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-   -   Delhi-Mumbai expressway to reduce travel time by 12 hours (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/197792-delhi-mumbai-expressway-reduce-travel-time-12-hours-11.html)

When I said speed cameras were not working, I meant that they were not working at all as they did not show any speed when I crossed them.

Regarding lesser speed, I did not point it out as error but just an observation that unlike usual 5 km/h, it was just a difference of 2 km/h. I know that speedometers usually show more than actual speed.

Cheers

Attaching some screenshots from dashcam video -illegal stops and wrong side driving.

I recently travelled towards nainital from haridwar route. And the one thing that came to my observation were. Great roads but not great drivers on that road. Even i encountered this ,truckers driving on wrong side in fast . I don’t see the problem fixing itself and the drivers valuing lives on the road. The core problem is lacklustre license registration office. If driving license are issues right with good guidelines and tests. Much of this shall reduce to an extent and later good enforcement along with it.

I completely agree with your point, too many hard undulations on a brand-new expressway. I drove from Delhi to Jaipur in Jan’24. Quality checks at MoT, NHAI or whichever agency is responsible for this expressway are fictional. A road like this is built to last for decades, but looking at its present state, they will probably have to overhaul it in a matter of years.

On the way to Jaipur, after about an hour into our drive, we went over a huge dip in the middle of the road. You know how these things aren’t visible from a distance unlike a pothole. To convey the intensity of this undulation – I was driving under 120 kmph in an S450, which as you know has air suspension. It was so bad, that my daughter and I felt brief pain in our necks and backs due to this jerk. The car nearly went up in the air! I wonder what might have happened if we were going faster - geronimo :uncontrol

It is crazy how road contractors (Thekedar as they are colloquially called and aptly should still be called) pretend to do business as usual, as if they are clueless to what a flat road looks like.

On the aspect of pit-stops, we saw plenty of them operational on the way to Jaipur. At the two places where we stopped for a break, the overall experience was good.

I am a frequent traveler on this route having traveled at least 10 times in the last one year the most recent being the last week of January. It is rightly observed that the surface is not flat but there are undulations and are more felt when you are on high speed. My relative who travelled last week to Noida was also saying the same thing. I think they have to work on this.

Connectivity with Jaipur is quite good provided you do not have to go to other part of Jaipur crossing the whole city. There are two good news on this front - first direct connectivity from expressway to Jaipur is in progress and likely to be commenced soon. This will bypass the dausa route and connect jaipur directly to the expressway. second one is that a new project has been sanctioned as recently as day before yesterday when gadkari ji was on rajasthan trip connecting the old delhi route to this new route. This will connect Chomp area (where the new cricket stadium is being built) with the above artery mentioned in the first point. If you go on the older route to delhi and noida, it is guaranteed to take 6-7 hours. However, through expressway, the time shrinks to 4-4.30 hours. I experimented once and swore never to take the old route.

The food joints, petrol pumps and rest areas are slowly opening up and now you have lot of choices to rest. washrooms can be a lot better and bigger. There are also dedicated places for truck drivers and their dhabas but even though we have a full fledged canteen in our offices, we still go to the chaiwala on the road. So, this old habit of stopping and taking food from unauthorized places which mushroom near the expressway may continue. I did complain on 1033 once and they said that they have forwarded the complaint to the nearest toll plaza.

The wrong side of trucks may be due to the construction of the new artery between jaipur and expressway. The intersection is being built and maybe these stupid drivers out of habit drove the wrong way. I fully agree that lane discipline by truck drivers is sorely missing. they occupy all lanes. NHAI should enforce this.

The expressway has been a boon and you only realize it if you take the older road.

The wrong side driving is so dangerous. The broad highways are so tempting. Beautiful roads:thumbs up

During design phase, the settlement and consolidation of soil sub-grade is estimated based on soil characteristics taken on regular distance intervals. But this is not perfect method and sufficient time and compacting is required to ensure proper consolidation of substrate layers.

The undulations happen when time targets are planned/ pushed beyond practical limits. I understand the need of finishing projects on-time / minimizing delays. But it is very important to allow for proper consolidation.

From what I have seen, DME is not the first to have these issues. Both eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) and Western Peripheral Expressway (KMP), NH44 (Delhi to Panipat) have these flaws. EPE is worst of the three. Very difficult to drive even at 80kmph.

In the race to have higher route km of highways, the quality is being compromised and public money wasted.

Good News!
Google maps is now showing the NE4 open till Kushtala Toll Plaza close to Sawai Madhopur (or Jati sati Hanuman mandir if you want to search on google maps).

If you are headed to Kota from Delhi/Gurgaon, it will be a 100km stretch from NE4 to join NH52 taking approx 1.5hrs. Overall this will save 20mins and 3-4Km compared the taking the Lalsot-Kothun-Niwai-Kota route and you will avoid heavy vehicles on NH-52 for a little while more at the cost of absent highway facilities on the new NE4 stretch.

Let us know your experiences if you have driven this stretch.

Great! Does that mean the Lalsot-Kushtala stretch of DME is complete and officially open now?

