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Long Drive - Singur, Barrackpore Gandhi Ghat, Diamond Harbour, Serampore(Srirampur), Belur, Gorifa |
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Written by sandy
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Saturday, 20 March 2010 |
 After buying my first car I have hardly traveled or used my car which has the 3rd free service due on March this year(2010), so I decided to visit tourist spots near Kolkata where road conditions are good for driving and safe as well. Kolkata and surrounding places are slowly getting connected with good wide roads as National Highway Authority constantly making an effort to provide better road connectivity. Criteria of selection was minimum traffic, roads having divider which enables a smooth and safe drive and reaching and coming back from that place hardly takes five hours as I planned to travel at after-noon time and coming back by sunsets at evening.
The first week I opted to visit Singur via the Durgapur Expressway, because the road is terrific to drive. From my residence near VIP road, I started at 12 noon in order to avoid traffic jams near Kestopur, Baguihati and Airport VIP road crossings.Once I can dodge the traffic there I expected a smooth drive, specially after hitting the Belgharia Expressway. Till Dakshineswar its very easy and traffic free drive. After that the diversion is a little confusing. That is the approach to the Durgapur Expressway via Nivedita Bridge is little tricky. The drive through the Nivedita Bridge and there after is a sheer pleasure to drive. We had to pass through a few Tolls, but I think its worth paying the tax and they are doing a good job. I targeted Singur calculating the distance so that I can come back by evening.
 Next week I set out for Barrackpore Gandhighat and the best route to reach that place is BT Road(Barracpore Trunk Road) via Shyambazar Five point crossing (A popular landmark in North Kolkata) - Paikpara B.T. Road Crossing - Dumdum Chiriamore - Sinthimore - Dunlop Crossing - Kamarhati - Panihati - Sodepur - Khardah - Titagarh - Barrackpore. In the afternoon time this road is perfect to drive hassle free. I have hardly encountered any traffic-jam in this period. I reached the destination in virtually no time which was a little over 30 minutes. After spending an hour or so I decided to come back so that I could reach Shyambazar by evening and avoid the mad traffic rush. Thankfully I was able to beat the traffic by reaching Shyambazar before late evening. Thanx to the great road conditions.
 Next week it was Serampore (Srirampur), a very old and charming little town on the banks of hooghly. A friend of mine had piggy backed cause he wanted to meet his aunt who lives there. I decided to approach G.T Road this time via Belgharia Expressway, Bali-Uattarpara. I started around the same time like my earlier trips, oviously with the same intention, enjoying a drive without punctuations. After reaching Uttarpara the road was not too good to drive as it was without divider and lacked proper traffic signaling. But it took a little more than half-an-hour or so to reach Serampore. The place is very congested with narrow lanes and bi-lanes. The over bridge near Battala has made the main road inaccessible to reach a part of the city for which, one has to take crossing called Dharmatala to reach my destination. After spending an hour or so I decided to return and took the other way to approach the over-bridge via Serampore railway station. Which took me 5 to 7 minutes to reach Battala on G.T Road. From there to Uttarpara took half-an-hour to Uttarpara and another 30 minutes to Airport.
 The next week, I decided Diamond Harbour after thorough research of the rote using Google-map which i used in all the above cases. The road till Behala is very congested. But after that the drive was good inspite of the road lacking divider,coz there was hardly any traffic during the hot summer afternoon. Reaching destination took me a little more than two and half hour. I set-off for Kolkata after spending half-an hour or so as the heat and humidity was immense at that time of the day. The road was at certain places very congested and narrow. Some places it was one-way as maintenance work in progress. The time taken almost same as I approached the same route to return back home by Sun set.
 Next week it was Belur-Math which I visited third time by my car via Belgharia Expressway. It takes hardly an hour time including the portion of the stretch by G.T Road which is little more traffic Jam prone due to heavy trucks on the route. Otherwise, the rest of the route is smooth till Bali via Bali Bridge. After that the G.T. Road takes a little more than half-an-hour to reach the destination. In winter the Math opens early which is 3 pm. but in summer its 4 p.m. Photography is prohibitated in the temple complex, so its little dissapointing that I could not take any photographs of clean and nice place. Returning home by evening from there is very easy thanx to the Belgharia Expressway which earlier took many extra hours due to heavy traffic via Dunlop and B.T. Raod.
 Last week it was Gorifa (Naihati), which is under Naihati Municipality. The route plan was done on the basis of road which will have less traffic and safe to reach and comeback as early as possible, preferabbly before evening. So out of the two options available, one is Kalyani Expressway via Barasat and another is GP Road via BT Road. decided on the first option coz I expected it to have less traffic and conducive for high speed driving. And I was proved right. Though the route was new for me, I tried gathering every possible information to figure-out the shortest route to reach the destination. So plan was to take left turn from a place called Tali-khola and then via Baroda Bridge we will reach Naihati town. But the road was so smooth and i reached the destination so fast we missed the Tali-Khola crossing and drove several kilometers ahead to reach Kanchrapara which was unintended. From there we learnt we can take left turn from the approaching crossing to reach Gorifa via Halisahar. So we took left turn from the crossing ahead and followed a bus of route no. 85 on GP road to reach Rishi Bankim Chandra Road, Gorifa via Bagmore Chowmatha, Netaji More, 4 no. Rail Bridge. I took the oder route to return back home as after evening the Kalyani expressway becomes quiete desolate and people drive recklessly. So we opted BT Road via GP Road which is crowded but the road condition was very good through out till we reached Dunlop Crossing via Bhatpara - Shyamnagar - Ichhapur - Palta - North Barrackpore - Titagarh - Khardah - Sodepur - Panihati - Kamarhati. Both the route took little over two hours time to travel though we took thirty odd minutes searching for the destination while reaching the place initially.
Here's wishing smoother roads around the city for all the car lovers(or lovers!!) to set out on long enjoyable drives.
Related links :-
http://www.wb.nic.in/westbg/hooghly.html
http://www.berejst.dk/037/Srampore.htm
http://www.indianetzone.com/43/monuments_serampore.htm
http://www.indianetzone.com/43/monuments_barrackpur.htm
http://www.indianetzone.com/43/monuments_burdwan.htm
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 December 2010 )
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