Indian Roads Thread

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 06 Feb 2011 00:00

If you ever get a chance please visit Horsley hills, very pristine and very beautiful. Bhimli beach road used to be good. . The beaches close to nayudupeta are really good, forests near Sirpur are also very rich in terms of scenic beauty.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 06 Feb 2011 00:31

Vast parts of AP are undeveloped with even HDI much lower than most other southern states, the reason for the persistent maoist activities and ground support within it. Unless the people that matter in AP address these issues, tourism cannot take off easily.

As part of college tour we did visit the Naval Base and did all the coastal spots as well as Araku valley/Borra caves on foot. The approach to the caves area was not well developed three decades back. Hope things are better for at least these spots. Bimlipattinam (?) has a nice beach, even better than Vizag.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 06 Feb 2011 13:16

the descriptions i read of araku valley area does not indicate much has changed in infra . horeseley hills I have read up on, apparently a forest dept lodge is all that exists (and someone wrote of goodaish type drunk elements appearing there) and nearest town with hotels seems to be chittor around 60km away.

contrast with a place like hassan in KT which has good hotels an easy drives to S'belagola, belur, halebidu. also chikmagalur which has lot of hotels incl taj gateway.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 07 Feb 2011 17:42

Singha wrote:the descriptions i read of araku valley area does not indicate much has changed in infra . horeseley hills I have read up on, apparently a forest dept lodge is all that exists (and someone wrote of goodaish type drunk elements appearing there) and nearest town with hotels seems to be chittor around 60km away.

contrast with a place like hassan in KT which has good hotels an easy drives to S'belagola, belur, halebidu. also chikmagalur which has lot of hotels incl taj gateway.

Horsly hills has an AP govt owned hotel, complete with a swimming pool. Horsley Hills itself is very small, but laid back and quiet (at least 3 years ago it was).

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 07 Feb 2011 19:39

got to visit it then. escaped my radar till now.

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 08 Feb 2011 07:19

starek · Post by **starek** » 08 Feb 2011 10:25

Sorry, wrong posting.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 24 Feb 2011 08:42

Accident analysis system likely for Chennai

In an effort to tackle the ever-increasing incidence of road accidents, the State Transport Authority might soon adopt strategies perfected over the years by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

An advanced comprehensive traffic accident analysis system is likely to be put in place to investigate the real causes behind accidents, so that similar incidents can be prevented in future. The system would be modelled after the U.S. injury prevention programme.

A pilot implementation of the Road Accident Assessment – Vehicle, Human, Environment (RAAVHE) programme is likely to be undertaken in Chennai initially.

Though the State has a Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS), the Transport Department officials say that much of the raw data from the scene of the accident is unreliable. “The traffic police mention some reason in the FIR just to close the case. It may not be accurate,” a senior official said.

In order to tackle this problem, RAAVHE aims to use a cross-functional team consisting of industry, academia and government agencies to scientifically investigate the accident scene. The team, also comprising traffic officials, would reach the accident spot within 24 hours. A scientific evaluation of the scene would be undertaken based on tyre marks, impact damage and other parameters.

A detailed study of crash causation, crash severity and injury outcomes would follow, based on which policy decisions could be taken. The team would also interact separately with victims and eyewitnesses. A majority of the 600-odd fatal accidents that occur in Chennai every year happen on just 15 km of road stretches spread across the city. With effective intervention, many of those fatalities can be prevented, the officials said.

Transport Commissioner M. Rajaram said that the real reasons for accidents would be analysed based on the U.S. experience. “For example, in any crash, the heavier vehicle is always blamed in the police report. It could be the fault of the pedestrian or the cyclist as well sometimes. Without knowing the actual reasons behind accidents, we can never prevent them,” he said.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 24 Feb 2011 22:12

Bangalore-Chennai Expressway Update

When complete, this 250-km route will be the shortest distance between the capitals of the two southern states. The expressway will be connecting Hoskote and Sriperumbudur, which is about 40 km from Chennai.

