A roadie from Bhubaneswar did a road trip from Bhubaneswar to Kanha and Bhedaghat/ Jabalpur in his own vehicle in October 2020.
The Indian Roadie Preferred Route/ Motoring Route/ route was as follows.
Day 1:
Bhubaneswar - Khurda Bypass - Baghamari - Kantilo - Gania - Daspalla - Bauda - Sonepur - Binka - Barpali - Sohela - Raipur.
(Since the Cuttack-Sambalpur highway is being widened, he tried the above mentioned alternative route).
He started from Bhubaneswar at 7 am and reached Raipur at 4.30 pm.
Bhubaneswar - Khurda (NH16) section had a couple of diversions because of 6 laning work.
NH57 between Khurda and Nayagarh is as usual in a mess and has huge traffic. Hence he took Baghamari - Kantilo - Gania - Daspalla to avoid it. This has much less traffic, mostly good roads but goes through a couple of crowded small towns. He joined NH57 at Daspalla.
NH57 from Daspalla to Sonepur is fantastic to drive. Initial 50 kms is a wonderful drive through thick forests. From Sonepur to Binka the road is good for 20 kms, and is uneven/ broken after that. The broken patches continue from Binka to Barpali. From Barpali to Sohela the road narrows a bit and the surface worsens. From Sohela to Raipur (old NH6) is excellent. Arang to Raipur is very good, too.
Day 2:
Raipur - Simga - Kawardha - Bhoramdev - Chilpi - Bichhiya - Sarhi Gate (Kanha).
He started at 7 am from Raipur and reached Kanha around 11.30 am.
Since he stayed in the outskirts of Raipur, he took the bypass (Ring Road number 3) to reach NH30. The bypass was uneven but had very little traffic in the morning. NH30 between Raipur and Simga is an excellent 6 lane concrete road. After that NH30 is a good 2 lane highway. There is road construction going on inside Bemetera town and that portion is messy. He took a detour from Kawardha to visit Bhoramdev temple, known as Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh. The small road from Bhoramdev to Chilpi has few ghat sections and has excellent views of the valley below. The road from Bichhiya to Sarhi gate goes through a few villages and is quite narrow in some places.
Day 3:
Kanha (Mukki Gate) - Baihar - Nainpur -Bhoma - Palari - Dhanora - Kahani - Dhuma -Chaukital - Bhedaghat.
He started from Kanha at 9.30 am and reached Bhedaghat at 2 pm.
From Kanha, most people suggested that he goes via Mandla to Jabalpur but he took the above route.
Baihar to Nainpur is good, and goes through some patches of forests. Nainpur to Bhoma (SH12) is a mixed bag with few broken patches in between. From Bhoma there is a new concrete road for quite some distance. Then the road becomes narrow but the surface is decent with little traffic. From Dhuma, NH34 is an excellent 4 lane road. The last portion from Chaukital on Jabalpur bypass to Bhedaghat is a 4 lane concrete road that goes through some heavily populated areas.
Day 4:
Bhedaghat - Mandla - Chilpi - Kawardha - Simga - Raipur.
Started from Bhedaghat at 9.30 am and reached Raipur around 5.30 pm. Took NH30, initially marked as “new bypass road”, it is all good for about 35 - 40 kms. After that there are long stretches where road construction is going on and the road is completely dug up. There are stretches where the road has newly laid concrete surface. Some portions are very narrow because they have barricaded half of the road to lay concrete and one gets stuck behind trucks. After Mandla it is all good. Chilpi ghat section through the jungle is a pleasure to drive. Bemetera was a mess when he crossed it in the afternoon with long and slow moving trucks in both directions.
Day 5:
Raipur - Sohela - Bargarh - Barpali - Binka - Sonepur - Daspalla - Nayagarh - Ranpur - Tangi - Bhubaneswar.
Started from Raipur at 8 am and reached Bhubaneswar at 6 pm. To avoid the bad roads between Sohela and Barpali, he drove via Bargarh. The 4 lane highway between Sohela and Bargarh is not smooth and had huge traffic, mostly 2 wheelers. Then the 2 lane NH26 between Bargarh and Barpali was also full of traffic. The extra 16 kms in this longer route is not worth the trouble. Took another alternate route from Nayagarh via Tangi. Nayagarh to Tangi was mostly good. But from Tangi to Bhubaneswar the NH16 has a few diversions because of 6 lane road work. He hit the evening peak hour traffic between Khurda and Bhubaneswar and got delayed a bit.
