Growing Indian Roads

Bangalore - Hyderabad (NH-7)

2009-08-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Over 600 Kms, about 11 hours a one lousy NH-7. Trust me, this was the most boring drive I ever had in my life. Driving in Rann of Kutch was more entertaining than this long stretch between two major cities in South India.

The distance from hebbal fly over in Bangalore to the entry point in Hyderabad is about 630 Kms. Its advisable to start as early as possible (avoid city traffic). About 4 and 1/2 hours from Bangalore is Anantpur and roads up to this milestone is bad. More than roads what hurts more is no place where you can park and have some munch-munch. The road when I drove on this stretch (April 2009) was under construction. You keep hoping from one side to another, no clear sign boards for diversion and so you keep getting confused which side to drive. I hope things would have improved by now.

Once you cross Anantpur, you suddenly come across this magnificent structure of ISKON temple, about 20 mins after you cross Anantpur. Roads keep improving as you move closer and closer to Hyderabad and about last 150 Kms of NH-7 is really good.

You can to see this BP outlets with Ghar Ka Dhaba. You can see three of them on this stretch and are probably the only hygienic stop on the entire stretch. They are located at a distance of about 3 hours from each other. If you drive on this road don’t plan to stop at any other food joint other than Ghar Ka Dhaba.

Write to me in case you need more info on this route or any other I have covered in my blog.

http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/pocketmaps/hyderabadmysore.htm

Express Highway (EH), Ahmedabad – Baroda

2008-05-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

My father bought new car, Getz. I however could not taste its drive for couple of months. I finally got a chance during my last visit to Ahmedabad. I drove it on couple of occasions in the city but that was not enough to kill my thrust.
I wanted to drive for long and finally got a chance to drive till Surat. And what more, you get a chance to zoom on Ahmedabad – Baroda express highway. I have used this EH on number of occasions but this time it was going to be different.

This is by far the best road in India and only second express highway after Mumbai EH. The 120 km distance between Ahemdabad and Baroda takes over 2 hours to cover, on NH8. But now, with express highway, you can cover this distance in about an hour.

This EH is well tarred about 95 kms long roads. It has limited exits and no scope of U-Turn. Clear visibility and sign boards are experienced throughout the journey. All this makes it a safe and pleasant drive.

The toll amount for entire stretch is Rs 62/-. Against this for sure you can save up to 5 liters of petrol and over one hour of travel time. So what you save is about Rs 250/- on fuel. Not bad deal. What more, you feel great and not tired and fatigued at the end of journey. Take my words, you are sure to take back home some sweet memories of travelling on this tarred sureface.

Caution: Quite a few incidents of vehicles hitting monkeys somewhere on stretch between Ahemdabad and Nadiad / Anand. Ensure you slow down to a safe speed if you see one of them on or next to the road.

About Getz, it’s fantastic; it has good grip on the road and is sturdy. Seats are comfortable and shock absorbers are too good.

Happy Travelling

Durgapur Highway

2008-04-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

My in-laws shifted to Durgapur sometime in early 2007. Ever since then, they have wanted us to visit them. Due to tight schedule we kept on delaying our visit. Finally we decided to travel to Durgapur during Navrathri / Durga puja. My wife left early and I planned to join them few days later.

As Durgapur has no commercial airport, I decided to take a jet flight from Bangalore to Kolkata and then travel to Durgapur by road, a distance of around 200 Kms. This was my first visit to Durgapur and my expectation was that it will take about 4 hours to reach Durapur.

First Impression
It was drizzling that morning. As we drove out of the Airport, the surrounding looked very similar to any other Indian airport. In less than 10 mins, we hit the Durgapur Highway which to my surprise happened to be an excellent road. Highway were very well layered with clear and large sign boards which illuminates in night. Road dividers were all through the way. Traffic was flowing freely. I immediately cut down my estimate to less than three and half hours.

Road and Etiquettes
Exceeding the expectation, the road started taking me towards Durgapur. Fields alongside the roads were lush green with very little sign of habitants nearby. Best thing which I like about the road is that it had long straight stretches and very clear visibility with almost zero chances of sudden surprises. We were constantly cursing over 100 Kmph speed with very little worry. I could not have expected anything better from this part of the country. This is a toll road but who does not want to pay for such kind of experience. Toll was collected at three locations and total sum was less than 100 Rs. I don’t remember the exact amount.

As we moved, I notice one very peculiar thing which I never experienced on any of my recent drives. Drivers never overtake from left. They honk and wait behind the slower moving vehicle till such time that the vehicle in front gives a go ahead signal. They never ever try and overtake from left even when they have wide roads with very little traffic. “Hats off” to such Etiquettes, this is very rare on Indian roads.

