[narayans80]

Among the states I've visited:

1. Gujarat probably will lead the way. Has pretty much the entire tourist circuit covered with 4-laned roads. If I really have to nitpick, Dholavira doesn't have good roads. Porbandar-Dwarka 4-laning that was happening in 2019 has been done up last year. Out of the 4000 odd km I travelled in the state, very less roads to complain about.

2. TN: Barring delta districts which get secondary treatment. Rest of the state has the basic 2-lane connectivity sorted. Got to be among the slowest state in terms of road expansion.

3. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh: Both states have pulled up the socks in the last decade or so. The NHs have been made future ready, the KA section of the trucking corridor is mostly done. The Bellary-Hubli and KA sections of the trucking corridor are the long pending corridors.

On the other end of the spectrum, Maharashtra would be there. Roads only exist in the western end of the state. Even in that, the state maintained roads are just awful at maintenance. 2 huge metropolis and none have a bypass thought out. And its not like the state is poor. For now Solapur-Aurangabad is great, god knows how long its going to last.

Kerala - Easily the cursed state in terms of road development. Bypasses take a lifetime to complete, I remember Alapuzha and Kottayam bypass took 40 and 50 years respectively. The state has no urban-rural divide and the traffic is going to be ever increasing. At some point, the roads are just not going to handle the traffic.

Have not personally driven Rajasthan or expressway land UP, so can't comment.

As condor said, it would be useful to make this as a checkbox poll instead of radio button.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Even the newly completed Chitradurga-Hampi expressway (NH50) is really awesome! Neither Chitradurga nor Hampi are Tier 1 cities, and yet they have such awesome highway connecting them.

Its part of the prime North-South freight corridor. Chitradurga-Hospet-Bijapur-Solapur. Solapur-Aurangabad-Kannad-Dhule. Tembhurni-Karmala-Nagar-Shirdi-Malegaon are all part of it.

[ruzbehxyz]

I have not voted for any state as I am unsure of the current situation. However I am sure that in the upcoming years Uttar Pradesh will have the best highways.

Here's the link: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...pressways.html (Uttar Pradesh: The Land of Expressways)

[livelyyoungman]

I voted for TN. Some of the best roads are in this state. Have travelled in the five southern states as well as MH. TN has the best among the mentioned states. KL highways are with signals, too narrow and full of road rage. Always hated to drive in the state of KL. TS, AP, KA are kind of Ok.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Voted for TN.

People who wonder what use is cruise control in the Indian context - should really try the Kanyakumari highway, especially south of Madurai.

While this holds extremely good for the particular stretch, there are other factors that greatly aid: Demographics, Industries, Population Density, Urbanization, Density of Freight traffic, Facilities alongside the highway.

There are certainly few more such stretches that have the cruise control ability due to the above factors. However, there are sections across the length and breadth of our country where the road quality is equally good but the driving experience takes a backseat because of too many vehicles, urbanization and industries. Hence, if we are talking about best highways in India, we should really talk about both - Surface and Highway Infrastructure and Driving experience, the latter which is not hunky dory for many states that may still have good roads.

I would certainly vote TN to have the best roads because even their State highways are immensely well maintained and are bliss to drive.

Again, like Dr. AD has put, Karnataka in the past decade has really caught up with the rest of the states with massive improvement when it comes to state highways.

Gujarat was always known to have the best road infrastructure since many decades but Rajasthan is another state that is known to have at least one alternate road connecting 2 cities which is equally good. A state to have a good density of National Highways too.

Maharashtra on the other hand is a mixed bag - Their state highways are not always well maintained. Incidentally, the National Highways too aren't greatly maintained - Except say Mumbai- Nashik, Pune-Sholapur or the runway called Aurangabad - Sholapur. To top it all, it is extremely rare to find a belter stretch in Maharashtra unless you are driving odd hours because this state has the 2nd highest vehicular population in India. But good sections are certainly there and when you compare them with the sheer size of the state and it's road network, you know it cannot occupy the top spot when it comes to best roads. Thanks to 2 mega projects - Delhi Mumbai Expressway and Mumbai Nagpur Expressway, the latter will certainly connect the large urban clusters all the way from Western MH to the East where the roads were never known to be good. Hence, in coming years it can really climb up that ladder.

