Indian Roads Thread

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Mar 2012 14:09

you can drive from mumbai to hubli/dharwad on karnataka border
from there take the NHAI highway via tumkur to blr (excellent road - doable in a day)
then from blr -> hosur -> krishnagiri -> vellore -> arcot -> tindivanam -> pondy. (around 6-7 hrs)
from pondy you could drive up east coast to mahabalipuram or chennai (1-3 hrs)
or drive south along cuddalore distt coast
or drive inland to thanjavur / gangaikondacholapuram / karaikudi

on way back if you want to visit thiruvanmali use tindivanam -> ginjee -> thiruvanmalai -> krishnagiri -> hosur -> blr route. Ginjee fort is also worth stopping in.

another route is from pondy -> mahabalipuram -> kanchipuram -> madras highway -> krishnagiri if your woman want to shop for sarees.

since you'd need to be a tbhp semi-insane type to do this anyway, so on way back you should likely do this:

from krishnagiri turn south and do
dharmapuri -> salem -> coimbatore road -> connoor -> ooty -> bandipur -> mysore -> kabini lodge -> mysore -> shravanabelagola -> hassan -> belur/halebidu -> charmadi ghat -> mangalore -> up the west coast to karwar and goa -> mumbai.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 20 Mar 2012 14:47

Singha sir, do you have any recommendations for a Bangalore->Mangalore car drive? What is the situation of the roads especially on ghat section?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Mar 2012 14:56

I have never done that drive. you need to ask someone who has done it recently. there are atleast 4 routes.
(shortest)blr -> mysore -> madikeri -> sulya ->
(meanest)blr -> hassan -> shiradi ghat -> (even a innova might scrape bottom on this one, 12km could take 6 hrs if truck accident occurs)
(scariest/tbhpish) blr -> hassan -> belur -> charmadi ghat (HTVs not allowed)
(most cowardly/longest) blr -> tumkur -> shimoga ->

personally I would reco the yeshwantpur -> mangalore daily train

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kop0IByJZmo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnwBC5yEj0I

theres another route named bisle ghat I think. you may search in tbhp. the blr-mangalore thing is their MRCA thread

manish · Post by **manish** » 20 Mar 2012 15:29

Singha wrote:I have never done that drive. you need to ask someone who has done it recently. there are atleast 4 routes.
(shortest)blr -> mysore -> madikeri -> sulya ->
(meanest)blr -> hassan -> shiradi ghat -> (even a innova might scrape bottom on this one, 12km could take 6 hrs if truck accident occurs)
(scariest/tbhpish) blr -> hassan -> belur -> charmadi ghat (HTVs not allowed)
(most cowardly/longest) blr -> tumkur -> shimoga ->

personally I would reco the yeshwantpur -> mangalore daily train

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kop0IByJZmo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnwBC5yEj0I

theres another route named bisle ghat I think. you may search in tbhp. the blr-mangalore thing is their MRCA thread

The two 'default' routes people consider nowadays are
1) via Shiradi
2) via Coorg/Mercara (madikeri)

Charmadi has reopened recently apparently, haven't been down that road in a couple of years.

My advice? Take the Shiradi Ghat route. The road upto Hassan is excellent, except for a few short stretches where the ongoing four-laning might slow you down a bit in the latter half of the BLR-Hassan stretch.

The shiradi ghats are ~30km stretch (ghats+either side) would pose the most challenge. The real difficulty is often faced only in an approx ~10km stretch starting soon after the famous Kadamane Estate when you approach from BLR side, a little after crossing Sakleshpur town. However considering that the hairpin curves had all been paved with concrete and that we are still a couple of months away from Monsoon, it should be OK (i.e. passable in 1-2-3 gears

)

FWIW my brother drove through a couple of months back - road was in passable condition. Though I have not been there personally, it would be my pick if I had to drive through.

There is also the benefit of it being right on the Kukke Subrahmanya-Dharmasthala axis if you had included them in your itinerary.

The Mysore route was under some sort of widening/improvement and I am not sure if it is done 100% yet in areas in and around Sullia etc. Anyways it forces you to opt for narrower/non-NH roads for far longer than the short 1.5-2hr (worst case) required to cross Shiradi.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 20 Mar 2012 16:00

manish. Roger on that. Checked with Team BHP as well. The roads seems to be okay now, and monsoons are not coming in soon.

