[Strawberry_Blonde]

From your experiences which city has the best or worst roads in India?

One frustrated resident of Bangalore has set up www.bangalorepotholes.com so that a cumulative total of potholes can be collated amonst other grumbles! The other month the local Government declared portions of the city Pothole free and would pay RS100 for any potholes found. Shame none of these were between my home and office and I counted at least 2k’s worth on the way home the other night!

Having see most major cities now, I am inclined to say ..Yes the bursting Bangalore roads are the worst! The best, I am leaning towards in and around Cochin at the moment what do you say?

[Phantom]

Best are in Delhi, no doubt about that. The worst so far will be Varanasi and Bangalore will be close second but have never been to Pune.. so cant say

[Somnath]

Hmmmmm…..
Best / worst – well, it is not possible to compare the roads (quality of road – not the traffic) in a metro and a small town. Population, type of vehicles all parameters will be there. I am trying to share my experience (restricted to state capitals):

In my personal experience roads in Mumbai is the best. Not only today, probably this is the first city that realized the importance of transportation for its growth. And Kolkata was the worst. But now I cannot say Kolkata is worst, things have improved a lot.

And the worst I’ve seen in Patna (year 2000) . Guwahati (2004), don’t know the recent condition.

Edited by Somnath, 10 May 2006 - 04:01 PM.

[cyberhippie]

The roads in M.P. period      

[Phantom]

cyberhippie, on May 10 2006, 05:04 PM, said:

The roads in M.P. period      

Worst or Best ??

[kiwi_razz]

NH75 in MP is worst.

[cyberhippie]

IMHO the road transport folks in M.P. should issue airmiles to road users, I spent as much time in the air as in my seat!!      

[Aadil]

Madhya Pradesh must be the State with the worst roads I have ever travelled on in India. Half the time in the air and the rest deep inside the potholes!!! Infact many long stretches of the National Highway were just simply mud roads with ruts in them like you have on village tracks made by bullock carts!!! So you can imagine what speeds you can achieve on the highways!!! HAHAHA!!! Some of the roads in Karnataka were also pretty bad when travelling recently in 2005. It seems there will soon be a larger area of the National Highways becoming better with new stretches made with better quality workmanship and materials. Just hope it happens soon!!!

Cheers,
Aadil.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Delhi got the best roads and then comes Nubra Valley, worst the stretch between chopal(Himachal) and Ponta sahib. Bad roads I can take, off roads I can take. But don’t know what to say about roads which are covered in 6inch deep limestone sand and are frequented with 4x4 trucks carrying limestone from the mines. Who don’t care where you are, you will probably move after seeing them, if not then all they would have to do is clean the bumper after they reach their destination.  

Probably the lowest point in my touring career, rode on those hellish roads with a sore leg and no rear breaks, damaged due to two falls on the previous day. One was due to the spilt diesel on the road and it wiped out the rear breaks. Next was in the evening; while riding through a forest alone in the evening, seeing a leopard in the middle of the road, speeding to escape it and then crashing ur bike just a hundred meter away from leopard and finding out gravel in the road and disc breaks don’t mix that well

[Strawberry_Blonde]

Yogesh Sarkar, on May 10 2006, 06:22 PM, said:

But don’t know what to say about roads which are covered in 6inch deep limestone sand and are frequented with 4x4 trucks carrying limestone from the mines.

Thats Bangalore hey?!

I know the city if growing at a quicker pace than the infrastructure can cope with but it seems when the roads are being resurfaced they are never finished properly. One road by the back of me has been retarmaced twice in 2 years but again, there is no tarmac left and it looks like a motor x track.

After a nice down poor of rain last night, what should have be a 15 minunte journey back home from the office ended up taking almost 2 hours. Lots of cars and bikes abandoned on the route home coupled with everones mad scramble to get home caused chaos.

Haven't been to MP yet so I'll look forward to that!!

Yogesh Sarkar, on May 10 2006, 06:22 PM, said:

Next was in the evening; while riding through a forest alone in the evening, seeing a leopard in the middle of the road, speeding to escape it and then crashing ur bike just a hundred meter away from leopard and finding out gravel in the road and disc breaks don’t mix that well

Now thats a scarey thought... was the leapard ok??

SB

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Strawberry_Blonde, on May 11 2006, 08:07 AM, said:

Haven't been to MP yet so I'll look forward to that!!
Now thats a scarey thought... was the leapard ok??

SB

I think the leaperd had a mild heart attack

[wanderer22]

The worst road I've ever come across was between Hampi and Gundakal. Lots of large trucks hauling iron ore have just about destroyed the surface.  The repair wallas must be getting rich...  I lost count of the number of broken down vehicles that were pulled over to the side, missing springs and wheels.  Avoid this route if at all possible.

     Wanderer22

[crvlvr]

the Mysore Bangalore trip with used to take 2 hours 10 years ago now takes 5 hours

I love the Bangalore potholes website

[sahib]

crvlvr, on May 11 2006, 01:01 PM, said:

the Mysore Bangalore trip with used to take 2 hours 10 years ago now takes 5 hours

I love the Bangalore potholes website

I just did the Mysore Bangalore trip in two hours - however it then took two more hours to get across town in Bangalore

The worst roads ever are between Hassan and Mysore - 50K of driving through aborted road construction - unreal. Much much worse than the trip up to Bangalore.

Eric

[cyberhippie]

Hospet        

[crvlvr]

sahib, on May 11 2006, 10:36 AM, said:

I just did the Mysore Bangalore trip in two hours -

Are they done with all the construction and two way traffic on the same lane? I  would be surprised.. It was pretty messed up in December..

[-m2-]

Golden Quadrilateral Highway

The central government initiated a major highways improvement initiative during the previous administration to link the major metros, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.  When completed, this project along with the N-S and E-W proposals will make covering long distances by road much speedier and drama-free for individual motoring by car and bike, as well as making long-distance buses more of an option.  

I was curious as to how far this project has progressed so was pleased to find a map showing the status of construction as of April 30, 2006.  It is a bit small for reading, but is more legible when printed.  It can be found here:

http://www.nhai.org/...in_english.htm#

I gather that some of the comments earlier in the thread about roads under construction relate to work on this project.   Any comments on the quality of the completed portions and how they have affected driving speeds, safety etc.  How are they for motorcycles?  Is there a time-table for the completion?  I've read elsewhere that construction  isn't going so well in Bihar, are there any other major problem areas?

[Seventies'Neil]

I was most impressed with the road between Chittor & Udaipur earlier this year, It was so quite it felt & looked like a motorway at 7am on a sunday morning in the UK. I think it's supposed to be a Toll Road, whether or not it was because it's so new, I'm not sure, But there were no toll booths on it, nor trucks, our driver said the trucks still used the old road to avoid the non-existant (on that day) tolls.

[Shiver me Timbers]

best road I remember was Udaipur - Ahmedabad.

Worst was travelling from Indore to Mandu, via some town I can't remember.  The bus was rattling so bad, I could catch glimpses of the (truly terrible) road through the floor!!!  I got off eventually and my arms and feet were buzzing like pins & needles.

[john.sw]

High in the Nilgiris the monsoon rains flood like rivers down the slippery ghat roads, tearing away the tarmac in their path.

The local saying is:

“In India we drive on the left of the road – In Ooty we drive on what is left of the road!â€