The Heart of India, MP has it share of good roads now, a state that is soon getting there to have better (if not best) roads to drive and mostly underrated too.

UP of course is a land of expressways while their regular National Highways are not that bad to drive. Hence it is these expressways that remarkably influence the choice and why not?

[logicalidiot]

Did not vote for any state because I'm not familiar with the highways if you leave Kerala, Tamil Nadu & Karnataka out of the picture. Among these three states, I can surely say hands down that Tamil Nadu is the best. The fact that they have no speed breakers on the highways but only well placed barricades with a lot of reflectors at important junctions shows how sensible and well thought the concerned authority is. Other states need to learn from them!

Originally Posted by clevermax

I am surprised that Kerala has managed to bag three votes so far!

Originally Posted by narayans80

Kerala - Easily the cursed state in terms of road development.

Originally Posted by livelyyoungman

KL highways are with signals, too narrow and full of road rage. Always hated to drive in the state of KL.

I cannot agree more. Being from Kerala, even I'm surprised the state has got 3 votes, perhaps they voted by mistake?

A story which happened a couple of years back.
My brother was having tea at a small tea shop on National Highway 66 (passing through Kerala). A little later a long distance truck stopped by at the same place. It was in the evening and the truck driver looked exhausted after driving in the heavy traffic. Soon he came out and my brother casually got speaking to him. That's when the truck driver asked the question " How long is the national highway from here?". My brother chuckled a bit and when he told the guy that the road he is driving on is NH-66, the guy went bleak and refused to believe.

He was coming from the North and entered Kerala from Mangalore. He asked the question in vain after travelling about 130 kms on single lane roads. Apparently, he thought the road he was travelling is not National Highway and it is going to lead him there soon. Felt sad for him though!

[GTO]

Based on what I've seen, GJ definitely. In terms of road quality, traffic rules enforcement & overall behaviour of truck / bus drivers. Surprised to see TN leading the poll as I have driven there a few times and don't remember any standout quality. Maybe I wasn't on the right highways.

MH has some good highways & expressways now, but the overall quality is very inconsistent. As an example, Mumbai - Nashik used to be a dream road. But the last time I drove there, I bent 2 wheels on the innumerable potholes. They just don't maintain it well.

The worst highways I have seen are in Kerala. Kerala simply doesn't have those kind of wide expressways that make long-distance commuting stress-free.

[ph03n!x]

Salem - Coimbatore (150 KM), ~1.5 hours or less
Ulundurpet - Salem (140 KM), ~1.5 hours or less
Madurai - Kanyakumari (250 KM), forget the time, this road is bliss! Used to take 5 hours to Madurai from Nagercoil before this highway came into existence. Now 3 hours is too much
Bangalore Airport to Kurnool - This road has tolls at 100 KM (instead of the 50 KM in a most highways). About 300 KM, 3 hours is possible without much push. The only gripe is the rumblers and the odd speed breakers (have seen cars fly!)
Nellore - Ongole (130 KM), 1 hour is possible if you are adventurous
Hyderabad ORR - the most peaceful road to drive. Wish all highways get built on this model!

Others that are memorable - Mumbai-Pune. Yamuna Expressway.

Originally Posted by GTO

...
...Surprised to see TN leading the poll as I have driven there a few times and don't remember any standout quality. Maybe I wasn't on the right highways.
...
...

You should definitely come back

Even in a Thar, am able to do decent/ unmentionable speeds in stretches! And like someone said, cruise control is god-given in all the stretches I have listed!

[Rajeevraj]

Have driven extensively only in the south mainly KA, TN and KL. With respect to time to travel, TN I guess is the best. Pretty much all of the Tier 1,2,3 cities are well connected with 4/6 lane highways. Most state highways are also wide and well maintained. KA is also pretty good on both fronts. Have not driven much in AP and TL.

