Hyderabad - Bangalore - Latest Road Conditions

[binz]

v1p3r and myself drove from HYD-BLR on monday evening. we left at 4pm .. reached home at 4:30 am. Im not very good with routes but i remember we went through Ongole-Nagarjunasagar-kalahasthi-tirupathi-kolar bangalore.

We averaged 100kmph,roads were decent with a significant stretch being a 4-lane NH. Traffic was regular,truckers for the most part and the odd KSRTC bus.

[tmnraghu78]

Good News to all!

Now Hyderabad to Kurnool NH7 highway is fully operational! We only have to face single lanes (actually only one side of 4 lane is operational) near Pebber (just before Krishna Bridge) and on Tungabhadra bridge. After Kurnool no issues I believe.

Colleague of mine went to Kurnool yesterday night to see his new born baby. He made it in 5 hours in a bus.

Please share your experiences if anyone traveled since yesterday on these roads.

Thanks,
Raghu Lakshman

[itwasntme]

Blast! I bought a BLR-HYD air ticket just this morning thinking that NH7 must be heavily damaged :-( Had planned to drive down initially.

It'll be great if someone can post an update about the entire BLR-HYD route soon!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Blast! I bought a BLR-HYD air ticket just this morning thinking that NH7 must be heavily damaged :-( Had planned to drive down initially.

It'll be great if someone can post an update about the entire BLR-HYD route soon!

Its back to normal.go ahead & drive.you would get to see 1st hand the devastation as well sigh.

[carZest]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Its back to normal.go ahead & drive.you would get to see 1st hand the devastation as well sigh.

thanks ranjit! i had driven down to b'lore last week of september but couldn't return by road thanks to the floods. am planning to get the car back next weekend.

[kb100]

I am driving down to Hyd early tomorrow morning. Will update conditions en-route once I reach.

[manojgautham]

Originally Posted by kb100

I am driving down to Hyd early tomorrow morning. Will update conditions en-route once I reach.

Waiting for your update with fingers crossed. Need to take that road in about a weeks time.

[itwasntme]

Same here, Manoj. I plan to drive down on 19th morning and aim to reach HiTec City (HYD) by around 1 pm.

If I don't get an update from someone who has travelled the entire stretch, may just buy an air ticket again.

[kutlee]

i drove this route on sunday 11th. There is no problem at all due to floods. The briges at Kurnool is a bit clogged. hardy delays you by 10 mins. took 9.5 hours door to door from hyd to blore. keep going guys.

[kb100]

Just did this route on Sunday. Roads are brilliant. Kurnool town is a little battered - but nothing out of the ordinary.

Got caught in a snarl at the bridge at Kurnool. Only one of the bridges was open to traffic - hence they were taking turns at leaving traffic from either side. Some clowns decided to get wise and charged up the other carriageway and were largely responsible for the resulting snarl. Took me a whole hour to get past the bridge (12.30-1.30pm).

Discounting that it took me 9 hrs door-to-door including a 45 minute meal stop.

[itwasntme]

Did Bangalore (Mekhri Circle) to Hyderabad (Hi-Tec City) today in my Aveo.

Door to door was 560km covered in 7.5 hours non-stop with constant rain enroute.Haven't checked mileage yet but should be roughly 13km/lt.

Roads are good overall. Diversions are reasonably well-marked although the rain made conditions very treacherous in some of the diversions. Saw the aftermath of 5 offset head-on collisions between trucks and buses. Looked like due to the rain mixed with clay/stone chips and loosened road surface.

Will update a 'travelogue' in this thread shortly. No pics unfortunately as I was alone and concentrating on driving :-).

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Did Bangalore (Mekhri Circle) to Hyderabad (Hi-Tec City) today in my Aveo.

Door to door was 560km covered in 7.5 hours non-stop with constant rain enroute.Haven't checked mileage yet but should be roughly 13km/lt.

Roads are good overall. .

Wow, that was fast! Can you please update us on what percentage of the distance have the roads been 4-laned?

[itwasntme]

Hyderabad to Kurnool (220km) - Excellent 4 laned road. Krishna bridge is single lane each way. Kurnool town in bad shape and was taken at very slow speed with a lot of unruly traffic.

Kurnool to Penugonda (213km) - Mixed stretches with mostly under-construction 4 lane highway (but restricted to single carriageway only), patches of old 2 lane highway, road surface height changes and multiple marked diversions to and fro. Watch out for the Gooty rail crossing as it has huge speedbreakers on either side!

Penugonda to Chikballabhpur (80km) - Mostly completed 4 lane highway; glorious roads but with (usually) marked speedbreakers. Beware the 'blind humps' as one cannot see an idiot driving the wrong way because of the hill's peak.

Chikballabhpur town - Pretty bad state; Bypass WIP.

Chikballabhpur to Devanahalli (20km) - Village road that turns into the swanky Bangalore Airport expressway near the new airport ;-)

Devanahalli to Mekhri Circle (30km) - Glorious road threatening to turn into a death-trap with very heavy traffic AND pedestrians!

Hope this helps. Distances are approximate as I was alone and thus concentrating on driving :-)

Overall, unsure of the use of divided highways (in India) if people will ANYWAY drive the wrong way :-)