Delhi - Moradabad - Sitapur - Lucknow : Road Review
After the successful post on Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow road review by Aditya, a strong need was felt on having a review of the other road which connects Delhi to Lucknow. In fact there were so many comment on Aditya’s post where people wanted to know about the other road viz. NH24. If two were not enough, there is one more highway which connects Delhi to Lucknow, the one which passes through Aligarh, Kannauj etc. I guess thats the old real G T Road. When I get an opportunity to travel there, I would come back and write a small note. I guess, I should at least drive to Aligarh and visit AMU sometime.
Anway, so about two weeks back, I drove till Maigalganj (40 odd KM ahead of Shahjahanpur) on the way to Lakhimpur. I didn’t intend to write this post since I have not really done the complete stretch but I met Aditya the other day and he convinced me that it still makes lot of sense to do a small review. For the remaining stretch, he promised me to get inputs from other people so here it is.
Delhi is connected to Lucknow via the National Highway - 24 and here is a snapshot of its path.
View Larger Map
Total Distance = 500 KM
Driving Time = 10 hours including a 30 minute tea stop and a 60 minute lunch stop
As with my all road-reviews, we can divide this stretch into following sections.
1. Getting out of Delhi. Starting on NH24. Delhi - Ghaziabad
2. Ghaziabad - Hapur Bypass
3. Hapur Bypass - Gajraula
4. Gajraula - Moradabad
5. Moradabad - Rampur - Bareily
6. Bareily - Shahjahanpur - Sitapur
7. Sitapur - Lucknow
1. Getting out of Delhi. Starting on NH24. Delhi - Ghaziabad
Distance - Depends on where you start. Lets take Connaught Place as central point then it would be 20 KM.
Driving Time - Depends. From CP it would be 40 odd minutes. 30 minutes in early morning.
NH24 goes towards East and the relevant border is called ‘Ghazipur’. Unless you are in East Delhi, you would need to cross the Yamuna river. If you take ‘Nizamuddin Bridge’ then you just need to keep straight. Road quality is very good. The drive gets slow as you pass through some of the trade-tax points but overall clean.
Now onwards, I am taking distance from Delhi Border which is Ghazipur. These are not accurate distances but pretty close.
2. Ghaziabad - Hapur Bypass
Distance - 50 Km. Driving Time - 50 minutes
The road from Ghaziabad to Hapur-Bypass is probably the best road to drive in this whole stretch. Primarily because its a end-to-end double road with no big towns in between and second because of the quality of tar. You can easily do an avg of 55-60 KM an hour on this stretch. There is a toll of Rs 10 at ‘Kali Nadi’. Its a small bridge over a rivulet. I still remember that on those early trips to Corbett, about 6-8 years back, we would hop on to old bridge which was not maintained but nonetheless functional and would save the toll. And as we would pass the old-bridge, we will look at the toll guys, felling triumphant. Over time the toll guys dig up holes on the old bridge so that they can catch suspecting customers like me as well. It was a single road then.
3. Hapur Bypass - Gajraula
Distance - 50 Km . Driving Time - 60 minutes
Hapur bypass - Gajraula is problematic. Most of this section is being converted into double road so lots of construction going on. And if there is a festival then you might find a massive jam at garh-mukteshwar. Thats the closest one can get ‘Ganga’ and hence the obvious reason for any congregation. So avoid full-moons, any festivals which entails a holy dip. You can refer this online Hindu Calendar. I think Poornmia (Full Moon) mornings as well as Amavasya are to be avoided. I am a little challenged on this aspect so would appreciate any feedback on which days are auspicious for ganga-snan.
4. Gajraula - Moradabad
Distance - 50 Km . Driving Time - 50 minutes
Gajraula - Moradabad bypass is good and bad. Good because the new double road is really well made and one can zip fast w/o worry but bad because its not completely done. There are many small kasbas/villages/towns and the plan is to have a fly-over at each of these places, the reality is that these flyovers are not done. So you get on to a good road, pick 120-130 KMph, go for a while, then you taper down to a small alley (along side being-made flyover), and then it again starts. Hopefully it would be done before this monsoon else wait till Christmas. There is an A1 plaza on the left before Moradabad. There is also a restaurant at a BP Pump called ‘Tadka’. Gajraula also hosts the famous ‘Bhajan Dhaba’, ‘Gyani Dhaba’ but these are very crowded. I would suggest to stop at either A1 Plaza or Tadka.
A1 Plaza, Gajraula
5. Moradabad - Rampur - Bareily
Distance - 90 Km . Driving Time - 90 minutes
Post moradabad, its a single road. I didn’t see any work happening on either the widening of the single road for making it double. Interestingly the road quality is pretty good.
Rampur is not a very big town and you pass through their main market. You can also look at the old heritage railway station and some of the other old buildings. A decent place to stock up the supplies of munchies and other things. As you get past Rampur, you would see an exit for ‘Bilaspur’ which further goes to Nainital. If you are coming from Delhi, you dont need to come this far to go to Nainital, you can just take a U turn from Moradabad and take Moradabad - Bazpur - Kaladhungi road. Anway, after Rampur, just keep yourself on NH24 and the next big town is Bareilly.
