Bareilly stretch is really slow as it passes through a lot of small towns with shops displaying their wares which spill onto the highway. This shall considerably slow you down. Add to this the number of unmarked speed breakers.

I would suggest you drive on the ALE till the 87km marker, leave the ALE and move to Karhal byepass and then the usual route to Kolkata via Varanasi. In case you need a night halt, I suggest Hotel Kaushik (Manager - Yogesh - +91 9452631237). Mods please note I am not affiliated with this Hotel in anay way, just suggesting it as it is bang on the highway (Allahabad Kolkata flank), rooms are decent and food is really good with large portions.

Safe drive.

[Wanderers]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Need suggestion for finalizing this itinerary for next month

Gurgaon - Kolkatta - Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Delhi.

Please take regular NH-2 or move on to NH-2 from ALE at 87 KM. I suppose you are not doing Gurgaon-Kolkata in one go. You can easily reach near Bodh Gaya by evening, thus instead of staying in Varanasi (which requires dogging city traffic) you can choose to stay at Bodh Gaya. You need to take detour of 20 km from NH-2 at Dhobhi. You will have open, wide but two laned road with very less traffic and great hotels. Bodh Gaya is Pilgrimage for Buddhist and there are many Japanese/ Chinese visitors.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

And on Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Lucknow segment, anything that I should be concerned about?

None really. You will not realize that you are passing through Bihar as EW corridor is excellent and has far less traffic.

[PapaBravo]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Need suggestion for finalizing this itinerary for next month

Gurgaon - Kolkatta - Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Delhi.

For Delhi- Kolkatta, should I use the regular NH2 listed in this thread

Or

Continue to Lucknow and then via Raebareli to NH2

NH2 is the best bet since Raebareli to Allahabad is a single lane highway with small towns in between.

In case you are doing this stretch early morning or late at night then these small towns won't cause you much disturbance and this route will be a bit faster.

No idea about Gorakhpur-Siliguri highway.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by PapaBravo

No idea about Gorakhpur-Siliguri highway.

Its a beautiful road with proper 4 lane, save for the stretch near UP Bihar border at Gopalgunj. More details can be found on searching this forum. (Typing from phone hence can’t help in that) Would advise to go via Purnia instead of taking the shortcut from Araria.

[themagicclicks]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Need suggestion for finalizing this itinerary for next month

Gurgaon - Kolkatta - Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Delhi.

For Delhi- Kolkatta, should I use the regular NH2 listed in this thread

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Gu...d22.572646!3e0

Or

Continue to Lucknow and then via Raebareli to NH2

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Gu...d22.572646!3e0

And on Siliguri - Gorakhpur- Lucknow segment, anything that I should be concerned about?

Just been back from Delhi in Feb, and I took the Benaras, Jaunpur, Raebareily, Lucknow route and although other than the stretches between Benaras and Jaunpur and the Raebareily Road while passing Lucknow, most of it passes through NH31 and NH30, but still, on my next trip, I would take the Allahabad, Kanpur route for sure.

So as everyone is saying, don't go via Lucknow, and as Pawan said, the stretch of Raebareily road passing Mohanlalgunj and PGI Lucknow is really slow and cows and erratic state buses make it pretty irritating.

Also the Jaunpur-Babatpur Link road is pretty narrow and in the evening slows you down considerably.

While traveling from Delhi to Kolkata, you won't be able to take the right after Raebareily that connects you to NH2 at Fatehpur ( possibly that was the name ), I tried and after crossing a level crossing being stuck with 100s of trucks, asked around and everyone said it's better to turn around and drive towards Jaunpur, so I had to take a u-turn be back on Raebareily and then drive towards Jaunpur to reach Banaras via Machlisahar.

[chaudh2s]

I did Gurgaon-Benares-Gurgaon end of march this year, so posting a little review for benefit of forum members.
Gurgaon-Benares:
1.) Started at 6:20AM in the morning from sec-56 gurgaon and gmaps showed 12 hours till my hotel ramada in benares via NH19. Half an hour more if i took ALE.
2.) Took Yamuna Expressway till agra, the toll booths here do not accept fastag. Very nice road, though made of concrete, ANC feature of endy made the ride absolutely quiet.
3.) Seamless connectivity between YEW and ALE via a Rs.35 tolled road. No fastag accepted.
4.) ALE is a heaven for people who like travelling. FLAT road, no ups and downs. Fastag would be eventually accepted here but it wasn't operational end of march. Paid toll till etawah exit for joining NH19, but the exit itself was closed for exiting.
5.) Took the mainpuri exit instead, for going to etawah via saifai, a few Km's down the expressway, which some forum members have suggested is better than etawah exit. I concur with those recommendations. Paid Rs.30 extra toll at the exit, for using extra ALE between etawah exit and mainpuri exit.
6.) NH19 build quality is very good, way better than NH-1 between delhi-ambala. Roads till benares are very good except 2-3 under construction flyovers after allahabad bypass. A half hour jam on one such location, added to my travel time, else my progress was matching google maps suggestion.
7.) Roads were a pleasant surprise on this entire trip to UP contrary to perception.
8.) I too think there is no need to go till LKO via ALE if destination is not LKO or if gmaps is showing that as a faster route.
9.) There are no half decent food joints in this entire gurgaon to benares road, unless you decide to leave main road and enter the city. We packed home cooked food which turned out to be a good decision. Had breakfast on YEW at 9AM and lunch at 2PM somewhere after kanpur bypass.
10.) There are 3-4 toll plazas on this route after etawah till benares and they all accept fastag.
11.) Speeds upto 100km/h feel safe on this highway. Higher than that possible in some stretches but not recommended. Gmaps worked like a charm and gave accurate predictions.
12.) Didn't find any speed cameras anywhere on my entire journey. On YEW though they kept flashing car numbers that were caught speeding and fined but i din't came across any police car checking speed. They have automatic cameras i guess which relay information to next toll plaza and you are charged fine at the toll plaza itself. On ALE though there are police innovas standing every 50-60km's but they were not checking overspeeding.

