[rahul_kej]

Originally Posted by gmhossain

I drove up to Malda through full NH-34 on May 12, 2016. Here are few updates:

Krishnanagar-Baharampur: This dreaded stretch has now been fully repaired. The entire two-lane stretches and the diversions have been relaid. Even the damages on the 4-laned stretches have been patched up. We started from Kalyani More on NH-34 at 5 am and then reached Sargacchi at around 8:15 am. We lost about 15 minutes at Beldanga due to a flash road blockade. We covered about 144 km in 3 hours drive time in our Estilo. It was the smoothest drive that I had in this stretch of NH-34 in recent memory! Sargachhi bypass road also has been relaid. After spending few minutes at Hooghly river bank we reached Shibpur Toll Plaza at around 8:55 am.

I think that's a great news. No one was using that stretch due to horror stories of road conditions. Now there is no need to take the longer Burdwan route and Kolkata Siliguri can be done by its usual route after years.

I just want to have details on few things.

First of all how is the route from Kolkata till Krishnagar, and is it via Barasat.

Secondly how was the traffic condition in Berhampore town or is there a bypass for the same.

It will be of great help for my travel in July 2nd week.

Thanks in advance.

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by rahul_kej

First of all how is the route from Kolkata till Krishnagar, and is it via Barasat.

Secondly how was the traffic condition in Berhampore town or is there a bypass for the same.

It will be of great help for my travel in July 2nd week.

The surface of NH-34 between Krishnanagar and Kolkata is pretty good right now as it was re-laid last year. I would prefer to take Kalyani Expressway using Bara Jaguli (NH-34) - Kampa connector to avoid Barasat and Madhyamgram.

Yes, you can avoid Berhampore town traffic by using Sargachhi bypass road that I had mentioned. Please check this post for the details.

Best,

[shourya_lahiri]

As a humble attempt to repay what I have gained immensely from this thread.. I am putting forward my views and experiences from a recent lone (me and my car) trip to and from Dooars.

Uphill, chose the NH2, Burdwan, SH7 route and downhill the NH34 route all the way to Kolkata.

Firstly, anyone planning to take SH7 from Burdwan, Mission Abort ! road is in pathetic condition. More so on my (stiffly sprung figo) me and my car had a real bad time. Plus mammoth craters in between will put the moon to shame. But, if you are driving a softer car, (SUV/ so called SUV) , then I guess the rough patches can be somewhat bearable. For me its a strict no no.

From Moregram, things turn out well. Paid close attention to taking the Botolbari detour ( shows up on Gmaps readily).
Some might say that NH34 is still not ready , four laning is still underway, but still after SH7 you will feel like heaven. Moreover I do not feel NH34 in spite of the 4-laning is any problem at all. Only few times one needs to shift over to the other half of the highway, but one cant complain much.
Farakka barrage is smoothly operated.

On return voyage, promptly ruled out SH7. NH34 all the way up to Kolkata. No problem at all, except Behrampore. Please remember there are by lanes from where one can go down, through very very narrow lanes and meet the bridge directly, but that is a risk one should knowingly take. Because the roads are very narrow to say the least, also one car from the other side and its curtains call.

Rest of the road is in good overall condition barring 1-2 very large craters near Ranaghat, which appear without notice, that cost me a bent steel rim.

Lastly thanks to this group for sharing their valuable experiences.

Cheers!

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by shourya_lahiri

... Uphill, chose the NH2, Burdwan, SH7 route and downhill the NH34 route all the way to Kolkata.

Firstly, anyone planning to take SH7 from Burdwan, Mission Abort ! road is in pathetic condition. ... On return voyage, promptly ruled out SH7. NH34 all the way up to Kolkata.

Yeah! That's correct. One of my friend had exactly same experience last week. Ongoing repairing work for SH-7 seems to have stalled or going too slow lately.

Originally Posted by shourya_lahiri

No problem at all, except Behrampore. Please remember there are by lanes from where one can go down, through very very narrow lanes and meet the bridge directly, but that is a risk one should knowingly take. Because the roads are very narrow to say the least, also one car from the other side and its curtains call.

Did you follow the Sargachhi bypass road as suggested here?


Let me add my own experience from our recent drive on Kolkata-Siliguri route. The Botolbari-Rudel-Dhantola stretch is pretty good overall except for a 3.5 km long rough stretch between Rudel and Dhantola which is not yet carpeted. The canal bridge just before NH-31 as well as the final 50 meter stretch near Dhantola is also in bad shape. We drove through a small market to avoid the last 50 meter.

