[vattyboy]

I recently travelled from Surat to Udaipur and decided to take the newly built Bharuch-Vadodara stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, which was inaugurated by PM Modi a few weeks ago. Here are some things to keep in mind if you plan to take this expressway:





1. To access this expressway, you must leave the regular Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway and take a left turn from Ankeleshwar from the underpass.

2. Once you've driven 30 km, you will enter this expressway.

3. The surface quality and smoothness of the expressway are decent and better than Samruddhi Mahamarg, which I drove on recently.

4. There is no traffic on this expressway. I set my cruise control to 120 km/h and only disengaged it when the expressway ended.

5. There is no toll for this expressway for now.

6. Although speed cameras are installed, they are not functional yet.

7. It's sad to see that local villagers were entering the expressway, riding bikes on the wrong side, taking photos, and even playing cricket at one spot. It seems to be a picnic destination for them. To ensure safety, I recommend avoiding the last left lane while driving.

8. This expressway ends and joins the 4-lane Vadodara-Ahmedabad expressway, 10 km ahead of Vadodara.

9. Due to the good speeds I maintained, it took me only one hour to travel 10 km ahead of Vadodara from Bharuch.

10. I reached Vadodara in 2.5 hours instead of continuing on the old Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway, which would have taken 3.5 hours.

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[Rohitthebest]

Awesome this is and looking forward to driving on this highway on my way back from Delhi / Ayodhya in June.

I would refrain from making videos of taking pictures while driving and would rather my DashCam do the same for me if no one is around.

Expressway looks amazing but I too found few Sugarcane Juice vendors when I entered this one last time from Delhi side, that was shocking.

[TorqueAddict007]

Originally Posted by yashg

Not sure if you are from India or have driven in India before, but OP is driving correctly as per Indian driving norms. The right most lane is for overtaking, the left most lane is for slowest vehicles and bikes. Trucks are also meant to be on the left.

This is what I do when driving on 3 lane expressways as well. Cruising is on the middle lane, rightmost used when I want to overtake. Leftmost where I go around a km before taking an exit. That's the ideal case at least, but there are times when I have to overtake from the left, because heavy vehicles hog the overtake lane, also times when two trucks, at the same speed, occupy the middle and overtake lanes, which forces you to use the leftmost lane to overtake.

We must absolutely do our best to follow lane discipline, and always use indicators and all of that, but the sheer lack of lane awareness and discipline by heavy vehicles, the biggest offenders being state buses, force you to be extremely careful and sometimes deviate from them. Bus drivers just drive on the highways as if they're the only vehicles on the road. At least truck drivers choose a lane and stick to it at a constant speed. But bus drivers, they zig zag all over the place and drive like maniacs.

Honestly, I feel there should be a designated bus lane on highways, one lane only for buses and force all buses to stick to that lane apart from overtakes, but I understand that something like that may be difficult to implement. Indian roads are improving a great deal, but unfortunately, the drivers only seen to be getting worse.

[MadinMumbai]

Originally Posted by vattyboy

I recently travelled from Surat to Udaipur and decided to take the newly built Bharuch-Vadodara stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, which was inaugurated by PM Modi a few weeks ago.

Any idea on when the Ankleshwar - Bharuch section of the expressway will be completed? I have a trip (Mumbai-Ahmedabad) coming up in late April and was wondering if it might be ready before then.

[sinharishi]

Drove on the new expressway yesterday, absolutely pathetic road surface for an expressway. Comparable to EPE at many levels. If this is the surface quality that we are getting on our so called expressways - we will never be able to match the autobahns!
Some NHs have better surface than the E-way! Full report on Delhi-Mumbai thread.

[abs182]

I used the Ankleshwar/Dahej to Vadodara patch. I must say the road surfacing is quite pathetic. There are some serious undulations while returning to Vadodara and that too in the overtaking and car lanes. At one point me and my driver both were dislodged from our seats despite wearing seatbelts due to one of them.