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 20 Mar 2012 16:48

singha gaaru, mucha thanks

would any day like this route

dharmapuri -> salem -> coimbatore road -> connoor -> ooty -> bandipur -> mysore -> kabini lodge -> mysore -> shravanabelagola -> hassan -> belur/halebidu -> charmadi ghat -> mangalore -> up the west coast to karwar and goa -> mumbai.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 20 Mar 2012 23:06

Pondy to Mumbai, and I thought the 350 Km Hyderabad- Ahobilam was a longish drive last week. Man you are a junkie.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 21 Mar 2012 14:05

Not sure which thread to put this, roads or auto but since its in context of long drives thought i would post it here. I miss being able to rent the somewhat latest cars and doing long road trips on them as I used to do in massa. rental cars here cost something like 2,500-3000 rupees a day which is not affordable in the overall sense. This is in Chennai. Not sure how it is in other cities. Has anyone done any rental and long drives in India?

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 21 Mar 2012 15:13

Aditya_V wrote:Pondy to Mumbai, and I thought the 350 Km Hyderabad- Ahobilam was a longish drive last week. Man you are a junkie.

that is nothing aditya saar.

Once with maruti omni, left for a laaang journey ahmedabad - mumbai - goa - mangalore - kasargod - kottayam - kumli, periyar - madurai = kumli - kottyam - trivendrua - kanyakumari - rameshwaram - madurai - kodai kanal - bangalore - mumbai

with sumo from Jamnagar- rajkot - bhavnagar - udaipur - chitorgarh - kota - chitorgarh - udaipur -sawai madhopur - ranathambhor - jaipur - delhi - haridwar - rishikesh - joshimath and back

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Mar 2012 16:57

for those venturing south and returning north, another nice route would

blr->tumkur->hiriyur->bellary->hospet(hampi)->aihole->pattadakal->badami->aihole->bijapur->north onward into maharashtra.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 26 Mar 2012 11:30

Singha wrote:(shortest)blr -> mysore -> madikeri -> sulya ->

This route is now undergoing some major repair work, that is what I heard.

(meanest)blr -> hassan -> shiradi ghat -> (even a innova might scrape bottom on this one, 12km could take 6 hrs if truck accident occurs)

Did this drive over the week end. The road condition has improved tremendously. Four laning is pretty much complete for around 100 odd kms from Nelamangala. From then on the roads are pretty decent. Lots of dust and grime, as well as frequent changing of lines because of the road construction work.

Shiradi Ghat section too is relaid now. So no major pot holes, or scrapping of the car bottoms here. The road also seems to have got widened. There were 1-2 truck accidents, but luckily the road was wide enough on this area.

After Shiradi Ghat a superb road till Mangalore suburbs.

I started at around 6:15AM in the morning, and reported at Mangalore by around 13:00 Hrs at Mangalore.

rahulm · Post by **rahulm** » 26 Mar 2012 13:32

The Yamuna Expressway looks good and just what the doctor ordered. I hope Jaypee have gone the whole hog and introduced cashless tolling from day 1 else most of the travel gains are nullified at the toll gates with long queues & impatient drivers.

We do have this unfortunate tendency of often neglecting some features which ruin the whole world class experience.T

hankfully, the Delhi Metro introduced cashless ticketing from day 1. Commuters fell in line and got used to it.

I want to see the 1 cash card work on all city/metro trains, buses,ferries and tollways throughout India.This is not a technology issue, it is a vision, leadership & political will issue.

The much vaunted MPEW (Mumbai Pune Yashwantrao Expressway) is gradually turning into a state highway standard road. I have often seen 2 wheelers on some stretches.

People now stand on the shoulder to flag vehicles down to hitch hike a ride much like at a village cross crossing.

Enforcement is lax. My calls to the highway police control room have been rudely dismissed. How long before the MPEW has villagers selling fish and vegetables on the shoulder, then form a Union and then get a Supreme Court order against eviction, all supported by the local MLA for the sake of votes! Sad.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 17 Apr 2012 22:36

My road trip on two islands of Hawaii has been an eye-opener to what decent highways are even if not wide to usual massa standards. Often we hear about how narrow roads in Kerala are when compared to neighbours who have super-duper highways. Not so fast. I drove comfortably in Hawaii, where speed limits were not more than even 35mph in some sections on 1+1 lane roads called highways. Within the small cities as well as rural areas found cyclists, even mopeds and people taking to the shoulder just as they do in India. Houses were right off the highway with gates and walls hugging the highway, the setbacks being much lower than one sees usually in the mainland US.