During our return leg from Malda on May 20 through full NH-34, we crossed Kaliachak at 5:25 am and exited NH-34 at Kalyani More at 11:05 am. We had around 20 min break in between and took Sargachhi bypass road to avoid Berhampur town traffic. In other words, we took just 5 hour 20 min to cover 260 km stretch of NH-34. This happens to be my fastest and smoothest drive ever on this stretch of NH-34.

Here are few pictures:

Smooth but narrow road between Botolbari and Rudel


Congested Rudel market area


Between Rudel and Dhantola


Yet to be carpeted stretch between Rudel and Dhantola


Damaged canal bridge just before NH-31


Best,

[shourya_lahiri]

Originally Posted by gmhossain

Yeah! That's correct. One of my friend had exactly same experience last week. Ongoing repairing work for SH-7 seems to have stalled or going too slow lately.



Did you follow the Sargachhi bypass road as suggested here?


Let me add my own experience from our recent drive on Kolkata-Siliguri route. The Botolbari-Rudel-Dhantola stretch is pretty good overall except for a 3.5 km long rough stretch between Rudel and Dhantola which is not yet carpeted. The canal bridge just before NH-31 as well as the final 50 meter stretch near Dhantola is also in bad shape. We drove through a small market to avoid the last 50 meter.

During our return leg from Malda on May 20 through full NH-34, we crossed Kaliachak at 5:25 am and exited NH-34 at Kalyani More at 11:05 am. We had around 20 min break in between and took Sargachhi bypass road to avoid Berhampur town traffic. In other words, we took just 5 hour 20 min to cover 260 km stretch of NH-34. This happens to be my fastest and smoothest drive ever on this stretch of NH-34.

Here are few pictures:

Smooth but narrow road between Botolbari and Rudel
Attachment 1509442

Congested Rudel market area
Attachment 1509443

Between Rudel and Dhantola
Attachment 1509444

Yet to be carpeted stretch between Rudel and Dhantola
Attachment 1509445

Damaged canal bridge just before NH-31
Attachment 1509446

Best,

Very descriptive pictures there. I wish I could have done the same and added to the value of the thread. Unfortunately, even though I tried, I found it unpleasing to hold a camera on one hand and the steering wheel with the other, especially when the roads demand much negotiating . One of the drawbacks of driving alone

Even though the Rudel hold up and canal bridge did pose a hindrance, still this Botolbari detour was worth every penny. Yes the road is narrow, and the left wheels have to go down the elevation to let oncoming traffic pass, but one can live with it.

About the Saragachi bypass, yes I did avail that, but as you may notice this is the downstream drive from Siliguri that I have described. So Saragachi bypass was after the bridge ( right). Where Beherampore scored as a pain in the back, was the unreasonably long hold up, for no reasons whatsoever before the bridge.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Would like to share my recent experience of the to and fro Kolkata-Siliguri experience where I used both the routes. Hope the update helps everyone to plan their travel accordingly.

Update 25/05/2016 : Kolkata to Siliguri Via NH-34 all throughout
My Kolkata Residence (02:40am ) to Dhuliyan (07:40am) - 290 Kms covered in 5 Hours via Ranaghat-Krishnanagar-Plassey-Sargachi-Moregram
Took a 40 Minutes break at Dhuliyan for Breakfast
Dhuliyan (08:20am) to Raigunj (11:20am) - 130 Kms covered in 3 Hours Via Farakka-Malda-Gazole including getting stuck for around 45 minutes in a Dead Lock Traffic at Kaliachawk. However, Farakka was a breeze
Took a 10 Minutes break at Raigunj for some Tea
Raigunj (11:30am) to Islampur (01:30pm) - 88Kms covered in 2 Hours Via Botolbari-Dhantola
Took a 1 Hour 15 Minutes break at a relative's place
Islampur (02:45pm) to my Hotel @ City Centre, Siliguri (4:00pm) - 75 Kms covered in 1 Hour 15 Mins

Total Kms covered - 583 Kms with a Driving Time of 11 Hours 15 Minutes including being stuck in Traffic @ Kaliachawk for 45 Minutes. So effectively 10 Hours 30 Minutes of Driving

Overall a decent experience. However, the road upto Krishnanagar from Kolkata is not in the best of shapes and can eat up a lot of time in traffic situations. It did not effect us as we had left post midnight and the traffic was pretty thin that time.