The officer said the NHAI wanted to reduce the distance further, but since the Eastern Ghats are on the same route, it feared it may not get clearance from the Ministry of Environment.

Now, instead of going through the ghats, the expressway would make a slight deviation.

The road will cut through Hoskote and Malur in Karnataka, V Kota and Palmaner in Andhra Pradesh, and Gudiyatam, Arakkonam and Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.

It would be a world class road, where vehicles can zip at 120 kilometres per hour. Besides, the road embankment will be three to six metres above the ground level, which will ensure hassle-free driving.

Good news for Singha, Vina, SSridhar et al

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Feb 2011 05:25

Suraj, thanks for the update on the road that is being talked about for the last year or so. This road is being pushed by the Japanese. With the signing up of the CEPA at Tokyo last week, I hope there is an impetus to this project. I hope land acquisition will not be a problem either.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 25 Feb 2011 06:25

Besides, the road embankment will be three to six metres above the ground level, which will ensure hassle-free driving.

That should be written into law for any intra-city highway in India to keep the pedestrians off the highways. The embankments hopefully will also have very steep gradients to further keep them away. Sometimes, simple solutions are needed for Indian conditions as workarounds. This requirement will also make it easier to make these access controlled, with proper interchanges for the safety of vehicular traffic and keep opposing streams separate.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Feb 2011 10:28

being a expway it will be fenced and no people/tractors/cattle can get in easily.

so my vision of blr-chennai industrial corridor will finally come true...so appropriate to terminate in sriperumbudur where the revolution started.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 25 Feb 2011 19:28

Also at interchanges (or intersections on regular higways) need those serrated raised edges to rip your tyres if you drive the wrong way to create short cuts.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Feb 2011 21:28

No, post a 400lb gorilla with thick cosh to CLUB anyone attempting this. I was nearly front ended last week coming off the BMIC road at E-city on the exit ramp which some clown from the service road was using as his ENTRY ramp into BMIC rather than proper entrance a couple 100 mts away.

chackojoseph · Post by **chackojoseph** » 01 Mar 2011 17:05

IT industry tax demands not met in Budget 2011 : Suresh Rao, CFO, Mindteck India Limited

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 01 Mar 2011 18:44

chackojoseph wrote:IT industry tax demands not met in Budget 2011 : Suresh Rao, CFO, Mindteck India Limited

Wrong thread ?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 05 Mar 2011 13:30

Had to drive on the Chennai-Tiruchi NH45 yesterday. One thing I noticed was the number of cars and coaches going towards Chennai with DMK flags fluttering all over. At the toll gates, they were simply waved through without having to pay a paisa. At one toll plaza, I asked the guy in the counter about this. He said that normally they do not collect toll from any vehicle that has a party (any party for that matter) flag on it as otherwise they will be attacked. I felt cheated and angry.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 05 Mar 2011 21:01

^^ yeah, that's true ,though Road is very good. I hope they complete four-lane Coimbatore-Salem-ulundarpettai youching GST NH 45 soon.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Mar 2011 10:12

Getting a driving licence is the easiest thing in Chennai
Now, that explains why TN has the highest road accident and fatalities rate in India.

If results of the driving tests conducted by the regional transport offices (RTOs) are anything to go by, the city has one of the most skilled motorists anywhere in the world. Only a handful of applicants fail the test, and getting a driving licence is almost a certainty.

The failure rate for two-wheeler licence applicants in the city is as low as 11 per cent. To give a comparison, the average failure rate in the United Kingdom is 67 per cent. Getting a licence is tougher in cities such as London.

According to statistics from the Transport Department, while 645 applicants appear for a driving test every day across vehicle categories, about 110 of them do not pass the test, which amounts to a failure rate of 17 per cent.

“It is an open secret that some do not even take the test,” says R. Vijesh, who relies on agents to get work done at the Regional Transport Office. “Most candidates have to just appear to pass the test,” he says.