So stop complaining about narrow carriageways in Kerala, and adapt to it

the Hawaii way !

Abhijeet · Post by **Abhijeet** » 18 Apr 2012 01:31

Hawaii-style undivided roads are still one generous lane (wide enough for a full size SUV) in each direction with a clearly demarcated median and shoulder. Far wider than the typical just-enough-space-for-two-Santros-to-squeeze-by roads in India.

Even though the only Hawaiian freeways are in Oahu, there are generally state highway level roads going to most places on all four main islands. Driving up to the summit of Haleakala from sea level on a well designed and surfaced two lane road -- a 10,000 foot elevation change within an hour's drive, IIRC -- is an awesome experience.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 18 Apr 2012 03:14

Ahh! You folks should try the Pike's peak drive. Just did it 3 weeks ago for the 4th time in 43 Minutes. Family came up by train. FWIW the record is 9 Minutes 52 seconds by some Japanese guy.

To get full impact watch from 4:00 minutes onwards. With Audio. You can hear the wheel spin. He averaged 76 mph in the mountain portion.

BTW if you are interested do the drive now. The state of Colorado is paving it in 2013 so no more fun dirt section.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 18 Apr 2012 04:48

by saik
found a road pic.. nice! any guess as to max speed on this road? I assume it to be faster than any city speed limits owing traffic, potholes, etc.

35 MPH

--

Yamuna expressway looks great!

Arav · Post by **Arav** » 18 Apr 2012 06:34

Pallam Raju Inaugurates BRO's longest bridge in Arunachal

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has built a 720-meters-long bridge in Arunachal Pradesh. The Digaru bridge, linking Lohit and Dibang valley, was inaugurated by Minister of State for Defence and Chairman, Border Roads Development Board (BRDB) Dr MM Pallam Raju at a function in Lohit district yesterday.

The Digaru bridge, the longest bridge constructed by the BRO ever, was undertaken by Project Udayak. The bridge,erected in extremely tough terrain, fulfills the long pending demand of the local population as well as the Army authorities.

Infrastructure is improving in North East even though at slow pace.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 26 May 2012 20:56

what if a truck lane is built on the golden quadrilateral, with overhead electrification similar to railways? this type of electrification is found in major cities like San francisco where the city buses use pantographs, the diesel electric trucks use this infra while on highways and when off the highways switch to regular diesel engines. This infra could be funded with the PPP model like road projects and tolls could be collected, with the petrol and diesel prices rising, bet the ROI would be significant

batteries or other secondary storage systems like ultra capacitors on each truck can be avoided due to high initial cost. The US could go green on their highways but their signage on highways needs extensive rework, that is lesser of a problem for us.

finding enough power is a bigger problem for us, and if funding of offshore wind farms can piggy back on this PPP model, would help us go green in a win-win scenario, all in the goal of reducing our oil deficit

we have enough technology to develop our own wind farms

and then somebody already does it,

http://www.gizmag.com/siemens-ehighway- ... ept/22648/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 May 2012 09:56

Mumbai: At least 26 people were killed and 27 others injured when a speeding tempo rammed into a stationary bus at Khalapur on Mumbai-Pune Expressway around midnight.
The victims, which included four minors, were part a marriage party, said Raosahib Shinde, Superintendent of Police Raigad.
Some of the injured were admitted to MGM hospital at Panvel near Mumbai while others were rushed to Sassoon hospital in Pune.

---
I see most of these fatal accidents occur late at night in the hours between midnight to dawn. drivers are tired and dozing off or fail to see in time stationary vehicles or vehicles with overhanging loads parked on the sides or crawling onto the road . a party of pilgrims had a fatal accident near chitradurga this week.

its probably safer to back off a little bit and not insist on whirlwind tours of N number of temples or places in minimum time. back off into the caravanserai's come dusk and emerge after dawn only.

personally I make it a point to always reach home from outstation trips by 8 and preferably by 7 to use the sunlight.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 28 May 2012 10:07

+1 to Singha's post.

Add to it I don't enjoy night driving in Indian Highways too much especially the ones without dividers - like Bandipur - Mysore road for eg, people, cycles crossing, opposite Vehile headlights etc. and above the fatigue factor mentioned by GD. Most Indians- especially drivers consider it too much of H&D issue to claim they are tired.