I dunno what is the reason for this stretch being cement surface. With the excruciating summer heat in this region I'm sure many a vehicles are going to suffer tyre blasts etc.

I just hope there is dicipline in driving these Expressways. and they try and mend these undulations before its facing the full force of vehicular traffic in this area like NH-48.

[sh3lby]

Originally Posted by vattyboy

3. The surface quality and smoothness of the expressway are decent and better than Samruddhi Mahamarg, which I drove on recently.

4. There is no traffic on this expressway. I set my cruise control to 120 km/h and only disengaged it when the expressway ended.

5. There is no toll for this expressway for now.

6. Although speed cameras are installed, they are not functional yet.

7. It's sad to see that local villagers were entering the expressway, riding bikes on the wrong side, taking photos, and even playing cricket at one spot. It seems to be a picnic destination for them. To ensure safety, I recommend avoiding the last left lane while driving.

Thanks for these points. I'm always terrified of cows and morons sneaking into the path of oncoming high-speed traffic and sad to hear this highay isn't different. Hopefully the lanes remain free of obstructions as we move progressively right. Also decent quality roads + emptiness makes it tempting to do Autobahn like speeds but I guess that's why cruise control was necessary

Originally Posted by sinharishi

Drove on the new expressway yesterday, absolutely pathetic road surface for an expressway. Comparable to EPE at many levels. If this is the surface quality that we are getting on our so called expressways - we will never be able to match the autobahns!
Some NHs have better surface than the E-way! Full report on Delhi-Mumbai thread.

Seriously? Is it because of the materials used or something? I have no experience in road - building but the pictures make it look more ... concrete type rather than black tarmac. I didn't expect the latest roads to be like this. Anyone elaborate?

[sinharishi]

Originally Posted by sh3lby

Seriously? Is it because of the materials used or something? I have no experience in road - building but the pictures make it look more ... concrete type rather than black tarmac. I didn't expect the latest roads to be like this. Anyone elaborate?

It is concrete. One will be shocked to see the uneven road surface at many places. The joints over bridges are just way too annoying! I am returning from Wayanad to G.noida, KL roads whoever has built it looks like have mastered the art to make roads over bridges without sending a jolt! Heck some roads down south can put this eway to shame.

[sachin_c26]

I drove on this expressway last week for few kms while going Ahmedabad from Vadodara. The stretch from Bhayli entry to NE1 entry was concrete one so didn't enjoyed the ride which could have been great experience as there was practically zero vehicles on road.

[AlphaKiloPapa]

I have an upcoming trip to Mundra and I am thinking to drive from Mumbai to Mundra. Can any one confirm if there is an access to DME from Ankaleshwar or do we enter via Bharuch ?

[Passion2explore]

Though I have only travelled couple of times on Sohna-Dausa section of DME and multiple times on different expressways in north India, I can confidently say that Lucknow Agra expressway surface is the best one w.r.t. driving comfort even after so many years of operations.

[vattyboy]

Originally Posted by AlphaKiloPapa

I have an upcoming trip to Mundra and I am thinking of driving from Mumbai to Mundra. Can anyone confirm if there is access to DME from Ankaleshwar or do we enter via Bharuch?

To join this expressway, everyone will have to leave the NH-48 Six lane Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and take a left turn from Ankleshwar. Then continue straight as per Google Maps after that Bharuch will come then Del-mum expressway will come. It hardly takes 35 mins to Join the Del-mum expy after taking a left turn from Ankleshwar.

[AlphaKiloPapa]

Originally Posted by vattyboy

Then continue straight as per Google Maps after that Bharuch will come then Del-mum expressway will come

Thanks. I actually traveled via the same route as suggested by Google Maps. I anyways had to charge my car in Bharuch so I had to follow the same route. So couldn't check if there was any direct connectivity from NH48 to DME near Ankaleshwar.

[pcpranav]

Few days back the toll collection has started on this stretch. Anyone recently tried this route? Road conditions?