Update 30/05/2016 : Siliguri to Kolkata Via Bhagalpur-Deoghar-Dumka-Siuri-Guskhara-Burdwan

Our Hotel @ Siliguri (06:30am) to Bhagalpur (10:10am) - 261 Kms covered in 3 Hours 45 Mins Via Dalkhola-Purnea-Naugachia-Vikramshila Setu
Took a hour's break at Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur (11:10am) to Khatoria (01:00pm) - 80 Kms covered in 1 Hour 50 Mins Via Amarpur-Banka including around 40 minutes taken to cross the town of Bhagalpur
Took a Tea break of 20 Minutes in Khatoria
Katoria (01:20pm) to Dumka (03:10pm) - around 100 Kms covered in 1 Hour 50 Mins Via Deoghar
Dumka (03:10pm) to Siuri (04:15pm) - 70 Kms covered in 1 Hour 5 Mins Via Masanjor
Took a 15 Minutes break at Siuri for Tea again
Siuri (04:30pm) to Shaktigarh (06:45pm) - 102 Kms covered in 2 Hours 15 Mins Via Purandarpur-Parui-Bhedia-Guskhara including 25 Mins being stuck in traffic at the Talit Level Crossing and thereafter taking a detour from some village road to connect on to NH-2B. Note : The traffic at the Guskhara underpass was not moving, thus took the inner road through the parallel culvert
Took a good 45 Minutes break at Shaktigarh for Tea & Snacks
Shaktigarh (07:30pm) to Dankuni Toll Plaza (08:30pm) - 72 Kms covered in an hour's time

Total Kms covered - 685 Kms with a Driving Time of 11 Hours 45 Minutes including being stuck in Traffic @ Bhagalpur for 40 Minutes and at Talit for 25 Minutes. So effectively 10 Hours 40 Minutes of Driving

But, the horror story for me was the road from Dankuni to my Residence which took me 1 Hour 30 minutes to cover a mere 30 Kms thanks to the Traffic at Dankuni, Kona Expressway, Satragachhi, AJC Bose Road Flyover and at Park Circus

Overall, the road all throughout in this stretch is in a brilliant condition as of now and that fresh carpeting is further being done on this route. Highly recommended !! The direct road from Bhagalpur to Dumka still is supposed to be in tatters and as per the locals the craters have till now not been filled/ repaired.

Sharing some snaps of the road on the Siliguri-Bhagalpur-Deoghar-Dumka-Siuri Route for everyone's reference.

From Naugachia to Bhagalpur :


The Vikramshila Setu :


Road between Bhagalpur to Khatoria :




From Khatoria to Dumka :


From Dumka to Siuri :


Would recommend this route as of now considering the unpredictable nature of NH-34 which was apparently immovable for consecutively 3 days between Dhuliyan to Maldah as per the locals and some fellow travelers because of which I opted to take the Bhagalpur Route for the first time and it turned out to be in my favour. A big vote of thanks to BHPian Samba for notifying me at the correct time to avoid the NH-34 route which had the said bottleneck.

[rahul_kej]

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

Would recommend this route as of now considering the unpredictable nature of NH-34 which was apparently immovable for consecutively 3 days between Dhuliyan to Maldah as per the locals and some fellow travelers because of which I opted to take the Bhagalpur Route for the first time and it turned out to be in my favour. A big vote of thanks to BHPian Samba for notifying me at the correct time to avoid the NH-34 route which had the said bottleneck.

Thanks a lot Arav for your latest update. You really have solved the riddle for my Durgapur travel in last week of June from Siliguri. Now I will be taking your route via Bhagalpur till Nh2 and then on to Durgapur. Will be leaving Siliguri around midnight, so will encounter less traffic, hope no truck jams at Vikramshila setu.

Thanks a lot once again for your detailed update. Can have a breather now. Phew

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

From Naugachia to Bhagalpur

Is that road fenced now or is it between Purnia & Naugachia?

Originally Posted by rahul_kej

Will be leaving Siliguri around midnight, so will encounter less traffic, hope no truck jams at Vikramshila setu.

I pray you do not, but circumstances say, you will encounter truck traffic. Because of no-entry, there is always a chaos when the ban is lifted and I personally wouldn't advise anyone taking the interior [Tetri] route at night. The best chance to not come across truck traffic at night is around 12 midnight to max 3AM. Or after 9AM till 6/7PM.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Originally Posted by rahul_kej

Thanks a lot Arav for your latest update. You really have solved the riddle for my Durgapur travel in last week of June from Siliguri. Now I will be taking your route via Bhagalpur till Nh2 and then on to Durgapur. Will be leaving Siliguri around midnight, so will encounter less traffic, hope no truck jams at Vikramshila setu.