The road passes through some villages and towns and at some places we have city by-pass. Clear traffic and excellent road ensured that the journey of about 200 Kms is covered in 2 hours time with no risks and very little tiredness.

On my reaching Durgapur, I knew what I would have missed had I not travelled by road to this industrial town in West Bengal.

My return journey was equally good.

Bangalore - Mysore Highway

2008-04-09T02:20:00.000-07:00

There are very few highways in Western and Southern India, where I have not travelled more than once. Fewer have grown great with time and one of the most impressive growths is of Bangalore-Mysore highway, to the best of my knowledge, one of the most admired roads in Karnataka.

Importance

This road links two of the most important destinations in Karnataka, Bangalore and Mysore. It also passes through important towns of Mandiya, Srirangapatna and few more. Apart from government machineries and tourists, this road is very important for few large IT companies who have setups in both Bangalore and Mysore.

Some of the well knows tourist spots you can reach on and from this road are Brindavan garden, Ranganthitu bird Sanctuary, Srirangapatna, Ooty, bandipur forest, Wonderla and many more.

The Road

It is a well layered four lane road having good sign boards and road dividers all through the way. The time taken to reach Mysore from Bangalore is cut down to less than 3 hours (earlier it used to take anything between 5 to 6 hours).
As you travel through the road, what you see is lush green nature and rocky hills. Overtaking is also not an issue. Road dividers ensure safety from vehicles approaching from the opposite direction.

Driving here is pleasure though you cannot afford to relax much. What I fear most on speedy roads is presence of cyclist, bullock cart / tractors and people running across the road. All of them are very prevalent here. Also, you see many curves; I love them, as they don’t make me sit dull on steering wheel. Trust me you will really enjoy when you pass through them at sizzling speed, wait a minute, did I tell you driving too fast is dangerous here. Yes, you never know what comes in from where.

Though this is an excellent road but not up to the standards of Express Highways and probably GQ (Golden Quadrilateral). This road passes through most of villages and town on the way (there are no by-passes). You can cruse at 100 Kmph but ensure you slow down in 70s whenever you see anything or individual on road side.

Night driving is safe.You don’t really have to worry about high beams of vehicles approaching from opposite direction. But ensure precautions mentioned above (on speed).

There good number of restaurants and petrol pumps (fuel stations) on this road. You can often see police patrolling and emergency help line numbers on boards.

On the whole, it’s a great experience driving here and I enjoy my time on this drive. As as you know, it’s a passion I live for.

2008-03-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

Driving for long hours has always been my passion. I have travelled length of India (will soon cover east and north east) and seen roads growing as I today see my kid growing.

In the early 1990s I happened to travel (with family) from Ahmedabad to New Delhi via road in then Maruti Van (now omni). It took us three days to complete our journey of 1,000 plus kms. Out first stop was "Pink City", Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan. Next day we travelled longest section of journey to reach late night at "lake city", Udaipur, another princely city know for heroics of "Maharana Pratap". Exhausted and frusted with an average speed of less than 40Kmph, we had our legs streached in hotel room. Day-3, once again we start early morning from Udaipur to Ahmedabad (last section of our journey). We estimated the journey to take about 7+ hours. First 6 hours went as planned, as we reached outskirts of ahmedabad, we were welcomed by traffics jams and last 1 hours journey actually took us more than 3 hours to reach our distination. We decided never to repeat same (3 day journey) again ever on Indian roads.

A decade latter, in the year 2005 I again had to travel same distance on same course. This time I was driving Maruti WagonR. My Aim 1,000 Kms in less than 20 hours. I started from Delhi at around 3:00 AM. This time roads are wider, neater and traffic is free flowing. With dividers, proper sign boards and by-passes (for almost all cities and towns) it was great pleasure. This looked to me as "Dream Drive" on Indian roads.

I crossed Jaipur at 8:00 AM (last time it took about 10 Hours) and by 11:00 AM I had my break fast and reached Ajmer to visit our family temple. My hault at Ajmer was of 3 hours which also included lunch time. Next stop was Udaipur and I made this in less than 4 hours. By 8:30 PM, I was at my home in Ahmedabad. Udaipur - Ahmedabad, which used to take 7 to 10 hours is now less than 4 hours drive. At times you dont change gear for hour or more and stay in overdrive. Average speed this time was well over 80 Kmph.

A journey which took 3 days in 90s was now travelled in less than 20 hours in an entry level car. Imagine driving a C or D class merc or BMW, I guess it would have not taken more than 14 or 15 hours. Rajdhani express, one of the best Indian Rail takes appoximately 15 hours.

Roads in India have travelled long way from being patchy and to world class standards. GQ and Express highways are setting great standards. States like Gujarat and Punjab always had good road infrastructure (of what I know since late 80s), but now most Indian states have well laid down road network.

Driving for long hours has always been my passion and will remain so.

Happy Travelling