A study on corruption in India's driving licence issuing system published in 2008 by the International Finance Corporation, a wing of the World Bank, says that on an average, individuals pay about twice the official amount to obtain a licence and very few take the legally required driving test, resulting in many unqualified yet licensed drivers. “Corruption not only raises the price of services but also causes serious social distortions” in the form of increased road accidents, the study observes.

A. Ravichandran, who runs a driving school, says that everything runs on “adjustment.”

While a two-wheeler licence involves a fee payment of Rs.350, candidates going through driving schools pay Rs.1,000. “The testing is not at all stringent. All that the candidate has to do is move the vehicle. Since everyone cannot be passed, some are failed arbitrarily,” he says.

In order to curb malpractices in the licence issuing process, instructions were issued a couple of years ago to ensure a failure rate of at least 10 per cent. But ways have been found to work-around the ceiling.

According to Mr.Ravichandran, most of those who fail on the first attempt go back on the eighth day. The premise behind the rule is to give the candidate a week's time to perfect his driving skills.

“We fudge records to show they attended three extra days of class. RTO officials are not interested in ensuring the road-worthiness of a candidate and the candidates do not mind paying. No wonder driver behaviour on the city's roads is abysmal,” he adds.

While over 3,000 driving licences are issued across the State every day, RTOs in Chennai alone issue 625 licences a day.

A Motor Vehicle Inspector said that unless the road safety fund is utilised to ensure that each RTO has a quality testing track that can be used to scientifically evaluate a candidate's road worthiness, the practice of limited or no testing would continue.

Bangalore has evolved a novel way to address the issue of both subjectivity and human interference in driver testing. The city recently started using its first automated driver-testing track which has a set of computers that monitor and time the entire test, including reversing, kerb parking, and uphill driving. There is no room for argument because the examiner is a machine. {Excellent}

Transport Commissioner M.Rajaram said that CCTV cameras would soon be introduced in RTOs to monitor and keep a record of the tests. “We hope it will instil a sense of better discipline. Use of simulators is also being considered. However, everyone must understand that mere physical infrastructure is not enough.”

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 08 Mar 2011 10:49

The Indian movie came out a decade back. Things have been rotten for way too long in the rtos.

sum · Post by **sum** » 08 Mar 2011 11:23

According to Mr.Ravichandran, most of those who fail on the first attempt go back on the eighth day. The premise behind the rule is to give the candidate a week's time to perfect his driving skills.

Its is 30 days gap for Karnataka...just 7 days for TN?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Mar 2011 11:07

State Governments may be allowed to empower to check overloading

Overloaded lorries posing threat to other road users. Courtesy: Business Line

State Governments may be empowered to ask the police forces or other agencies they deem fit to check overloading by commercial vehicles. Currently, only the Motor Vehicles Department officials have the power to check such overloading.

This is one of the provisions suggested by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill.

The Road Transport Ministry has now decided to move the Cabinet to implement the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2007, on which the Parliamentary Standing Committee had already deliberated in 2008.

“Various States had said that the police be empowered to check overloading as well. So, we have proposed that State Governments should be allowed to designate any agency they deem fit, apart from the motor transport department, to check overloading,” said a Ministry source. {One more avenue for bribes for the police. The MV department officials may feel disappointed that somebody else is entering their lucrative market}

More stringent penalties for traffic violations such as driving at excess speed, use of mobile phones, driving without seatbelts are suggested in the amendments.

The Ministry has increased the fines in its proposal compared to the proposed levels of Amendment Bill, 2007.

PROPOSED CHANGES

For instance, driving beyond permissible speed limits could attract Rs 1,000 fine for over-speeding by up to 10 km/hour (kmph); Rs 2,000 if the vehicle is over-speeding between 10-25 kmph; and Rs 5,000 for beyond 25 kmph. Currently, the fine is up to Rs 400 for first offence and up to Rs 1,000 for second offence.

Also, if a vehicle owner permits an unauthorised person (without valid driving licence) to drive his vehicle, then a penalty of Rs 2,000, or three months imprisonment, or both has been proposed by the Ministry. Currently, such violations attract a fine of up to Rs 1,000, or three months imprisonment, or both.

