[swarnava.ch]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Jan 26th witnessed crazy chaos on expressway towards Mysore. The primary reason being hurriedly opening Mandya bypass without proper planning. The intersection where the Mandya bypass joins the old highway was the bottle neck. The 6 lane traffic was converging to 1-2 lane while exiting the bypass. And many people took the e.way for granted and started taking u-turn and returning on the wrong way and doing all kind of circus on the road. This was the reason for mayhem on that day.

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Took the expressway on 26th en route to Bandipur. Probably the worst drive of my life so far.

Was stuck in standstill traffic at every diversion. Vehicles were travelling on the wrong side pretty much all through the expressway and then cutting in whenever there was an opening, adding to the traffic.

Looks like you both were there with me on the same day. Started at 6:30 from Whitefield Bangalore, took 45 mins to get to NICE road entry at E City. Nice road itself had many diversions and single lanes due to road work ongoing and took another 45 mins to get to the expressway entry. Initially it was a very pleasant ride till about Maddur. Somewhere close to Mandya, it was standstill traffic for 1 hour. We were just stuck, not one car moving. Some passengers in a taxi went to the front and informed that Buses (KSRTC and Private), Trucks and Cars have decided to take the same lane as ours (driving wrong side) and in turn blocking the whole road.
It took full hour and some good souls to help manage the chaos. Due to this my journey to Bekal turned from 9 hours to 11 hours in total as traffic increased further beyond Mysore and Coorg due to the delay.
Return journey yesterday on Jan 30th was pleasant.

Some key points:
1. I am sure once this is finished properly and operated E2E, it will surely reduce the time and stress for Bangalore – Mysore drive. It can definitely handle Weekend rush towards Mysore. Start early if you want a smooth ride.
2. There are still around 3 diversions onwards and work there will need minimum 4 months to complete.
3. Bike riders are riding very carelessly and sometimes even in the middle lanes and suddenly will brake to take an exit out of the expressway. Please be very careful.
4. A lot of cars are taking to wrong side driving. More so , people are not following lane driving and some of the taxi guys were squeezing in to slightest of the gaps in between lanes.
5. It was difficult to find food stops now while going from BLR to MYS side as exits are not properly marked and unless you are very sure of where you want to stop for food, it’s a long circle of U-Turns. While coming back, there were better exits near the food outlets.
6. Like others said, Entry at Mysore Ring road to either sides - Ooty or Coorg takes a long time at Columbia Asia signal. Same while merging back from the expressway back into Bangalore / NICE road entry.

[theabstractmind]

Had a bad time in the onward Journey to Udupi on 26th as the diversions and heavy traffic was frustrating. Therefore I drove back on this route on the way back from Udupi, yesterday. Wanted to try our the route via Madikeri and avoid the train on vehicles on the Belur to Hassan stretch. The result?

Up to Madikeri it was manageable - and largely good roads. Being a weekend, traffic from Madikeri to Mysore was slightly heavy, but again, manageable. It was ab it similar to the Hassan Belur road but life made easier by slightly wider roads. The stretch from Mysore was worse.

Firstly, there was a huge pile up near Mandya and Maddur due to diversions. And then, based on my previous drives from Maddur (on relatively light traffic days) , I was expecting heavy traffic while joining Nice road toll plaza and I wasn't disappointed. There was a pile up of around 200 or 300 meters at about 6:00 PM. It would only get worse after that. It's a case of real bad engineering which will become another nightmare and will require another solution very shortly.

[goandude]

Drove this morning from CV Raman Nagar to Mysore. 40 minutes to Nice road junction and 1 hr 50 mins to Mysore ring road. Including a 10 min roadside breakfast break. Stress free drive, diversions are not too bad. But beware of animals crossing here are a few

Also dogs crossing, but couldn't photograph them.

[HighRevving]

Originally Posted by goandude

Also dogs crossing, but couldn't photograph them.

Oops. This could be scary on a foggy winter morning, especially since most of us want to leave very early to avoid the infamous traffic upto the expressway.

Having known this stretch for decades now and the kind of adamant local people who commute here, they may even cut the fence and start using the highway as it would be a long detour for them otherwise - which makes this even more dangerous because cattle or dogs may come in our way when we don't expect them there at all. I hope the authorities do something about keeping the fence in place and stop 2/3 wheelers.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by HighRevving

... I hope the authorities do something about keeping the fence in place and stop 2/3 wheelers.

