A few years back, if someone had said this, one would think that he is planning a day trip by air. With the Golden Quadrilateral in place, today, anyone one who drives down the distance on a car can make the same claim.
In planning for the return leg of our 12 day road trip, we had budget two days (daylight hours) to drive to Mumbai. Some suggested that we should halt at Belgaum, others said Kolhapur or Karad. These suggestions meant that it was assumed that the distance cannot be covered in a regular ‘day’ and that it is not safe (it still is not for many reasons) to drive at night. We also had a baby in tow and driver himself (me!) was expected to tire out by the time he covered about 700 km, professional driver as he is not.
For the record, I should state that I was underestimating my stamina, since I had in the past covered about 1996 miles (~3200 km) in a 96 hour round trip. But that was in the USA. Knowing the Indian road 700 km in a day seemed like a stretch. Obviously, I hadn't done much (or real) highway driving in India, in the last few years. Sure, the car you are driving also makes a lot of difference.
We set out at 6 AM sharp, in light drizzle, with the intent to make the most of daylight hours and cover the 700 KM in about 14 hours. This meant that we expected to do about 50 kmph in terms of real distance covered given the slowing, stopping, halting and simply trying to but not able to really overtake those cluster of trucks aching their way up ghats.
We drove comfortably, stopped to take pictures, lunch, drinks breaks and even a lay-bye power nap of 15 minutes. We were pretty happy that we reached Karad...but at 5:45 PM! At 61 kmph real speed, cruising mostly at 90 kmph, this is pretty neat. I am sure people with turbojet in their blood would be enthused by the prospect to make this distance in less than 10 hours; perilous as it may be. With a couple of hours of daylight still in sight, we drove on and reached Pune (880 KM) by 8:30 PM (same average even through a small stretch of ghat in 14.5 hours). Finally, we took another 2.5 hours to reach Mumbai (Pune-Mumbai on the expressway is another superb ride), yielding 1000 km in 17 hours. Late dinner in Mumbai meant that we actually saved a day on road. It is another matter that this upset my wife since she thinks I short-changed her by cutting short the vacation. (I know I will pay a price for this someday soon.)
Driving on NH4 is like jet skiing. As of this writing, NH4 is complete from Bengaluru through Pune barring a 15 km bye-pass of Ranebennur, which means you go through the town. One does not mind shelling out about 500 bucks in toll (they call it "road user fee") through the entire route. This segment of the Golden Quadrilateral is very well built and maintained. Some oddities remain- like people and animals crossing roads like they are walking in their backyard, but that’s a reality on every highway in India, no matter how wide or smooth it is and whether or not you pay toll.
The Mumbai-Pune expressway (alternative to NH4) is a wonderful exception to this rule. It is a great feeling driving through gargantuan tunnels (longest is about 1.5 km long) with three lanes and high ceilings, well lit in vibrant orange neon. In fact, watching three lanes of traffic zooming through tunnels in India is a first for me. Truck drivers need to yet learn how to use the Mumbai-Pune expressway. We saw at least five overturned trucks of all sizes- even 10-wheelers- belly-up on relatively sharp turns. Simply, they were just too fast and the guys probably ignored the warnings to slowing down. (There could be an arguable point about designing turns on expressways, but I will give engineers the benefit of doubt on this one)
It is not without reason that the entire NH4 (I am sure rest of GQ as well) carries frequently seen hoardings of the ruling Congress leaders. The GQ is indeed something to be proud of. It has phenomenal implications to the logistics, particularly, road transport industry. Fast road travel implies higher efficiency of transport vehicles; higher predictability through better planning; faster supply chains; development of storage and specialised infrastructure in ‘outer’ locations (where it would be cheaper) and overall economic savings. For personal travel as well, roads like GQ open up a safer option to travel by own cars (or bikes for those who prefer).
Bengaluru to Mumbai on road- all in a day’s work. Hadn’t thought of it that way, until yesterday.
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