I had some urgent work at Lucknow and a ceremony to attend in Allahabad. I decided to travel by road and started around 11:00 pm for Lucknow via Kanpur. The road till Kanpur City Bypass is excellent (you have to bear with certain patches especially near toll plazas).
Every time I use this road, I get stuck up in a jam at Jajmau (immediately after you leave Kanpur City Bypass). The roads are in really bad condition from Jajmau for atleast 10 kilometers.
Anyway, Reached Lucknow around 11:00 am.
After finishing the work in Lucknow, I had 3 options for reaching Allahabad:
1. Lucknow to Allahabad via Sultanpur (NH56 & NH96)
2. Lucknow to Allahabad via Raebareli (NH24B)
3. Lucknow to Allahabad via Kanpur (NH2 and NH25)
I selected this route because it was the shortest and I had no idea about any of the other roads (except NH2) which was 80 kilometers longer than this route. So I left for Allahabad thru Raebareli – Kunda road. The road is a single lane, 2 way traffic. I had no prior experience and feedback of this stretch but I moved on. To my surprise the road quality was very good, even though it was a bit in bad condition while passing through small towns but overall it was a pleasant surprise to find this road. Started from Lucknow around 8:15 pm and was in Allahabad before 12:00. There was very little traffic on this road, to keep myself busy I was counting how many vehicles I crossed, and the final count till Ganga Bridge was (14 cars, 27 large vehicles including a single UPSTRC Bus from Lucknow to Kunda, total 31 vehicles in around 4 hours!!!). The milestone indicators showed that it was 206 kms from Hazratganj but my own odometer gave me a reading of 234 from my source location in Lucknow till my destination in Allahabad.
While coming back from Allahabad to Delhi I took the G.T. Road -> NH2 and this road is in not very good condition in and around Allahabad for atleast 20 kilometers. But once you reach the Toll Road, it’s a smooth sail. Covered the total distance of 658 kms in 10.5 hours with 4 stoppages of approx 15 mins each.