For the commercial road transport sector, the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill, 2007 had also suggested an enabling provision to make the common carriers such as transport agents accountable for overloading.

These proposed amendments had gone into the backburner, because in 2009, the then Road Transport Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, sought a review of the entire process. He had set up a committee, headed by the former Road Transport Secretary, Mr S. Sunder, to review the entire Act. A Parliamentary committee had also pulled up the Road Transport Ministry for not implementing the Bill.

Now, the Road Transport Minister, Mr C.P. Joshi, based on discussions in the Ministry, has decided to move ahead on the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill, 2007, with requisite modifications.

“We have decided to invite comments from the other Ministries on the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill based on recommendations of Standing Committee of Parliament, along with some modifications,” a source told Business Line.

The modifications would be regarding higher penalties for use of mobile phone while driving and not using seat belts, an issue flagged by the Sunder Committee.

The Ministry has recommended a fine of Rs 1,000 each for offences such as use of mobile phones while driving, not wearing seat belts and not wearing helmets (for the driver and pillion rider).

The Sunder Committee recommendations will also be studied for implementation in future. The Committee, while suggesting many reforms, had called for a complete overhaul of the Act – a move that would have further delayed implementation of the amendments.

Gaurav_S · Post by **Gaurav_S** » 26 Mar 2011 10:54

NHAI ready to begin work on Rs 9K-cr projects

link

New Delhi, March 25: The National Highways Authority of India is all set to start work on Rs 9,000-crore road projects in Gujarat and Rajasthan in the next 3-4 months.

The projects are the 570-km highway project from Kishangarh near Jaipur in Rajasthan to Ahmedabad in Gujarat through Udaipur and six-laning of the Ahmedabad-Baroda highway and Beawar-Pali-Pandwara.

“Bids for these three projects have been received...they are being evaluated,” a Road Ministry official said.

The Ahmedabad-Baroda and Beawar-Pali-Pandwara are six-laning projects worth Rs 2,000 crore each and the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad mega road project is likely to entail an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

NHAI has received 13 bids for the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project, including from reputed international players like Britain’s Balforur Beatty.

In 2009, the then Road Minister Mr Kamal Nath had announced that the Government would invite bids for the construction of nine mega road projects, entailing an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore each.

The Government has set a target for constructing 35,000 km of highways in the next five years under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP), which will require an estimated investment of about $60 billion (Rs 2,79,000)Of this, $40 billion (Rs 1,86,000) will come from the private sector. {Forgotten to put crores?}
The country at present has a network of 71,000 km of National Highways.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 02 Apr 2011 13:50

National Highways become death traps due to Govt's cost cutting

Under pressure from the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission to reduce cost of building highways, safety is becoming a casualty, say highway engineers.

National highways and State highways constitute about six per cent of the total road network, but account for 60 per cent of fatalities due to road accidents.

To reduce cost of building highways, the safety features such as underpasses, flyovers, tend to become a casualty at design level.

Talking about a national highway development project between Delhi and Agra, Mr A.P. Bahadur, former Chief Engineer, Ministry of Road transport and Highways, said, “The original (proposed) project cost for building that stretch of highway was an estimated Rs 8.56 crore a km. We were told to reduce the cost.” The cost was subsequently lowered to Rs 3.6 crore a km.

“To do this, the features that were knocked off included 15 minor bridges, 29 vehicular underpass, 59 pedestrian underpasses, 25 flyovers, and stretches of service roads,” Mr Bahadur said while talking in a seminar on road safety to highway engineers and design consultants. Mr Bahadur is now a public-private partnership (PPP) expert in ADB.

“Don't (design) make unsafe or cheap highways. Put your foot down. Let it be recorded on file that you suggested these features but had to compromise on suggestions to reduce costs,” he advised. Several consultants present in the seminar reiterated that they are under pressure to control costs while designing highways.

