[2himanshu]

Me cycling on Mumbai-Nagpur Highway a couple of days backs. Many sections are doing good progress though almost all the bridges are not yet complete.

The photo is from Washim district.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by scorpio2107

I agree. Being from Kerala my mind was blown looking at the infrastructure in the North. The roads are horrible in Kerala and it takes 10+ years to finish any kind of road widening. Its great to know that at least some parts of our country are developing really fast. Can only hope to see some good roads here in Kerala in the future

That's because, the population in other states are concentrated in major towns and the rest of the place is devoid of anything major. Thus land is very cheap and it's easy to acquire and begin work in a very short span of time.

In contrast, Kerala can be considered as one big urbanized town with houses and commercial establishments across the highway. Thus, land is relatively far more expensive and acquisition process is complex and takes a long time.

[RahuKetu]

Originally Posted by swarnava.ch

However something to point out here would be the cost of travel on this expressway has to be economic.
Case in point would be the Yamuna expressway on which I had travelled 2 years back and it costed a bomb.
If I remember correctly somewhere around 600 rs or something which is quite high.
So I would like to see reasonable toll for these roads to encourage usage given that alternates are always available and to motivate trucks and heavy vehicles to use these.

Toll is a big concern for all commuters. We know tolls have to be paid to get good roads but uniformity & affordability has to be there. One Rs./KM for cars seems good to me but it all depends on constructiion cost & internal rate of returns. I remember Nitin Gadkari's statement in parliament nearly a year ago that budget allotted to his department was INR 78000 Cr while work is going on for INR 8 Lac Crores of highways. He has done a brilliant job by adopting different funding models for different projects. It is also planned to have electric lanes for trucks on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

[AMG Power]

The first thought that struck me when I saw this thread was - so many projects and NOT a single one proposed in the south?

Looks like whoever plans all of this has a highly skewed view on infrastructure development.

Land acquisition and similar excuses are just that - excuses.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

NOT a single one proposed in the south?

I was thinking the exact same thing. Fortunately, down south overall highway infra is comparatively better (atleast in TN and most parts of Karnataka, with the exception ok KL), my favourite stretch being Blr <---> Kanyakumari, Blr <---> Hyd, Blr <--> Chennai/Pondicherry. Everytime I took my parents on a long road trip down south, they used to comment how good the NH and even state-highways are compared to up north especially east side of India.

Coming to the OT, we need to enforce the highway traffic laws far more strictly than now to take advantage of the new roads and ensure safety. Even in western countries with freeways, you'll get a $1000 fine for littering and much more for over-speeding. Also, cops stay hidden in the shadows and starts trailing before you can even spot them. Fear of tactics like these automatically makes people think twice before flouting rules.
Here too we should impose strict penalties to increase the safety on these high-speed expressways until ensuring safety becomes a habit among people.

[driven646]

Informative thread, the work done on highways in the last 5 odd years has been phenomenal in my state of Himachal Pradesh too.

Half of the 4 laning work on the Chandigarh - Shimla highway is nearly done, delayed greatly due to massive landslides every monsoon.

The four laning work on the Mandi to Manali stretch is proceeding very well, with the Pandoh Aut stretch being an engineering marvel with elevated highways and numerous tunnels. The 2 lane broad shoulder work on the NH between Kullu and Manali is complete and it's a superb drive now with flyovers zooming over all bottlenecks.

Unfortunately, the Nerchowk highway project which would have cut down the Chandigarh - Manali travel time to 5 hours has been in a limbo since 2013 with about 60% work done - it was being executed by the now bankrupt ILFS and there seems to be no resolution in sight.

Several highways in Bilaspur, Kangra and Chamba too are being widened and modernized.

I estimate that in the next 2 years, HP will have world class highways that will be every motor enthusiasts dream.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by 2himanshu

Attachment 2025544

Me cycling on Mumbai-Nagpur Highway a couple of days backs. Many sections are doing good progress though almost all the bridges are not yet complete.

The photo is from Washim district.

Why am I not seeing the horizontal grating marks on the concrete? It's supposed to be effective in preventing skidding upon braking.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by bsdbsd

Good to know. The roads in Karnataka are in a very bad shape. Yesterday I went out on Kanakapura Road (which is supposed to be a national highway), and I just traveled 16 kms (10 miles) and every metre of the road is in a shabby shape. I cant for the life of me understand that the govt can not have even 10-20 kms of highway in a reasonable shape. War torn countries have better roads. Potholes, 10's of speed breakers, intersections every km, shops that are setup on the road itself, parked vehicles, no road surface at many places, trash strewn everywhere in the roadside...In summary, its not even 3rd world. Even villages in sub saharan Africa will surely have better roads. In 2020, no civilized country can exist like this. Indian roads are the worst of the worst. Sorry.

Kanakapura Rd 4-laning was started by NHAI in all earnest 2 years ago, but as suddenly as they started it they seemed to have stopped it equally suddenly about a year ago. Dunno why.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

The first thought that struck me when I saw this thread was - so many projects and NOT a single one proposed in the south?

Looks like whoever plans all of this has a highly skewed view on infrastructure development.