Was wondering on the votes for Kerala. While from a travel time and convenience perspective, Kerala has cursed roads. Even the small stretch that is a proper 4 lane highway is filled with traffic signals and low average speeds. Even today I drove a 50 km stretch between 2 towns. Nothing has changed for the last 25 years- Exactly the same road. And it is a National Highway. Road expansion projects are perennially stuck due to the population density and issues around it.

But whatever road exists, the quality is always good, roads are well marked, due to the terrain the roads are mostly fun to drive and scenic. Until the sheer volume of traffic on these small roads shut down all the good things.

[Chetan_Rao]

MP has made some terrific progress the last half decade or so. If one's going to MP from MH, the change in road quality when you cross over into MP is drastic enough be shocking.

[Geo_Ipe]

Definitely NOT Kerala!

However since we're looking for the best state, I'd vote for TN!
(Disclaimer: Have driven mainly in the Southern states only.)

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

MP has made some terrific progress the last half decade or so. If one's going to MP from MH, the change in road quality when you cross over into MP is drastic enough be shocking.

Agree. I do Thane-Indore and I know what you are referring to

However, from Nasik to Malegaon (and a bit further) MH is equally good. Its just that MH has become notorious for shoddy maintenance work. Only Tar roads are good in MH. All Concrete roads (NH or SH) are completely irregular and have too many undulations. I have not driven in many states and hence not voting here. But from what my friends tell me, TN is in lead, GJ and RJ have been leading since many years due to favorable weather conditions and AP is catching up.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by sunilch

...Malegaon (and a bit further) MH is equally good...

I love the Malegaon > Dhule and onwards stretch until the MP-MH border, including the winding ghat section (I forget the exact town names) on that route, with that fort atop the hill(?). Beautiful scenery.

The Pune > Shirdi > Kopargaon stretch is a nightmare (esp. Nagar bypass), though I haven't been that way for a few years now so it may have improved.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

MP has made some terrific progress the last half decade or so.

Agreed, we've done MP twice in last 2 years. Took the fantastic Indore-Jhabua-Godhra in 2019. Last year we did an MP trip and the only bad section (which we knew) was Bhopal-Betul. Even that I hear has vastly improved since that trip.

One perk of travelling north through MP is the traffic is much lesser compared to Gujarat.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

The Pune > Shirdi > Kopargaon stretch is a nightmare (esp. Nagar bypass), though I haven't been that way for a few years now so it may have improved.

Nagar bypass is good now. It was partially doable in 2018 and was smoothened end to end sometime before the lockdowns started. There was an update in June 2020 with pictures in the forum.

Pune-Nagar has generally been fine. Nagar-Rahuri-Shirdi was a disaster as of Dec 2020. Nagar-Aurangabad too is so-so and is a disaster waiting to happen. In general MH maintenance of NHs are poor, SHs are bad. And this is just the western 1/3rd of the state. Pune-Nasik is the prime example, the 4-laning barely 4 years old and has cracks allover the place. As on date, Solapur-Aurangbad and possibly Solapur-Pune which are still new are the best drives in MH.

[parathmaniraja]

Good to see tamilnadu at top in the list. I drove only in southern states, tamilnadu have better roads and new projects are coming in. Plan for expanding Chennai to Kanyakumari road from 4way to 8 way in pipeline. 9 hours drive from Chennai to Tirunelveli is breeze. The only problem is more number of tollgates. For 550 kms, toll charges are around 750 rs.

[iamitp]

Tamil Nadu is clearly leading this poll as of now. Coming to some of the very valid points raised in the preceding posts:

* Subjectivity of a social poll is inevitable with the nature of its conduct. Maybe we can try a social research experiment in the future with a strictly defined criteria.

* I think it's important to note that Team BHP membership might be higher in Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai compared to other cities partly, I repeat partly, contributing to the the tilt toward TN, GJ.

* Multiple choices would turn this into a poll on which States have better roads than others.