Earlier, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Dr C.P. Joshi, also said that road design should not be an ad-hoc generalisation to justify adopting some inferior and unsafe features to save money.

Suggesting that finding an appropriate balance should be our foremost priority, he asked the road engineers not to compromise with the appropriate and safe road design. The workshop was jointly organised by National Highways Authority of India and Indian Road Congress.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 07 May 2011 18:19

India to have network of strategic roads by 2013

"By 2013 we would be able to complete work on bulk of the roads. There can not be a deadline for the last road as there are some very tough nuts to crack and we are trying to find the solution," Border Roads Organization (BRO) Director General Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar told reporters here.

About 63 per cent of work on 27 roads in Arunachal Pradesh and 12 in Ladakh are complete, he said, adding that these are high priority roads closely monitored at the highest levels.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 May 2011 06:33

yesterday I spent a long time in the back alleys of J C road here hunting for a shop selling cardboard boxes. its the area in blr where lots of auto parts and accessories shops are clustered together. while the main roads have retail and whoesale shops, the back alleys are full of smaller parts shops , seat cover makers and repair shops.
now these repair shops are interesting - they seem to repair and make parts for everything from trucks to tractors to autos in small grimy type workshops manned by a few people each (for some reason mostly IM). from the looks of it nothing is thrown away and lots of parts which would be thrown away as unsafe in the 'west' are welded/beaten/melted/glued together and put back in use ... tyre retreateding also seems common esp for truck tires which are costly to purchase new. saw even crucial load bearing and moving parts like interiors of engines, axles , gearboxes being worked on...

p.s. one peculiarity is none sell U-haul style cartons retail here. the makers sell them in bulk only to corporate clients. rolls of cardboard are for sale but not boxes. so movers hoard them and keep reusing them.

kittoo · Post by **kittoo** » 08 May 2011 06:54

Singha wrote:yesterday I spent a long time in the back alleys of J C road here hunting for a shop selling cardboard boxes. its the area in blr where lots of auto parts and accessories shops are clustered together. while the main roads have retail and whoesale shops, the back alleys are full of smaller parts shops , seat cover makers and repair shops.
now these repair shops are interesting - they seem to repair and make parts for everything from trucks to tractors to autos in small grimy type workshops manned by a few people each (for some reason mostly IM). from the looks of it nothing is thrown away and lots of parts which would be thrown away as unsafe in the 'west' are welded/beaten/melted/glued together and put back in use ... tyre retreateding also seems common esp for truck tires which are costly to purchase new. saw even crucial load bearing and moving parts like interiors of engines, axles , gearboxes being worked on...

p.s. one peculiarity is none sell U-haul style cartons retail here. the makers sell them in bulk only to corporate clients. rolls of cardboard are for sale but not boxes. so movers hoard them and keep reusing them.

OT here but yeah its easily observable that there are some professions where you'll find mostly IMs working. Repairing automobiles is one, nowadays repairing mobiles is becoming one such profession. Does this relate to their general academic backwardness compared to rest of Indians? I guess so. We need some analysis on this one.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 08 May 2011 09:35

Kittoo, it stems from the academic/economic backwardness and some sort of a weird knack they seem to have for fixing stuff. Automobiles,electrical/electronic "jugaad" shops have always been dominated by Muslims.

@ Singhaji, JC road was once known for Pathaan money lenders. Although the pathan population in Bangalore had started to drop steadily by the 60s, we still had a lot of pathaan run shops on JC rd when i was a little kid. The "gujri" (junkyard) business in Bangalore has been dominated by muslims as far as i can remember. Their enterprising ability is to be seen to be believed. A truck wrapped around a tree and smashed like broken crystal is still repaired with hammers,chisels,welding guns and put back on road! There are some 'bearing shops' too,were they "repair" worn out ball-bearings!

Shivaji Ngr / JC Rd are also notorious for butchering stolen automobiles and parting them out. The cops know each one of the regulars, but yet turn a blind eye towards them.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 08 May 2011 11:20

I have no clues about junkyards in Mumbai, but in Karnataka atleast the automobile/electrical/electronic shack shops have always been dominated by the muslim community, and its not just in Bangalore. The knack to "jugaad" probably comes from the fact that they are not good in other skills, so have to improve on what you are good at.