6. Bareily - Shahjahanpur - Sitapur
Distance - 160 Km . Driving Time - 130 minutes
You have to pass through Bareily which can get a little unnerving, so there is no bypass. But once you are out of Bareilly, you would suddenly notice that the traffic has gone much low. One reason could be that Delhi-Rampur has no alternates and it connects Delhi and beyond with hills where as Delhi-Lucknow has a better alternate (NH2). Also the train connections are good. The other reason could be that I haven’t experienced enough so it may be a case of one particular day. Shahjahanpur has a bypass sort and you can avoid the long town. You would get some double roads. Very good tar. Just keep driving.
7. Sitapur - Lucknow
Distance - 90 Km . Driving Time - 100 minutes
This is something where I have not personally driven. The information which I have is that this road is a in decent condition.
So thats about it for the drive. Since you have read this far, you deserve a bonus pic. This was just before Bareily. If you look hard, you would see there are gentleman all over the road-roller. What an apt pic for a road-review post (of a road roller).
Road Roller on a truck in India
June 5th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Very useful. Thanks, Nandan.
I chanced upon Ghumakkar while looking for the best route to Lucknow and hit upon Aditya’s road review (and stuck with this site eversince). I have asked him about this route as well.
Not able to make the trip yet (Samay se pehle…. Aditya’s lines) but am looking forward to it and think I’ll take this route on the way back, whenever it happens
June 5th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Thanks Nandan,
U know why it is for…ha.ha
poor tata truck having a bulky road roller loaded onto it
Guess what if truck suddenly stops and it comes back…scary..
by the way a1 plazas has a increased fan following ..thanks aditya for it
June 6th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Thanks Patrick. Best wishes. Hopefully some of the flyovers would be done by the time you make the trip.
Hey Deepak, the trucks have amazing lugging power. And your observation is right about A1 Plazas. Since all of them offer a consistent experience, it sort of become easy to make a decision, esp when you do not want to experiment more.
June 6th, 2008 at 5:03 am
Descriptive and useful, I think, this post completed almost all the roads to Lucknow on http://www.ghumakkar.com .
Thanks for sharing it.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Yeah, practically yes. But in theory, there is this Aligarh-Etah road which is still to be documented. some day for sure :)
June 6th, 2008 at 8:05 am
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June 7th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Very useful and informative piece of writing.
We have been travelling on this route regularly, as this road is a gateway to our favourite Kumaon hills. In the good old days, after the hundred kilometre drive from Delhi, the only place where you could wash and take some simple snacks, was Bhajan’s Dhaba at Gajraula. With the industrialisation of the area, with companies like Vam Organics, etc coming up, Gajraula saw some fast development. Bhajan’s Dhaba also grew from a small time Dhaba to a decent looking restaurant. I believe A1 Plaza is close by.
Your post has brought back fond memories of our travels on this route.
Thanks for sharing.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Just back from a quick trip of Moradabad. Went to Moradabad Numaish (Exhibition).
I heard that Delhi - Moradabad NH 24 would be completed end-to-end by 2010. Moradabad - Lucknow section would be done by 2012.
Adi - You are right. Actually GT Road is more for Delhi - Kanpur and so is NH2. This is the real Delhi - Lucknow road.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I think thats a very good post.
I was a bit concerned about safety. How is it like when it comes to security, UP as we know is not that good in this regard. Night is out of question anyways!
I am actually planning a visit to Sitapur, so thought of evaluating safety aspect as well before deciding between NH24, NH2 or Train.
Thanks in advance!
June 24th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I wont recommend night driving because of road-safety reasons (and not necessarily security). Most of the stretches have a single road and with all the high-beam lights hitting your eyes, it get a little difficult and un-safe.
I took this road, just the last saturday and I was driving from 6-7 in the evening to 2 in the night (was coming down from Gorakhpur and home-sickness took precedence over staying overnight at some dusty town) and I could see police-patrol at every 20-30 odd KM. So security is less of an issue.
If you want to go to Sitapur then take NH24 but if you want to go to Lucknow then take NH2.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
And thanks for liking the post.
When I wrote this, I had not gone all the way till Lucknow but recently I covered the stretch till about 20 odd KM short of Lucknow (was coming from Gorakphur) and the review is same. Its a single road beyond ShahjahaNpur but well laid. The work for 4 laning is in progress and would complete by 2012.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Dear Sir,
A very good description. I think that’s a very good post. You have mention the exact distance and probable time. It is impressive. My office is in Connaught Place and due to official work I usually went to Uttarakhand in last 1 year at least 10 times I have use the same pathway from Delhi to Bareily that’s why all these description get crossed check. And I have also enjoyed the food quality of A1 Plaza and Tadka several times as described in the post it is really nice.
For the person who is planning to go via this rout will be really helpful. Thanks for the shearing such nice information with the viewer’s like me.