I had driven on this stretch 10 months ago, and it was 80% complete then, and not officially open.

Yes virtually inaugurated on Feb 16th by PM Modi.

I am planning to use NE 4 to drive back to Delhi from Ambaji, Gujarat at the end of this month. From where can I climb on to NE 4 ? Kushtala toll plaza ? Tried using Gmaps but can't make sense of it. Has someone used it recently from Sawai Madhopur ?

I drove back to Delhi from Ambaji yesterday morning. Started at 11 and traveled Via Udaipur (Bypass), Bhilwara (Bypass), Shahpura (center of town), Jahazpur (bypass) and finally climbed on to NE 4 at Lalsot. Except for 75 odd kms of bad road after Shahpura the road conditions were very good. I wanted to avoid Jaipur bypass and the road to Dausa hence chose this route. Google maps also showed this as the shortest and fastest route to Delhi. Was on Sohna road at 11 PM. So 12 hrs with two breaks of app 1 hr in total.

Vadodara to Delhi by NE4 - as of 01 Apr 2024

It’s been nearly six months since the Prime Minister formally inaugurated the Delhi - Vadodara section of NE4. The news reports at that time claimed a travel time of 10 hrs from Vadodara to Delhi. So when I needed to travel to Delhi in first week of April 2024, I decided to travel by car. I had travelled in Delhi Vadodara sector in August of 2023 and at that time only the Delhi Sawai Madhopur sector was open to traffic. Thereafter I travelled via Udaipur - Ahmedabad - NE1 to Vadodara.

I soon realized from Google Maps and internet updates that the expressway is not fully open in Vadodara - Delhi sector even after five months of its inauguration. NE4 access from Vadodara side is only at the Thandla interchange, which is over 200 km from Vadodara. What more, I didn’t get a clear input on how to reach Thandla interchange. So I decided to find out how long would it take to reach Delhi from Vadodara by the NE4 now.

I set out from Vadodara at 4AM on 1st April 2024 for Delhi. I used the excellent MAPPLS app from MapMyIndia for navigation, with Google Maps also running on the background as a back up since neither is accurate enough under the fast changing route conditions.

It took me 3 hrs 30 min to cover 200 km to reach NE4 entry at Thandla Interchange by SH87, SH5 and NH47. Google Maps is not accurate in this sector and doesn’t guide correctly through NH47. So I relied on the accurate MAPPLS.



NE4 is closed on both carriageways towards Vadodara at Thandla Interchange.



From Thandla to Neemuch Exit NE4 is open. It took me two hours to cover the 200 km stretch keeping within the 120km speed limit.


NE4 is closed beyond Neemuch Exit towards Kota and one needs to exit near Bhanpura Interchange.

Neemuch exit and further directions to Kota Bypass was not correctly indicated in MAPPLS. Google Maps however guided me correctly through some horrible MP state roads onto the excellent NH52.





After negotiating these country roads you get a free run through the not so busy NH52, NH148D and NH552 all the way till NE4 entry short of Sawai Madhopur. This was longest stretch of my journey and took close to 4 hrs to cover about 250km. Elections related police checking enroute added to the travel time.



I got access to NE4 again near Sawai Madhopur. The Kushtala toll plaza is closed for collection as of now. So while NE4 is complete from this point all the way till Delhi, you are made to exit at Lalsot and re-enter NE4 after paying toll there. I covered the 300 km NE4 sector in about three hours.

I reached Delhi suburbs by 5:45pm after a good 14 hrs from Vadodara start. I was then absorbed into Delhi evening traffic and spat out onto NE3 after a two hour struggle to cross 40km.

So the Delhi - Vadodara Expressway inaugurated in October 2023 is still incomplete and only a 200 km stretch in MP is operational as of now apart from the Delhi Sawai Madhopur sector thrown open earlier. Of the 1000 km distance from Vadodara to Delhi, a little over 500km is on NE4. The wait continues…

Am not sure where you read Delhi-Baroda is open. Only the 240 km MP stretch was open in October and more recently Bharuch-Baroda.

The sections around Kota were long said to be completed only in December 2024.

How are the connecting roads from Godhra-Dahod to Thandla?

Ideally you can take the Jhalawar-Jaipur bypass-Lalsot. It takes about the same time even though it is much longer. The only catch it is much more busy around Jaipur bypass.

You must have joined NH52 at Udpura. There is one more connecting to Jhalawar bypass which is better.

You are right about the sections actually open October last year. But it was all over news at the time of inauguration on 2 October last year that expressway section upto Vadodara is open and even today these news articles show up in Google search. So I expected better after six months.

https://www.news18.com/india/delhi-v...h-8599953.html

https://www.timesnownews.com/delhi/d...icle-104122452

It certainly looks like that from the ongoing work that I could see.


I took NH47 from Godhra to Dahod and a State Highway to Thandla via Meghnagar. Roads were good with some morning traffic around Thandla.
Jhabua Thandla road was particularly well surfaced; but this route does not show up in Google Maps. See pic below:



You are right. I joined at Udpura going by Google Maps. I will take the Jhalawar bypass on my return leg. Thanks for the input.