[Yoshowant]

Hi BHPians,
I need to travel to Raipur this November last week from Hyderabad. I am planning to take the following route:
Hyderabad - Ramagundam- Gadchiroli - Balod Raipur.
Any idea about how the road conditions are around Gadchiroli and further in Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.
Look forward to your suggestions.

Yoshowant

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Route / Travel Queries

[arb]

In my last Bangalore - Bhilai run, I skipped my usual via Nagpur routes and ended up going through Gadchiroli. Gmaps religiously pushes you through the Gadchiroli road these days, wasn't the case earlier.

That being said, the route through Hyderabad - Karimnagar - Mancherial for most parts are butter smooth on the 363, and quaint little traffic is bonus. Where I differ from Gmaps is before Kagaznagar where it suggests to turn right off the 363 into Kagaznagar-Sirpur road leading to Sirpur - Kondhana - Sawaii - Gadchiroli (MSH9). I prefer continuing on 363 taking Ballarpur - Chandrapur - Mul - Sawai - Gadchiroli. Tried the later while going towards Bhilai and former during my return, liked the 363 much better than MSH9.

Post Gadchiroli, I take the Armori - Wadsa - Deori - Nandgaon stretch to Bhilai and if you prefer the same upto Raipur. Not much of a pain apart from the excise checkpost and over bridge construction around Deori border. The other route from Gadchiroli - Manpur - Rajhara - Nandgaon, I was told is not in great shape, mind you I have not been through that personally. So if you do take this route it continues to Raipur via Balod

Hope it helps!
~ArB

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by Yoshowant

Hi BHPians,
I need to travel to Raipur this November last week from Hyderabad. I am planning to take the following route:
Hyderabad - Ramagundam- Gadchiroli - Balod Raipur.
Any idea about how the road conditions are around Gadchiroli and further in Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.
Look forward to your suggestions.

Yoshowant

The best way is to take the NH44 till Nagpur ORR (jamtha) and then take NH53 to bhilai and raipur. You'll have 4 lane highway all along in this route with proper eateries along the roadside. I would prefer this route if I am travelling with family.

I am not sure why you want to go through Ghadchiroli - but since you have planned this route, I would suggest you consider the following :-

HYD-Karimnagar-Asifabad-Ballarshah-Chandrapur-Mul-ghadchiroli-armori-wadsa-kohamara-then NH53 to Raipur through Rajnandgoan and Bhilai (Durg bypass).

This is the same route as @arb suggested. From Chandrapur-Ghadchiroli-Kohamara the road is old school 2 lane highway that passes through some reserve forest area. The route is scenic but you'll find many heavy loaded trucks in the route - so be careful and drive safe.

Please do not take the Ghadchiroli-Balod route. This area is still naxal infested with very bad to non existent roads at the MH-CG border.

I'm at Chandrapur - so if you need any help or directions feel free to call.

[Yoshowant]

Thank you Sommos and Arb. I have been many times on the Nagpur Bhandara Bhillai route. There is work ongoing on this route now and it's taking much longer time than needed. Thus, was exploring other options. I have been upto Karimnagar and know the roads are in good condition. I was a bit sceptical about Gadchiroli road conditions. But, since the Nagpur route shows extra 2-3 hours, I am exploring this route. Another route is Hyderabad -Warangal-Bhopalpatnam- Sukma - Dantewada - Jagdalpur route which is even more Naxal infested. Will follow the route as suggested. Thanks Arb and Sommos.

[gajadonga]

[quote=Yoshowant;5875475]Thank you Sommos and Arb. Another route is Hyderabad -Warangal-Bhopalpatnam- Sukma - Dantewada - Jagdalpur route which is even more Naxal infested. Will follow the route as suggested. Thanks Arb and Sommos.[/QUOTE

I have used the route Hyderabad - Nagpur- Rajnandgaon - Raipur.
On the return I tried a different route to visit Chitrakote falls and Dolkal Ganesha.

Raipur - Dhamtari is four laned

Dhamtari - Kanker is the regular dual lane highway in good condition.
Kanker - Kondagaon - Besoli The roads are in good condition. Kanker to Keshkal there is a ghat section roads are average. Luckily no traffic jam due to the lorry traffic.

Besoli _ Chitrakote - Narayanpal good roads throughout.

Chitrakote waterfall - Sanwgel - Barsur - Geedam .Single road in good condition goes through the forest with scenic views very sparse traffic .

Geedam -Dantewada - Faraspal Single road throughout good condition .
From Faraspal the trek to Dolkal Ganesha it takes about 2 hrs for the climb and 2 hrs to come down the trekking path.

Faraspal- Bijapur - Bhopalpatnam- Eturnagaram Excellent dual lane highway in excellent condition and very sparse traffic.The road between Bhopalpatnam and Eturnagaram passes just adjacent to Godavari river and very scenic.
This stretch of route best done during the day . No facilities enroute except for the major towns.