Anther factor is to consider after so much driving what is the status of brakes and tyres coupled with the fatigue factor of the driver. I always notice that vehicle performance while braking decreases tremendoursly after 200KM continous driving, when I decide to take rest and also let the Tyres brakes, cool.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 28 May 2012 10:28

Singha wrote:its probably safer to back off a little bit and not insist on whirlwind tours of N number of temples or places in minimum time.

Amen. We had made the same mistake during the initial yearly tours we (me and SHQ) did. Umpteen number of places, in limited number of time. Now this has been changed to reach a place, and kind of relax. Maximum one or two places to visited per day.

back off into the caravanserai's come dusk and emerge after dawn only. personally I make it a point to always reach home from outstation trips by 8 and preferably by 7 to use the sunlight.

What we used to do is to start at around 4:00AM, ensuring that we have got a rest period of at least 6-8 hours. Go at a more relaxed speed till the sun break. Our regular distances are 500-600kms. We try to clear as much as the good roads (express way, NH etc.) during the 6:00AM to 9:00AM time. In the evenings again as you say we try to reach the caravan serai by around 8:00PM. In a few cases I have called it a day even before. Especially when I am driving alone. And this was when the remaining distance could be cleared by stressing it out a bit more.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 28 May 2012 14:57

Think about the trips using contracted vehicles! The programme will be, like, we will go to three to four places in the day, and travel during the night to the other city. Repeat next day and day after...

Every driver I talked to agreed that a lot of people try to do that.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 28 May 2012 17:27

Dileep wrote:Think about the trips using contracted vehicles! The programme will be, like, we will go to three to four places in the day, and travel during the night to the other city. Repeat next day and day after...

And I feel many of the accidents which involve contract carriages happen precisely for this reason. The driver not getting a good night's sleep. Remember reading articles by some road safety experts that the people using the contract vehicle should check with the driver to ensure that he had good rest (even before the journey starts). Many of the drivers take up these kind of constant night driving perhaps for some extra money, not to antagonise the vehicle agency or in a hope that he can sleep when the passengers have gone for some sight seeing.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 May 2012 18:37

there are umpteen number of Tempo travellers, Sumos, Taveras and buses in south india with pilgrims travelling in this mode daily. sometimes they even carry LPG cylinders and staff to cook lunch by the roadside if needed. the drivers are generally young because only the young can take that kind of gruelling driving schedule usually along interior NH and SH because few of the pilgrimage centers lie conveniently on some NHDP roads.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 28 May 2012 19:36

Anyone driven recently to Rameshwaram side. How are the roads ? We want to do TN road trip in August during our next visit.

Since KF has gone paki on me again as was expected, there seems room now to include a North India circuit on a modified itinerary if time permits. Want Agra and Jaipur at least done this time. Hope the roads are up to mark. Checked SSC and found the Delhi-Agra expressway is not open yet. If I get ambitious want to include Jodhpur and Udaipur too, but the distances are large for each segment.

Wish I could take a long 6 month sabbatical from my job for a India sojourn.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 29 May 2012 09:04

27 wedding guests killed in Indian highway crash
http://news.yahoo.com/27-wedding-guests ... 15849.html

..

At least 27 guests returning from a wedding died in India on Monday when a speeding van lost control and rammed into their stationary minibus on a highway outside Mumbai.The bus was carrying guests home from a marriage in the suburbs of Mumbai when it was hit 50 miles (80 kilometres) from the city in the western state of Maharashtra, police said."The minibus had stopped for repairs along the Mumbai-Pune expressway when the van lost control, broke lanes and collided into the bus," a local police officer who declined to be named told AFP by telephone.About 18 people were injured, with many taken to hospital for treatment, he said, adding that the van driver was held for interrogation.The six-lane, toll highway has witnessed scores of fatal accidents since opening a decade ago.

..

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 29 May 2012 14:06

Many many Indians for long have said our roads are unsafe and needs to be fixed. But apparently only Jeremy Clarkson was remembered by this colonial hangover dude.

