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Speed is equal to distance by time...
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How good are the new highways that now connect Mumbai and Udaipur? We hit the road to find out
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HIGHWAY STAR Exploring the arrow-straight expressway from Baroda to Udaipur
Three years ago, when I drove from Mumbai to Delhi, I had a mile-munching, fast diesel car. Though the road was under construction at places, resulting in traffic snarls and diversions ever so often, I did manage to make it to Udaipur in time for a very, very late dinner. Last week, Udaipur was calling again as were the fabulous places around which are probably Rajasthan's only summer retreats.
Udaipur is surrounded by the Aravalli ranges and peppered with lakes. This means the city has a cooling breeze blowing through it all the time. Kumbalgarh, about 80 km away, is situated on the highest peak in the Aravallis, even rivalling Mount Abu in height. But to get to all these places lay 728 km from Mumbai to Udaipur. We started off as early as 4.45 am to avoid traffic in Mumbai and the outskirts. Unfortunately, the truckers also had the same plan and our first 80 km out of Mumbai was mired in traffic. And this can be rather tiring because when two trucks are going side by side on a two-lane road, one will eventually overtake the other. I say eventually because with the slower truck going at 40 kph and the faster one doing all of 42, the overtaking is more an event.
As it is, the early morning hour was doing nothing to banish my drowsiness, which had until now been kept at bay by doses of coffee. But this slow crawl was like a sleeping pill and soon we had to pull up at a petrol pump, which usually has a garden with some charpoys, and nap for an hour or so.
By the time we got going again, the road opened up and by the time we neared the Gujarat border, we were beaming. The NH8, which was in a mess a few years ago thanks to construction work, had finally been completed.
It was at Surat again that we got bogged down. The traffic is simply too much for the 4-lane road to handle and the entire 180 km from Surat to the Baroda bypass is again a sometimes fast, sometimes slow affair. But the best part of the road; the part that makes you happy to be in the drivers seat is the section from Baroda to Udaipur. Fast, flat and straight, this is simply the best road in India. Called National Expressway 1 (NE1), this is what all roads should be like.
No crossroads or u-turns makes for safety too. All exits are on the left with over-passes to cross to the other side. Tractors, rickshaws and cycles aren't allowed and there is high fencing to keep livestock and cattle out.
Our Innova was on a song, doing 120 kph very comfortably, and sometimes creeping up to 140 kph without us realizing. The only kink is the section between Ahmedabad and Himmatnagar, where the road becomes a two-laner, but this is hardly a hindrance. Even the hill section after crossing into Rajasthan is four-lane with banked corners.
All this saw us in Udaipur for evening tea and the fabulous road combined with the fatigue-free nature and superb driveability of the Innova meant I didn't even feel as if I'd driven 728 km in 11 hours!
RISHAD SAAM MEHTA
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