Eturnagaram - Mallampalle - Atmakur . The initial stretch is two laned but without shoulders and crosses through forest.

Atmakur - Warangal - Hyderabad is four laned throughout .Warangal town has a bypass.

[Asoon]

Originally Posted by Yoshowant

Hi BHPians,
I need to travel to Raipur this November last week from Hyderabad. I am planning to take the following route:
Hyderabad - Ramagundam- Gadchiroli - Balod Raipur.
Any idea about how the road conditions are around Gadchiroli and further in Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.
Look forward to your suggestions.

Yoshowant

Avoid Gadchiroli route if you plan to travel overnight, it takes 45 mins lesser than the other route (via adilabad). I did Hyderabad to Bhilai overnight (8 PM to 8 AM) last year, road is great till Telangana border but as you enter the Maharashtra & CG surrounding feels remote with no 24hr petrol pump (it took me 3 hrs to find one), plus it is a naxal belt (Gadchiroli)

I would recommend Hyd - Nizamabad - Adilabad - Bhandara Road (outer) - Deori - Rajnandgaon - Raipur

[gauravdgr8]

I recently did Hyd-Raipur. Stick to the usual Nagpur route. Takes around 12 hours. The stretch between Adilabad and Hinganghat has been patched up and not so bad. Taking the Gadchiroli route is an absolute NO due to Naxal activities.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

I recently did Hyd-Raipur. Stick to the usual Nagpur route. Takes around 12 hours. The stretch between Adilabad and Hinganghat has been patched up and not so bad. Taking the Gadchiroli route is an absolute NO due to Naxal activities.

I was reading about more expressways coming this region. I see there is a Raipur-Hyderabad expressway being planned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raipur...bad_Expressway


Instead of Nagpur, it will be : Raipur-Rajnandgaon (Exit 53 here) - Gadchiroli- Mancherial-Karimnagar-Hyderabad.

The plan is to update the AP SH1 from Hyderabad to Karimnagar to an expressway.

Mancherial is also the cross point for Nagpur-Vijayawada expressway. So hopefully we get a good crisscross of road options!

Now it remains to be seen when this will all come to life!

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by Yoshowant

I need to travel to Raipur this November last week from Hyderabad

I guess you would have been done with your drive by now but here is another good option:

Hyderabad - Warangal - Eturnagaram - Bhopalpatnam - Bijapur - Geedam - Jagdalpur - Kanker - Raipur. I did this route in Dec 2022 and it was fabulous with good roads most of the way and lovely forest stretches. However, please plan to do it during daylight as some stretches could get really desolate. I would do it in 2 legs, ideal halt being Jagdalpur.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

. However, please plan to do it during daylight as some stretches could get really desolate. I would do it in 2 legs, ideal halt being Jagdalpur.

Is this route, safe?


Planning on a bike ride with my friend to Jagdalpur in a couple of days and the route under consideration was the longer one via Khammam.

But the desolate forest part is making this sound a lot more tempting.

[Yoshowant]

Thank you all.

I did Hyderabad -Mancherial - Mul - Chandrapur - Gadchiroli - Rajnandgaon - Raipur while going. While coming I was trapped by Google to travel in the Sirpur -Kagaznagar route to reach Mancherial and believe me it was pathetic. On this route, there is river on the border of Telangana and Maharashtra and the route on either sides are kaccha with many potholes.

Having said that, I must mention that the NH part in Telangana and Chattisgarh are very good while the road condition in Maharashtra especially around Nagpur and Bhandara are of poor quality.

@cool_dube the Jagdalpur Warangal route is even worse as I had enquired and also on my travel date, there was an encounter between Naxals and Telangana Police in the Mulugu forest near Eturunagaram.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by Yoshowant

I did Hyderabad -Mancherial - Mul - Chandrapur - Gadchiroli - Rajnandgaon - Raipur while going. While coming I was trapped by Google to travel in the Sirpur -Kagaznagar route to reach Mancherial and believe me it was pathetic. On this route, there is river on the border of Telangana and Maharashtra and the route on either sides are kaccha with many potholes.

Do you still think this was worth avoiding the Nagpur route?

@cool_dube the Jagdalpur Warangal route is even worse as I had enquired and also on my travel date, there was an encounter between Naxals and Telangana Police in the Mulugu forest near Eturunagaram.

I remember the roads to be quite good for the most part, as of 2 years back. As for the encounter, that is a known risk one has to factor in while venturing into sensitive areas like these. When I was visiting Kashmir in 2016, there was a bomb blast on the exact same route I was about to take an hour later Anyways, good to know you had a safe drive.

Originally Posted by bblost

Is this route, safe?

Well, I guess you got your answer above Better stick to the Khammam - Bhadrachalam - Sukma route, then.