Thanks & Regards
Mohit Aggarwal
June 28th, 2008 at 4:04 am
Thanks Mohit. If we as a group can keep this updated by writing our current experiences in small comments, that would help people who wish to undertake a journey on this road.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I love this highway and that is another reason for me to like this post. I have driven many time Noida-Bareilly/Moradabad and at least a dozen times Noida-Lucknow.
First I would tell the most nagging aspect of this highway upto BLY, and that is the railway crossings which are 4 if we exclude the crossing near Dasna in Ghaziabad, which does not fall on NH-24 bypass.
The first crossing is at Moradabad, which would be a pain till the bypass got completely built(it came in two stages) a couple of years back. Though it is advisable to be careful on this two-undivided-lane bypass as the compaction and surface protection of the embankment has been poor. It compares very poorly with the Hapur Bypass which was made with Japanese help and as good as, if not better than, the Delhi-Jaipur Highway. I know of many people who were pleasantly surprised to drive on the Hapur Bypass(the actual Hapur byspass, not the Ghaziabad bypass known as hapur bypass in Ghaziabad). Can you imagine the road from UP gate to Electronic city - Vijaynagar was a bypass not so long ago?
The second one is at Rampur which is normally open as against the first one which is rarely.
Well, that reminds, I fail to understand the serpentine curved roads in the plains of UP. And multiple railways cossings as if the road and rail are trying to entwin. The first serpentine stretch on NH24 is between Garh and Hapur, wherein, the road has got more bends than the NH58 got at Joshimath.
Another such stretch comes at the deadly Tilhar about 25KM west of Shahjahanpur. The stretch is a virtual death stretch, and a little carelessness could cost dearly.
I follow a simple rule while driving through these stretches-not to take chances-overtake only when I can see a straight road in front of me and honk liberally, Honk to live and let live. Because, even if I do not overtake at curves, other would and remian unmindful of my heading towards them. Honking helps here.
Ok, coming back to crossings, of the republic, that are ahead of Bareilly. Road crosses once to go to the south side of the rail and again comes back to the north before CB Ganj. May be the bridges and rivulet spans have to do something with this.
Then there is a stretch of road about 15Kms down Rampur, which was badly potholed about two years back. Then it got patchworked, but even now it is the roughest stretch by far if we exclude the under cons portions. Jubilee Dhaba, once frequented, falls on this one.
To cut the story short, I enjoy most driving between BLY and Sitapur. You can overtake at will, with benign and the few truckers more than eager to let you pass.
Never missed the maigalganj rasgullas though I find them only as good as Rewaris of lucknow, and laddo of Sandila.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Wow. We were looking for you for a long time, good that we finally found you. Actually after Aditya wrote about Delhi- Kanpur - LKO, there were lot of queries on NH24 and none of us have ever gone as far as LKO on this route.
I have seen Moradabad bypass done, just like you :), in two stretches. In those days, we used to frequent Corbett and would enjoy our drive around Samosa mode and then stop over at ‘Kiran Dhaba’ just at the end of Moradabad. After ‘Kiran’, the deadly stretch of Thakurdwara would start where you can either drive at 5 KMPH and avoid potholes or at 50KMPH and go over them (fly over them). :)
And yes, I so much agree with the Hapur Bypass, its a marvel. One of my friend used to stay in Raj Nagar and we would take the Hapur Bypass to reach quickly, the general rule was to avoid that bypass in the evening because it used to get lonely.
Gone are the days.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Hahaha…:-) Thanks for the warm welcome. Flying over potholes…;-) good one.. just let the WD guys not hear this bit…Btw I have changed suspension and axles thanks primarily to blind driving(flying) over potholes from Garh towards Hapur after rains. I was fed up doing 5 and craving for 50+. Once I was stuck after dark on such a stretch and it was some experience.
True, people won’t fare after dark on the NH24 Bypass. gone are even those days when At Mamura I would consider myself in Indirapuram. And those whenI would take Choukli- Mamura-flex-NTPC-DND, instead of NH24 to reach south Delhi faster.
Nandan, I feel at loss when I see unauthorised and unplanned development along NH24 around Vijaynagar. I mean In Indirpuram, it was the might of a big builder that gave us-legitimate dwellers a decent connection to the highway and on the other hand there are squatters breaching the highway at will.
Anyone trying to drive down this bypass between 8:00 and 10:00 (either side of the noon) might curse at himself for the decision.
Let more rants be for another time and place…For now enjoy Ghuming.
August 7th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Aditya/Nandan/others
I am planning to take a road trip next week from Delhi to Shahjahanpur as well. Any idea if the road conditions have changed in the last 2 months. Also, other than construction, do we still need to worry about Kanwarias etc which could cause traffic delays?
Any information would help.
August 7th, 2008 at 8:40 am
In 3rd week of June 2008, I drove last. Was coming from Gorakhpur. Nothing new to report.
Because of rains, I would expect that Hapur-Garh section would be a little sad but otherwise no issues.
Kanwarias are usually not on this road, they take Delhi-Meerut road usually but that thing is over. So no worries on that front.
Just start early so that you get enough to day light for stops.
And please do come back and update on the drive, would help fellow ghumakkars.