I moved out of Bangalore a while ago, but i was raised in Blr and have lived there most of my life. The yards in Yeshwantpura / Peenya / Market are trading yards and trucking companies that was once dominated by Sindhis ( maybe it still is), but the little repair shops and junkyards was/is dominated by muslims.

As for closing the jugaad shops,well, they are doing nothing illegal (except those who deal in stolen automobiles). Its upto the police and RTO to certify if a vehicle is road worthy or not. These jugaad shops provide a livelihood to thousands who have little education and no skills beyond what they currently do. And restoring bearings,batteries,re-treading tyres etc is not a Bangalore only trend, happens everywhere in India. We dont have a "throw it if its broken" culture. We try to fix everything until it is beyond repair, and those that are beyond repair are usually repaired by these jugaad shops! Back in the olden days, it was not just autos/appliances that were repaired and re-repaired, but also tiny 'tailoring' shops that would darn torn clothes. Maybe the culture of throwing things away will creep in once the labor and time gets more expensive than items themselves.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 08 May 2011 16:11

I take back some of my rants about Cochin roads. There's a noticeable improvement in several arterial stretches outside of the city centre, including NH47 bypass between Aroor and Kaloor and Vytilla Road, along with a number of smaller branching roads. The most noticeable aspect is that the lanes and shoulders on either end are properly painted, which give these an organized look, though traffic discipline is only marginally improved. Marine Drive, Kaloor Road etc are still largely moonscape; the heart of the city has moved away from there to the Nh47/bypass road area now, with all the nice stores, malls and auto showrooms dotting that road now.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 08 May 2011 20:25

The city roads need a complete remaking with widening and demolition of a lot of structures and ugly bill boards along the Marine drive area. That place looks like a mess. Even the Goshree bridge area is potholed as of 6 months back.

I did see definite improvement on road quality in the far suburbs of Cochin, Parur to airport which used to be a messy road always.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 May 2011 21:16

I think some of the IMs who first came as camp followers , traders and artisans for the deccan sultanates later spread to other parts of the south like old mysore state under hyder ali - they were concentrated in urban areas and focussed on trade and crafts , not much in rural areas doing farming. this legacy has lived on in places like shivajinagar. due to lack of formal degrees they are in professions that one can learn as apprentice - carpentry, textiles, cane furniture, machine repair, automobile, real estate, shops, ....

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 08 May 2011 22:31

Pawan Hans grounding stalls China border roads

The grounding of helicopter operator Pawan Hans’ fleet after two shocking accidents in a fortnight near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, has claimed another casualty: Border Roads Organisation’s strategic road building programme along the Sino-Indian border. With Pawan Hans helicopters no longer available to ferry bulldozers and materials to road building sites in remote areas, this crucial programme is experiencing further delays.
:
These grounded helicopters have been central to the BRO’s success in by-and-large meeting tough road building schedules. Building sequentially, i.e. starting from one end of a proposed road and working steadily to the other end is a slow process. Instead, the BRO divides the road into segments, selecting multiple “attack points”, to which road building materials are heli-lifted. Work then proceeds simultaneously from each attack point.
Amongst the first to be affected is the crucial road being built from Thingbu towards the 18,000-foot Tulung La Pass on the border, so far just a mule track on which the Chinese infiltrated in 1961 to outflank Indian troops ensconced on the mighty Se La Pass. Since the BRO was using a Pawan Hans Mi-172 helicopter to carry a dismantled bulldozer to Thingbu, building has been stalled until it flies again. The Indian Air Force has already expressed its inability to support BRO road building, since its helicopters are fully committed in provisioning the army’s remote border outposts.
Also stalling are several other BRO roads in the northeast, where 6 of the 27 roads it is building are facing schedule slippages. Another 12 border roads that the BRO is building along the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh are not affected by the Pawan Hans grounding.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 09 May 2011 18:14

Should I be sad that India's strategic roads at the border are stalled because there are no choppers? I should be right?

