The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

[dkamath]

That's right, Rai and Lohith. Here's a view put forward by my uncle who had worked in the PWD few years back. He says the roads must be designed to take a load of 70 tonnes (it might be higher now). The mining tankers laden weight might not exceed 45 tonnes. This only points to poor quality of work by the contractors involved, and the supervision/inspection done by the authorities.

Hi Lohith, do post the condition of your alternate route taken.

[lohithrao]

Rajesh i dont want to venture into Shiradi at all....will take a deviation at hassan- Belur-Mudigere-CHarmadi-Ujre-BC road...here will have to suffers for about 20+kms

But am hoping that charmadi is ina better state

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Rajesh i dont want to venture into Shiradi at all....will take a deviation at hassan- Belur-Mudigere-CHarmadi-Ujre-BC road...here will have to suffers for about 20+kms

But am hoping that charmadi is ina better state

Good luck, do let us know its condition so that in future people can decide clearly

[lohithrao]

Back from Mangalore....

While going took i took Hassan - Belur - Mudigere - Kalasa - Kudremukha - Moodbidre- Mlore... this took me 11 hrs thanks to lots of winding roads.....and occasional bad stretch..

While coming came by Shiradi.....took about 3 hrs to cover Mlore- Sakleshpura but thanks to the people returning home from holiday took me aboutt 6 hrs to get back home..

[dkamath]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

While coming came by Shiradi.....took about 3 hrs to cover Mlore- Sakleshpura

Lohith, that was fast! It takes me about 1-and-a-half hours extra time to cover that route. So, do you feel this road is nearly as good, or bad as the other one?

[prabhusati]

Hi Team,

I travelled from Bangalore to Mangalore on 8th Oct 2008. Based on information on this forum took the Bangalore - Srirangapatna - Hunsur - Kushalnagar - Madikeri - Sulya - Puttur - Uppinangady (had to stay at my in-law's place for the night). Then travelled to Mangalore the next day. Total distance of Bangalore - Mangalore was 411 kms. The road upto Kushalnagar is excellent, but it is horrible after that. Not worth taking this route since the distance is more plus you have to travel slow because of the bad road conditions. Not much traffic though. Started from home at Hennur cross @ 1.50pm and reached Uppinangady 9.55pm.

Started back to Bangalore on 12th Oct 2008. Started at 5.40am from my dad's place. Reached Uppinangady at 7.05 am. The road from Pumpwell circle to BC Road is bad. There is no road at most of the curves and hence need to be careful. After BC Road, some patch-work has been done, but there are many places which are absolutely bad. One is the stretch before and after the Amhai bridge and the other is the stretch before and after Uppinangady bridge. This stretch can easily be mistook for a nuclear blast site. It is a real risk for non-heavy vehicles. Dropped into my in-law's place again for 25 minutes. Started at 7.30 am and crossed the Shiradi ghats by 9.45 am. As mentioned by other members, apart from the concretised curves, all other curves are a mess. Traffic was not heavy on the ghats. Did not find many trademark mining trucks. However, from Hassan to Nelamangala traffic was very heavy. Two wheelers and auto's were in large numbers. Added to this is the race between KSRTC buses. They do not travel more than 60 kmph, but they try to overtake each other and block the traffic behind. Reached home in Bangalore by 1.50pm. Total distance travelled came to 356 kms.

FE:
My Innova gave a 14.91 KMPL on the onward journey and 13.28 KMPL on the return journey

[lohithrao]

As prabhu has mentioned from Mlore till Sakeleshpur one will have a bad time...

dkamath i was making use of my Adventure so i could cover the distance in a decent time.

ABout the "Mining Trucks" came across very few, it seems since there was a drop in demand and economy slow down it has hit the business....

[dkamath]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

dkamath i was making use of my Adventure so i could cover the distance in a decent time.
ABout the "Mining Trucks" came across very few, it seems since there was a drop in demand and economy slow down it has hit the business....

Guess am not as adventurous with the Safari . Thanks a "tonne" for the hearty mining news too.

Good fuel economy achieved, prabhusati! Was that with the AC on, all along the trip? In any case, its good enough.

[prabhusati]

Originally Posted by dkamath

Was that with the AC on, all along the trip?

Hi Kamath,

Yes. The FE is with AC on all along the trip. I drive with the AC always on.

Best Regards/Satish Prabhu

[prabhusati]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

While going took i took Hassan - Belur - Mudigere - Kalasa - Kudremukha - Moodbidre- Mlore... this took me 11 hrs thanks to lots of winding roads.....and occasional bad stretch....

Hi Lohith,
What was the distance on this route?

Best Regards/Satish Prabhu

[lohithrao]

Prabhu i think its about 450+kms....one needs to go on this route if they have good time in their hand else go via shiradi..

[adi99]

I travelled Bangalore to Udupi on the 4th october. The route was Bangalore-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Shiradi Ghat-Gundya-Dharmastala-Ujire-Karkala-Udupi. This is the best route if you are travelling to Udupi. You can avoid the BC road-Mangalore-Udupi bad stretch and also its 10-15 kms lesser. Total 419 kms.

Bangalore to hassan road is really good. Hassan bypass has a few potholes and after that you have 25-30 kms of really really bad shiradi ghat roads. Rest everything is good. The Dharmastala-Karkala road is narrow but the roads are good with very less traffic. I am returning to Bangalore on the 17th and will take the same route.

[prabhusati]

Article in Deccan Herald today
"Suspecting the misuse of funds for the repair of the Shiradi Ghat stretch of NH48 that connects Bangalore and Mangalore, the Karnataka High Court on Monday ordered a CBI enquiry. A division bench headed by the Chief Justice PD Dinakaran directed the State Government to complete the construction of the road within the next 3 months and submit a report to the court. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa welcomed the High Court Order"

Good that the High Court has intervened. These days it is only the judiciary which can make a Government take action.

Hope to see the Ghat roads repaired and spare our vehicles from moaning and groaning.

[lohithrao]

Yes even TOI carried this article on the front page, i was wondering all this while that such a huge mess up and the government was sitting quietly on it....

Hope this time atleast they fix the road complelty and permanently!

Originally Posted by prabhusati

Article in Deccan Herald today
"Suspecting the misuse of funds for the repair of the Shiradi Ghat stretch of NH48 that connects Bangalore and Mangalore, the Karnataka High Court on Monday ordered a CBI enquiry. A division bench headed by the Chief Justice PD Dinakaran directed the State Government to complete the construction of the road within the next 3 months and submit a report to the court. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa welcomed the High Court Order"

Good that the High Court has intervened. These days it is only the judiciary which can make a Government take action.

Hope to see the Ghat roads repaired and spare our vehicles from moaning and groaning.

[dkamath]

Looks like every trip to M'lore or back is turning to be an adventurous one.
The Airavat that we boarded on the last Friday to M'lore hit a large pothole in the Shiradi Ghat section resulting in the breakage of a metallic plate/shield possibly meant for protecting the exhaust muffler. It was being dragged along with the bus, unknown to our driver, who was then alerted by a Karnataka Sarige bus following us. The part had to be broken apart.

This incident not withstanding, the bus got hit by a petroleum tanker near Nelyadi resulting in 2 rear glasses to shatter and 2 passengers got wounded too. Had to continue journey by having to stand, in the next Airavat bus :(

Thankfully, Airavats are travelling by the Madikeri route since the Sunday.