Thanks a lot once again for your detailed update. Can have a breather now. Phew

Glad that the update is of some help to you. Vikramshila Setu is unpredictable too. As per the locals, the previous night there was traffic jam causing a hold up for over an hour. Better to leave just before sunrise and target to cross it early morning could possibly be a better bet. As Sheel said, truckers usually ply at night on this stretch causing major traffic jams.

Originally Posted by Sheel

Is that road fenced now or is it between Purnia & Naugachia?

As much as I can recall this was after taking the left diversion from Naugachia

[1100D]

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

A big vote of thanks to BHPian Samba for notifying me at the correct time to avoid the NH-34 route which had the said bottleneck.

Same here. We , as a whole, owe a lot to this "Awesome bhpian"!!

However, in the interest of updating the different options on the Dumka Bhagalpur route. I did take the Bhagalpur-Amarpur-Banka-Dhaka more-Hansdiha-Dumka route (on my way back from Siliguri), which would be of interest to people as it is much shorter than the Katoria route.

However, the feedback is, its horrible!!!

Dhaka-more till Dumka has massive craters, now on both Bihar and Jharkhand. To provide an example of the size of the craters, a semi-trailer turned turtle near hansdiha while trying to negotiate a pothole at crawling pace.

It took us 3 hours 40 minutes from Vaibhav inn till the clock tower at Dumka.

The other update is, the Hawaii-Adda route at Bhagalpur is closed due to a culvert being reconstructed.

The biggest irritant however was much closer home, the last 100kms from Burdwan, too much slow truck traffic (some moving in rigid formation at something as slow as 30kmph on a 100kph expressway) and a line of trucks backed up till about 2 kms from Dankuni toll!!

Then there was Santragachi!! However, I was able to negate its effect by taking an interior route through Salap, Dasnagar, Tikiapara and was actually traffic free. If anyone is interested, I can provide the detail to this route for people taking entry into Kolkata through the Kona expressway side.

[shourya_lahiri]

Originally Posted by 1100D

The biggest irritant however was much closer home, the last 100kms from Burdwan, too much slow truck traffic (some moving in rigid formation at something as slow as 30kmph on a 100kph expressway) and a line of trucks backed up till about 2 kms from Dankuni toll!!

Welcome back from another epic journey of yours !

Strangely I did not see even a bit of traffic at Dankuni toll plaza.. 0630 hrs .
Neither did i face any snarl at Farakka Barrage ( 10 mins end to end)

Originally Posted by 1100D

Then there was Santragachi!! However, I was able to negate its effect by taking an interior route through Salap, Dasnagar, Tikiapara and was actually traffic free. If anyone is interested, I can provide the detail to this route for people taking entry into Kolkata through the Kona expressway side.

Please do. I am interested.
Even though I did not face any trouble with Satragachi also.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Originally Posted by shourya_lahiri

I am interested.
Even though I did not face any trouble with Satragachi also.

I have used this route before and is an alternative to bypass Satraganchi and connect back onto Vidyasagar Setu :

https://goo.gl/maps/GCDsCDtFpaK2

May be this helps

[dr. sen]

"I pray you do not, but circumstances say, .......... 9PM till 6/7PM.[/quote]"

Dear Sheel Sir,

Thanx for the input. Is it a typo error, 9 pm; shouldnt it be 9 am to 6/7 pm.

Regrets in advance, incase of being wrong.

Regards

[1100D]

Originally Posted by shourya_lahiri

Welcome back from another epic journey of yours !

Strangely I did not see even a bit of traffic at Dankuni toll plaza.. 0630 hrs .
Neither did i face any snarl at Farakka Barrage ( 10 mins end to end)



Please do. I am interested.
Even though I did not face any trouble with Satragachi also.

Mostly the trouble breaks out at night post 8pm. Mornings are relatively easy.

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

I have used this route before and is an alternative to bypass Satraganchi and connect back onto Vidyasagar Setu :

https://goo.gl/maps/GCDsCDtFpaK2

May be this helps

On this route though, you will have to rejoin the Kona expressway. But am thinking if for folks travelling to Kolkata, if taking the Howrah Bridge route would actually be smoother.

[shourya_lahiri]

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

I have used this route before and is an alternative to bypass Satraganchi and connect back onto Vidyasagar Setu :

https://goo.gl/maps/GCDsCDtFpaK2

May be this helps

Thanks! will use this one next time.. just for fun.