Land acquisition and similar excuses are just that - excuses.

Exactly the point made by me here: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threa...post-168705618

It's frustrating to see there CG think that India ends with MH!

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

The first thought that struck me when I saw this thread was - so many projects and NOT a single one proposed in the south?

Looks like whoever plans all of this has a highly skewed view on infrastructure development.

Land acquisition and similar excuses are just that - excuses.

What was done with N-S corridor and golden quadrilateral project in early part of century is being tried now in hinterlands.

As I see its a catching up game for the regions left behind. Currently highways in regions such as Chambal divison, Bundellhand and Purvanchal are almost dirt tracks.

[ArjunPadmakumar]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

I don't understand why there are no major expressway projects coming up in the South. Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad - some of the most important cities in the country which aren't that far apart are still not connected by any expressway. And as far as I've heard, there are no plans to connect them either.

Its true that most southern areas are/have been neglected for long,but There is a lot of myth in it.The main issue in the south, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala is because it takes forever for projects to go from proposed to under construction. Some Huge proposals have been proposed for South India, Salem Expressway in Tamil Nadu(A 8 lane 60M right of width) from Chennai to Salem has been strongly opposed by farmers(who dont want private intervention) and opportunistic politicians for their own interests.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le31769740.ece

As for Hyderabad, the city was the first to get a modern Ring road 158km Nehru Outer ring road way before any other city in 2011.



The current government will surely expand the network and AFAIK NHAI 6 laning works are pretty satisfactory in the state of Telengana. There is also a Regional Ring Road, a proposed secondary ring road around the city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is a 6 lane, 330-kilometre-long road, planned on strengthening the existing road network and by adding new stretches wherever linkages were found missing.

Similarly Vijayawada is preparing an outer ring road of 184km,although the speed of construction is a shame.

Regarding Bangalore yap the roads in and around the city need a huge sprucing up big time, with the exception of a few roads planned like the Bangalore peripheral ring road and up-gradation of the roads undertaken by Nandi Infra.

With respect to Kerala,its the sheer density of people in the state as well as an unenthusiastic government responsible for the sorry state of affairs in my home state.However when there is a will, it is definitely possible as seen in the NH66 works in the state of Goa,( please check Moralfibres thread)

I am not Blaming the Government but lack of commitment to Infrastructure is clearly seen in the south even today,during a Kochi-Bangalore drive we can see the sad state of Kuthiran tunnels even after 3-4 years when 95% of work is done, a similar problem is in the scary narrow L and T bypass which despite the years and increasing traffic due to legal roadblocks as the stretch is under the control of L and T. A similar issue is seen in Wayanad highway where some folks unreasonably oppose an Infrastructure Project in the name of the environment even when it has been proved that the project actually helps the environment in the long run.Thankfully this particular project has been given the green light.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le31584270.ece

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nati...ks-greens.html

[2himanshu]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Why am I not seeing the horizontal grating marks on the concrete? It's supposed to be effective in preventing skidding upon braking.

The work is in progress, the gratings are present in some other finished parts of the road.

[shashankjain16]

Here are a couple of proposed/on-going major expressway projects in South India:

Bangalore-Chennai Expressway
262km long, green-field expressway
8 lanes
Cut down travel time between two cities to 4.5 hours
Last news was in February when work on it was to begin soon

Salem-Chennai Expressway
277 km long green-field
6 lanes
Will cut down travel time between two cities by nearly 3 hours
90% land acquisition had been done by December 2018

However, in both the projects, I can see that local governments and courts are posing hindrances in the progress of the projects. For example, Madras High Court had scrapped land acquisitions for Salen-Chennai Expressway and now Centre has moved to Supreme court: https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le31783006.ece

Same is for Bangalore-Chennai expressway which was proposed over a decade ago but will only begin work now: https://www.financialexpress.com/inf...tails/1862705/

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Kanakapura Rd 4-laning was started by NHAI in all earnest 2 years ago, but as suddenly as they started it they seemed to have stopped it equally suddenly about a year ago. Dunno why.

Nobody knows why. After sri sri Ravishankar Ashram, I saw a total of 250 meters (you read it right - 0.25kms) have been widened on one side and as usual the traffic is flowing in the wrong direction with buses bearing down on you at you at 80kms/hr (no concepts of brakes etc). Every farmer from the surrounding village has setup roadside stalls. The chaos and mess is unbelievable. At this rate and at this attitude, not even in 100 years even 50 kms will be ready. I dont know how the powers-that-be can sleep in the night. I am ashamed to be an Indian. Its a zombieland out there. Sorry for my repeated rant.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by driven646

Half of the 4 laning work on the Chandigarh - Shimla highway is nearly done, delayed greatly due to massive landslides every monsoon.

That stretch has been in WIP more forever it seems. Other stretches have progressed way faster than this one I suppose.

Originally Posted by driven646

The four laning work on the Mandi to Manali stretch is proceeding very well, with the Pandoh Aut stretch being an engineering marvel with elevated highways and numerous tunnels.

Agree to this 100%. Saw this last year during my bike ride and my god, those tunnels are a master piece of engineering for us Indians for sure. Once done, this will be a world class road to drive on