get there and around
The developing city Surat's infrastructure is improving rapidly. Surat has excellent roads according to Business Today Magazine[8]. SMC tries to improve road infrastructure like Gandhinagar. Recently four Ring-Roads were introduced by CEPT from Ahmedabad IIM which are; 1.Old Ring Road, 2.Inner Ring Road, 3.Middle Ring Road, 4.Outer Ring Road which will definitely improve the traffic problems of Surat. The Outer Ring Road which starts near Palsana forms ring and leaving routes to the city of Surat from various points and connects Surat smoothly with its Suburbs. The city has recently seen the completion of a large number of road projects, particularly elevated roads, or flyovers, in the diamond and textile zones of the city. This has significantly cut down the commuting time for many people traveling to the diamond and textile districts. One of the very few "Multi-Layer Flyovers" in India is now in Surat over Majura Gate. The Varachcha flyover of Surat is India's longest flyover under city municipal limits in the four lane category.
The Golden Quadrilateral highway system passes through Surat. The city is connected to the National Highway 8 through a 16 km connector highway. National highway 6, also known as Surat - Kolkata Highway, starts from Hazira and passes through surat city and connects the city to Dhule, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Kharagpur and Kolkata.National highway 228, also known as Dandi Heritage highway, starts from Sabarmati in Ahmedabad and passes through Anand, Kheda, Ankleshwar and passes through Surat city to Navsari and ends up in Dandi.
Railway Station
Surat is connected to the national railway system through the Western Railways. It is connected to Mumbai and beyond to south India. There are also links to New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Indore, Jabalpur, Satna, Patna, Bhopal and other cities to the north. The Surat Railway Station is in the eastern-central part of the city near major hotels and business houses. There is also a connection to the Central Railways through Udhana Railway Junction and the Tapti line which connects Surat with central India and cities like Jalgaon,Amravati. There are numerous daily trains that travel to the north, south and east throughout the day. Passenger trains range from local trains that stop at all stations on the way to express trains like the August Kranti Rajdhani Express. In addition, there are goods trains that move the goods produced by the city to the rest of the country and beyond, and bring supplies into the city.
Airport
Till May 2006 Surat was the only city in the world with a population of over 4.9 million people without a functioning airport. Construction of Surat Airport was suspended due to technical reasons in 2004. The new airport finally became functional with Surat-Delhi IA flight on 6 May 2007. Currently daily flights are also operated to Ahmedabad and Jaipur. By June 2012,Surat will get a Fully fledged International Airport which is under construction at Magdalla-Dumas near Surat. The current plan proposed by Air India is to serve the Jeddah flight from Surat which will decrease pressure on Ahmedabad Airport in Peak season of Hajj. This would be first International flight service from Surat Airport which will be available from 2010.
On 22nd August 2008, the SMSS bus service was opened by the city Mayor Dr. Kanubhai Mavani. It is considered the best city bus services in India. These buses are CNG-fueled and have an LCD screen in the front giving details about the journey. The conductor uses an electronic machine to print out the tickets. The bus stops are modern and comfortable. The bus service in general is relatively hi-tech and modern.
Surat has successfully started BRTS project and is expected to get BRTS, Bus Rapid Transit System, by 2010. Surat is expected to get a Metro by 2015 in its 1ST phase Surat will be connected by Navsari which is 40 km. In the 2nd phase Udhana and Hazira will be connected which is 35 km. The project is under construction as TWIN CITY project. It has been passed and signed by the State Government of Gujarat. Surat has its own port which is used for shipping freight. A plan to connect Surat with Mumbai, Goa, Dubai, Bhavnagar through ferry services is moving forward.
The Surat-Bhavnagar sea highway is under consideration of State Government of Gujarat and will be starting from Hansot in Bharuch and end up in Bhavnagar city. Once the highway is completed Surat will be directly connected by Saurastra region of Gujarat. The sea highway will be the longest sea highway in World which is estimated to be 70 km long. The Surat-Bhavnagar ferry service is a much awaited service by the citizens. This would help Surat connect with the Saurashtra region of Gujarat state reducing commuting time by at least 6 hours