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 May 2011 21:17

Bade wrote:The city roads need a complete remaking with widening and demolition of a lot of structures and ugly bill boards along the Marine drive area. That place looks like a mess. Even the Goshree bridge area is potholed as of 6 months back.

I did see definite improvement on road quality in the far suburbs of Cochin, Parur to airport which used to be a messy road always.

The 'downtown' area roads are a lost cause until the center of gravity of the city shifts more towards NH47 bypass/Kakkanad area. The gulf between the two regions is remarkable now - the latter has a slew of quite decent roads, with clear lane markings, medians etc, that look almost European in places, while the old city centre is terrible. NH47 bypass is also getting a lot of commercial building now, with Gelf money probably trying to turn it into a local Sheikh Zayed road wannabe

It looks quite fancy with all the new tall buildings on either side, and construction around. Even the NH47 was great upto Aroor and a little beyond - the southbound widening is all done and looks very good indeed, though it took years to get done. Hopefully it won't take the same amount of time to extend the northbound widening work to Airport junction and then to Thrissur and Palakkad.

I also went to the Oberon Mall - it was quite a revelation, with kids and teenagers hanging around playing videogames and eating at the food court. Looked like someone just plucked it out of Singapore and dropped it there. Where was all this stuff when I was a child - all I could do was nurse a rare Gold Spot and play street cricket

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 13 May 2011 01:07

Is the Venduruthy Bridge to Fort Kochi all done by now ? It has been years in the making. Hope they will fix all those roads too, MG Road, SN Bannerjee, Shanmugham Rd etc. The Naval Base and Port being important enough despite the Vallarpadom Container Terminal across the Kayal from Fort Kochi.

Once that is done, the old NH-47 alignment might even get spruced up as the NH-47 bypass gets all congested with Malls and cars and people. I saw pics of the new road alignment to Vallarpadom from NH17. Half a year ago it was not done yet, and did drive on some stretch of it and was turned back to NH17. This could be an alternate connection from Southern fringes of NH-47 to NH-17 via city roads, till the next bypass gets built further east through Dileep's midlands.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 13 May 2011 02:34

Marten: I would say NH7 to Salem or NH209 to Coimbatore and then NH47 to Palakkad and beyond, Thrissur and Cochin, as the ideal option. I've never driven between Coimbatore and Bangalore, but have done Cochin-Palakkad(-Coimbatore) multiple times over the past 25+ years and it's been pretty decent especially beyond Thrissur. TN roads are supposedly very good (Singha or vina might be better people to ask) so BLR-CBE may be a good drive too.

Bade: I didn't go upto Thevara and Willingdon Island, just around Fine Arts Hall, Marine Drive and Kaloor Rd in the city (all generally crap). I heard the Goshree bridge and road isn't so good either but the rail link to ICTT may be more crucial.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 13 May 2011 07:04

Last week just happened to see an old movie shot on location around Thevara/Willingon Island. The place looks even more beautiful through a camera. The movie is 'Orkappurath'. Sad to see things have changed for the worse in a short span of 20 years.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Jun 2011 10:05

To Learned Gurus here, Planning to drive from Chennai to Bangalore, through Krishnagiri to Hosur, any good places where I can stopover for Food. Good Petrol Bunks to fill up before entering Karnataka.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2011 10:32

there are a couple of food & fuel plazas near krishnigiri (ie within karnataka) in a hilly area. before krishnagiri I dunno maybe vellore is next big town?

both the food plazas will be on the right side as you ride in, so u need to take a U-turn carefully to enter them and another U-turn to get back toward blr. as always watch yahoos who are driving @ 150 and multi-axle trucks which cannot stop quickly due to inertia.

if your destination is not in electronic city, you can use the elevated 20km flyover from electronic city to silk board junction in madivala on the way in and out. cuts through the clutter it does.