Mumbai expressway tragedy: If only we listened to Jeremy Clarkson

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 30 May 2012 12:47

Jeremy Clarkson could not save lives of 22 children in Switzerland

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... crash.html

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 04 Jun 2012 11:53

A quick update on the Salem->Krishnagiri->Attibele NH7.
1. The (in)famous practise of queue breaking have started at the toll booths on this highway as well. Most notably, Krishnagiri toll booth and Attibelle toll booth. If I am not mistaken these two booths are the first two for folks driving in from Chennai and other parts of the South towards Bangalore. Absolute chaos at the toll booths, with people dont know which is the correct queue. The attitude of "I have to get out quickly, others be damned" needs to be seen to be believed. And no, the folks are pretty much the urban, well educated folks.
2. Avanashi town near Coimbtore has got a byepass highway now, which is nearly 90% complete.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Jun 2012 12:07

the suzuki swift has been gods gift to every road yahoo in india.

abhischekcc · Post by **abhischekcc** » 05 Jun 2012 14:58

It is not just Swift, the four worst cars on Indian roads are:

SX4
Swift DZire
Indigo
Indica

I just don't understand why the people in these cars are the worst of the worst drivers. What is it about these cars that attracts the most anti-social people in India (secularists?).

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 06 Jun 2012 02:50

https://churumuri.files.wordpress.com/2 ... 9kpn86.jpg

Lucky driver escaped unhurt.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 06 Jun 2012 10:11

looks like car and truck were trying to take left turn at high speed, and the high COG truck loaded with concrete toppled over. i have seen a cycle rickshaw with a woman in the back topple over this way. the local people gave the rickshaw driver a few slaps.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 07 Jun 2012 12:05

Gents a question..
The regular drive on the Krishnagiri->Salem->Perundurai Byepass road is becoming boring. Was thinking about a much leisurely drive through Thoppur->Mettur->Anthiyur->Gopichettipalayam etc. Want to know if any of these towns have a good place to stay. The idea is to reach any of these towns by night fall (or maximum 8PM), relax and then start of early in the morning. Final destination is the "Socialist Republic of Kerala".

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 08 Jun 2012 15:27

Sachin wrote:Gents a question..
The regular drive on the Krishnagiri->Salem->Perundurai Byepass road is becoming boring. Was thinking about a much leisurely drive through Thoppur->Mettur->Anthiyur->Gopichettipalayam etc. Want to know if any of these towns have a good place to stay. The idea is to reach any of these towns by night fall (or maximum 8PM), relax and then start of early in the morning. Final destination is the "Socialist Republic of Kerala".

However, these roads will be nowhere near NHAI standards and may be Bad condition, so you might end up addign a lot of time to your travel. GUS whose Native place is near Sathyamangalam might have a better idea

Why dont you Bengaluru, Mysore, Gundlupet, Wayanad route to reach SRK or even branch from Coimbatore towards Sathyamangalam, Dimbum, Bailur, Kollegal, Kanakapura Bengaluru- again roads can be pretty adventurous during Monsoon.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 08 Jun 2012 20:22

Aditya_V wrote:However, these roads will be nowhere near NHAI standards and may be Bad condition, so you might end up addign a lot of time to your travel. GUS whose Native place is near Sathyamangalam might have a better idea

We are looking for a road which is NOT in NHAI condition

. That entire road stretch is becoming a bit boring to drive. I feel like a engine driver on duty constantly peering out for people, signals etc. etc.

branch from Coimbatore towards Sathyamangalam, Dimbum, Bailur, Kollegal, Kanakapura Bengaluru- again roads can be pretty adventurous during Monsoon.

This is what I have now in my mind. Initial reports says the road is okay. And I have also buffered enough time, because the whole idea was to have a very relaxed driving

.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 09 Jun 2012 17:37

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyd ... epage=true
so, whose job he is doing?

SRoy · Post by **SRoy** » 14 Jun 2012 14:38

Drove on NH58 all the way upto Mana. Real scary roads just before Badrinath.

ajit.d · Post by **ajit.d** » 14 Jun 2012 15:27

Folks,

I am planning for a trip to tirupathi from Chennai. Heard that the Tiruvallur Tiruthani section is potholled and badly patched up. Also, looks like 4 laning work in progress from Nagari to Puttur. Any idea how the old route via Nagalapuram is?

Thanks!
Ajit

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 15 Jun 2012 15:36

ajit.d wrote:Folks,

I am planning for a trip to tirupathi from Chennai. Heard that the Tiruvallur Tiruthani section is potholled and badly patched up. Also, looks like 4 laning work in progress from Nagari to Puttur. Any idea how the old route via Nagalapuram is?

Thanks!
Ajit

You can take the Red Hills Peripalyam Tirupathi route or Tiruvallur- peripaylam( this section of 15KMS is bad)- Tirupathi route.