[SmartCat]

Delhi to Patna by road in 11 hours flat
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/61600365.cms

Four new projects will be executed to implement this vision. The road transport and highways ministry has offered to build and fund an expressway connecting Patna with the second project, a 350-km long Purvanchal Expressway that will connect Lucknow to Ghazipur. At present the road journey via a national highway from Lucknow to Patna itself takes about 11 hours.

This particular stretch - Lucknow to Patna - why does it take 11 hours to cover 500 something kms?

[Shreyans_Jain]

1100km in 11 hours => 100kmph average speed

They'll make mega roads at massive financial and environmental costs. They'll make all kinds of blunders in the design. They'll start collecting obscene amounts as toll well before the project is actually complete. And then they'll impose 80-100kmph speed limits.

Its just good business. Good luck to all of us!

[laluks]

For the Mahakumbh in 2013, I traveled by Air to Delhi and took my BILs Aveo and started to Allahabad by 12:00noon. We reached Allahabad by 21:00 hours with an hours stop for lunch en route. That was approx 670Kms and 8 hours in 2013. Another 300Kms would have taken probably 4 hours plus.

You can read on that trip here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-2013-a-6.html

So I am not sure with this 11 hours in 2017. Is the road congested these days? We could do good times due to Yamuna express way, which was just opened. Was saner then, now have no idea

[saket77]

Sorry to say but with some of my frequent travelling experience in this region, it is highly stupid to assume that one can achieve 100 km average speed on these roads. However good the road surface, however broad the road themselves are, you will always find a loaded tractor, overloaded auto-rickshaws, small village kids on cycles, weekly haat
bazarbeside these roads, two-wheelers carrying 3 and more people, and all these coming from wrong sides in your lane.

Add open illogical median intersections frequently. And then, my friends, driving at 100+ KMPH continuously in these conditions requires not only courage but a certain level of insanity too. I am telling this with my experience with the much famed GT Road or NH-2, which most TBHPians of this region including those of Kolkata are themselves well aware of.

Though, there are some real fast roads in this region where you can expect things to be much saner, and that is mostly because majority of the road goes through forests and ghat regions and hence devoid of such nuisances. But near the plains, where agriculture is the main source of income for the residents, you expect things like above.

[BoneCollector]

Well, I can only say it's wishful thinking until and unless they plan to make this as an access control road with high fencing on both sides. I recently did a Muzaffarpur to Gurgaon trip via NH28 and Lucknow Agra Expressway - Yamuna Expressway in 2 days with total time taken around 15 and half hours. During return leg, maximum time taken was from Gorakhpur to Muzaffarpur due to haphazard traffic. I couldn't go over 80kmph anywhere. A friend of mine came from Noida during Diwali in 15 hours with a stop over of 1 hour in between. Moreover, with speed limits set at 80-100kmph on our expressways, I wonder how is this feat achievable.

[benu9714]

"it is highly stupid to assume that one can achieve 100 km average speed"

I totally agree.

I have driven over 12,000 KM on the new highways. Even on the best, wide, multi-lane stretches there is always some idiot on a bike coming at you from the wrong direction, one over-loaded truck overtaking another with a speed differential of 1 KMPH, etc. As a result you keep speeding up to 120, then slowing down to 70, and back up again. Your average is 80 KMPH at best, and it is inefficient (and stressful) to keep accelerating and braking in this way. Hence a steady 80-90 KMPH is more relaxed and also more efficient.

Only on the Allahabad Expressway in its very early days (Dec 2011), when there was hardly any traffic, I could do 120 KMPH un-disturbed, but I dared not go faster in my little i10 !!

[Sheel]

We already have very good roads from Muzaffarpur [till Guwahati & further] in form of the E-W corridor.

The thing is, people still don't know how to drive/ride/walk and use the streets. So many travelers come to Purnia ]on way to NE] from North side and most do the Lucknow - Purnia in 11/12 hours, a distance of 800 kilometers, which is pretty good in my opinion.

If the approach & departure of all bridges are even, if the Gopalgunj sector is repaired, I do see at least an hour or more saved. And just by improving on what we already have.