Benares to Gurgaon review i will post later in the day.
The exact route i took shown below:

[chaudh2s]

Benares to LKO, LKO to Gurgaon:
My return leg was planned via LKO (night halt) and then via ALE, YEW to gurgaon.
1.) It took me 6 hours to cover the 305km distance between my hotels in benares and Lucknow. The roads were either 2 or 4 laned but blemish free. For 2 laned roads 60km/h was the max speed i maintained which is safe for that type of road. For 4 laned roads, you can go upto 100km/h.
2.) Leaving benares upto airport in babatpur, there is flyover work going on at a number of places but the traffic is not slowed down much. It keeps flowing smoothly.
3.) Took NH-31 (jaunpur-babatpur link road) via mariahu, machli shahar upto rae bareli. I would prefer this route more than the route via kanpur. It is lively, has less traffic, roads are smooth, is shorter, takes less time. Don't enter jaunpur, it is jammed i guess. Take the bypass as mentioned above. I followed gmaps which was pretty much accurate.
4.) From rae-bareli to lucknow, you jump onto NH-30 which is again a very nice road. From mohanlalganj, i took left onto NH220 which is clean road with less traffic and then turned right and joined NH27. My hotel ramada was also at the intersection of NH220 and NH27. Continue onto NH27 for going into lucknow to pick ALE via NH230. Roads in general are super duper in UP if you compare them to ones in haryana. Even village roads are very nice. Just keep a relaxed pace and enjoy the drive rather than doing a timed run and you will enjoy.
5.) From LKO-Agra via ALE is an out of the world yet boring drive. I covered 310Km in 2hr 50min. You put your car on cruise control and then wait for those 310km's to end. Do plan to carry along good chatter box friends or family members for this route. Also, be very alert as you tend to become un attentive just sitting doing nothing on drivers seat. There were a lot of accidents visible on the stretch. Try to take a well maintained car on this route as there are no petrol pumps, puncture shops, eateries, etc. Also due to the higher speeds, the fuel tank empty up fast, so fill up at lucknow or keep extra margin.
6.) No fastag works after lucknow till delhi. The fastag boards are present on ALE, but it isn't operational.
7.) After leaving lucknow, the only decent food joint is one on YEW after mathura. There is vaango, pizza hut, etc present.
8.) From agra it's YEW upto G.noida which is a superb road again and then you know how to reach gurgaon.

[themagicclicks]

From Mohanlalgunj you didn't drive straight on towards PGI Lucknow and onwards? Could you please post here a map for the alternate route?

[chaudh2s]

Originally Posted by themagicclicks

From Mohanlalgunj you didn't drive straight on towards PGI Lucknow and onwards? Could you please post here a map for the alternate route?

Hi There! As requested please find below the alternate route from mohanlalganj. The exit from NH-30 to NH-230 looks as if you have entered a busy street, but it soon opens up. I took this route because my hotel was on NH-27, but luckily it turned out to be a nice route to join ALE.

[Road_Tripper]

Dear All,

I am planning Delhi-Asansol road trip during early next month. This is the third time I would be doing this. I always have stayed in Varanasi for the night during the previous two road trips and hence wanted to take your feedback as to if I could drive a bit longer on day 1 and stay somewhere else? Please note, sightseeing is not a parameter for me in choosing a place and am just looking for a neat place to put up for one night. Thank you in advance.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Road_Tripper

...wanted to take your feedback as to if I could drive a bit longer on day 1 and stay somewhere else?

Bihar Tourism's Hotel Kaimur Vihar at Mohania is a viable option, ~75 km further ahead of the Ganga Bridge on NH19 at Varanasi.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Also due to the higher speeds, the fuel tank empty up fast, so fill up at lucknow or keep extra margin.

Fasttags not being accepted on both our flagship EWs' is actually a discomfort on these otherwise world class roads. A friend who works there told me that there is some kind of a reconciliation issue which has put their implementation on hold, which is likely to be resolved soon.

Secondly, what was your FE during the onward and return journey? How many passengers and what speeds on did you maintain on 4 laners/EWs?