Goa to Mumbai via NH66: Why I will never take this route again

You are driving through a cloud of red dust. This leaves your car covered in dust and looking like you have just done the Dakar Rally.

BHPian suzuki san recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi guys,

The last time I used this NH17 (old name) road was probably about 20 to 25 years ago. We stopped using it because of the terrible condition it was in and, of course, because the Bombay Poona Expressway was now fully functional with a decent road to Kolhapur, Nipani, Amboli Ghat and on to Goa.

After seeing all the recent social media posts about this highway being ready in 2 months, I decided to drive from Goa to Bombay via NH66. What a terrible, terrible mistake this was.

The initial part of the journey was O.K. From Mapuca till Oni and a little beyond the road was good. However, soon after that the nightmare starts. I guess from before Hathkamba till Lanja is when the road conditions deteriorate drastically and I almost did a U turn to go back and cross the Anuskura ghat but then after a few Kms of okayish roads we decided to continue. Big, big mistake.

The road goes from bad to worse and then to horrible.

There are diversions literally every couple of hundred metres. This means that you have to cross over from one side of the highway to the other and then back again, over and over again. Needless to say, this means no overtaking possible.

There are numerous rumbling strips and some with a new design....rumbling strips followed by a nasty speed breaker. Needless to say, most of these are unmarked. Some of the rumblers, which are marked, are actually the ones you don't need to slow down for. The speed breakers should be renamed as car breakers. On the Parshuram Ghat, there are at least 10 high-speed breakers in a distance of about 150 metres. Overkill? You tell me.

The section of the road near Chiplun is pretty good, as is the Kashedi tunnel. But right through, even on good concrete roads, you are treated to a bouncy ride due to the pathetic quality. Also, sadly, the road is made up of different surfaces, and where tarmac meets concrete, there is almost always a nasty "lip" which stands proud of the surface, resulting in the car slamming into it and putting your shock absorbers, tyres and wheel rims to the test.

Most of the expansion joints on the bridges we passed over were of the same poor quality. Either they are like potholes or pot hills.

The flyovers or bridges at Lanja and Chiplun are far from being even halfway done, and the service roads are a mess with huge potholes - especially at Lanja.

Mangaon was a pain to get through, as was Pen and then Panvel.

There was some mention of bypassing Sangameshwar via Devrukh in previous posts, but Google never gave me that option.

Decent restaurants are almost impossible to find along the way - never mind clean toilets. Just before Rajapur, there are 2 decent restaurants on the left side of the road. Stop there and stock up.

Most of the way, you are driving through a cloud of red dust, especially where work is in progress. This leaves your car covered in dust and looking like you have just done the Dakar Rally. Actually, the Dakar Rally is probably easier, as one would be well equipped for it.

I was driving a WagonR, and I will definitely NOT be using this road again in a hurry. I will return to Goa via Poona and Karad, and Anuskura Ghat.

Lastly, do not even think of driving on this road at night unless you have some laser-type headlights. You will be asking for trouble.

The only positives on this road are no tolls (yet) and relatively less traffic.

There are some people who claim that one will eventually be able to do Bombay to Goa in 6 hours on this road. I really hope that I am still alive to see that, but looking at the condition of NH66 today, I doubt it very much.

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