It is about priorities and how we see it.

[HKap]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

1100km in 11 hours => 100kmph average speed

They'll make mega roads at massive financial and environmental costs. They'll make all kinds of blunders in the design. They'll start collecting obscene amounts as toll well before the project is actually complete. And then they'll impose 80-100kmph speed limits.

Its just good business. Good luck to all of us!

Hopefully they will design the entry and exit points well to ensure there are no bottlenecks. The speed limits on most highways worldwide is around the 100-120kmph mark. Germany also has a large part of their highways limited to 120kmph. The US has a 70mph or 75mph limit for the most part. Here in Canada the speed limit in Ontario is 100kmph (campaign on to increase this to 120-130) but BC seems to be at 120kmph and a couple of other states at 110.

80kmph is pretty dumb. 100kmph is sort of ok for our highways given the state of most heavy vehicles and the safety features on most vehicles. I think we should see a gradual increase in speed limits once the cars are also upto the mark!

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by Sheel

The thing is, people still don't know how to drive/ride/walk and use the streets. So many travelers come to Purnia ]on way to NE] from North side and most do the Lucknow - Purnia in 11/12 hours, a distance of 800 kilometers, which is pretty good in my opinion.

Very true. People don't know how to drive even inside a city. For people, if they're able to drive, as in move a vehicle from point A to B, they think they can go anywhere in the world. Stupid road manners, bordering on to insanity is what one sees on roads.

If the approach & departure of all bridges are even, if the Gopalgunj sector is repaired, I do see at least an hour or more saved. And just by improving on what we already have.

It is about priorities and how we see it.

The Gopalganj sector will be a problem, as will be the stretch from Pipra to Gopalganj. The bridge over Gandak is not being made. One of the pillars sank a few feet damaging the span over it and work was suspended. That bridge has been in same shape since last 6 years, I wonder when it'll be done. Within Gopalganj city also, too much work is pending. If the roads from Pipra to UP border are improved, then Delhi/NCR would be 15 hours at the most from here.

[deehunk]

It is just another project for party fund collection, when will our administrators realize the importance of money and environment. The vision should have been to improve train connectivity and move slowly towards reducing truck traffic on highways.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by smartcat

This particular stretch - Lucknow to Patna - why does it take 11 hours to cover 500 something kms?

The most densest state when it comes to vehicular population. That is the primary reason.

Then comes the time taken to cross certain towns and cities even with a bypass - Well, one will need to define bypass here.

It my not relate to this stretch being referred to but in general, every time I have driven on UP Roads, I realised that crossing towns enroute was the most time consuming (and "eyes wide open") task. You've just got too many vehicles coming from all directions on a dual carriageway road.

Doing Delhi - Agra without the Yamuna Expressway and doing it with the Expressway - Massive difference because of the way it bypassed the major cities (Mathura) in a jiffy.

Last but not the least - The kind of freight traffic we witness around this region simply doesn't compare with everyday highways - Most heading towards western and north eastern states including big daddy - Kolkata.

I would always welcome expressways - They are a huge boon to both regular as well as tourist vehicles in all aspects.

[Wanderers]

In Bihar and Eastern U.P. its more about people on the road than the quality of road itself.
My Delhi-Patna journey can be divided into two parts.

Delhi (Noida) - Allahabad (End of Allahabad bypass)- 700 KM.
For me it takes less than 7.5 hours in a Endeavour with a fuel break (15 Min)
Average Speed: 90-95 Kmh

Allahabad- Patna-325 KM
It takes minimum 7.5 hours and can go up to 9 hours incase of heavy traffic before and after Varanasi.
Average Speed: 35-45 kmh.

You can see that as long as you are on GQ/NH things are pretty good, otherwise people actually live on the road in Bihar. Huts, tea stalls, bazaars, bus/auto stops, cycle repair shop, sweet shop and others extend all the way on the road. Sometime you may have to ask tea shop to shift their bench to cross a truck approaching from the other side.
In winter roads are also used for drying wheat before sending to mills.

So any road promising 100 kmh average in Bihar as well as eastern U.P needs to be elevated or closed like other expressways.