There seem to be plenty of box-type crossings under the expressway near inhabited areas, which would hopefully be used to keep dangerous cross-traffic (human, bovine, agricultural vehicles etc.) off the expressway.

Service roads, on the stretches where they're open, are pretty good too. Nothing beats human ingenuity though. A puncture shop somewhere after Ramanagaram had the fence and divider in front smashed to enable customers to drop in.

[ak10]

Today I traveled from Kerala (Bathery) to Bangalore and decided to take the partially (but mostly) completed Mysore-Bangalore expressway. Entire 2022 (except once in September) i had used Kanakapura road instead of Mysore road owing to the construction work and frequent traffic jams on the Mysore road (and partially because i stay in Sarjapur and can enter Kanakapura road at Harohalli through Anekal bypassing all the city traffic). I was pleasantly surprised by the construction progress and the overall speed at which you can cover this notoriously boring stretch of road. I hit the starting point at Manipal Hospital signal around 11.20pm and entered Nice ring road at 12.40pm. Traffic was sparse until i reached within 40kms of Bangalore. Few points i noticed,

1. There are still some unfinished parts closer to Mysore and associated diversions. Once these gets completed travel time would reduce further.
2. My family mentioned it was very relaxing compared to the drive through Kanakapura road because of the better condition of the road and less frequent breaking and overtaking.
3. The number of dog carcasses on the road is really high - most probably victim to trucks/buses in the night. But this is one thing to be careful about as they can cause issue in the night and in less visible conditions. Turning suddenly to avoid hitting a dog can lead to catastrophic collisions with traffic in other lanes.
4. There were few turns that felt sharper than expected on this type of highways - not sure if its just me.
5. When i took this road (stretch around Bidadi which was then opened for traffic) in September there was heavy rain and there was large patches of smooth flowing water across the road. Looked like water was flowing down the road and crossing at some lower parts. I was scared to go over them at high speed as there is chance of hydroplaning. I am not sure if this is a design flaw or something that will be rectified later. Will be careful on my first drive on this express way in next rainy season.
6. Multiple places i have seen villagers crossing the highway with bikes - something to be careful about until completion of the entire work
7. While this road definitely help reduce the travel time and stress, unsure how this will impact the shops and restaurants already established on the old road. I could find that Hotel Empire is now moved on to the side of this express way and a direct exit was available from the highway.

[sandsun7]

Star of Mysore reports that toll collection on reach 1 of the expressway (Bangalore-Nidaghatta) will start from February 15th. Toll Rates are yet to be decided.
News link here:
https://starofmysore.com/mysuru-beng...ion-by-feb-15/

[vsarath]

Urgent attention needed! The newly constructed Bangalore - Mysore expressway is concerning, with its dangerous combination of curve and narrower lanes on the bridge lacking a shoulder. This can be a potential death trap. Let's prioritize the safety of drivers and passengers by ensuring proper design, maintenance, and inspections.

[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by vsarath

Urgent attention needed! The newly constructed Bangalore - Mysore expressway is concerning, with its dangerous combination of curve and narrower lanes on the bridge lacking a shoulder. This can be a potential death trap. Let's prioritize the safety of drivers and passengers by ensuring proper design, maintenance, and inspections.

To be fair, my memory says that you can observe the curve and rumble strips from a fair distance, thereby asking you to slow down. Also, the speed limit markers show a reduced limit 60 kmph I think). So unless drivers choose to ignore the markers, I think it is not really a safety hazard.

[vsarath]

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

To be fair, my memory says that you can observe the curve and rumble strips from a fair distance, thereby asking you to slow down. Also, the speed limit markers show a reduced limit 60 kmph I think). So unless drivers choose to ignore the markers, I think it is not really a safety hazard.

We are calling it an expressway. While the curve and rumble strips are meant to alert drivers to slow down, relying solely on drivers to obey speed limit markers may not always be enough. The lack of a shoulder can increase the risk of run-off-road crashes, especially when a vehicle enters a bridge. Additionally, if the expansion joints become too wide, they can create a bump in the road that can cause a driver to lose control of their vehicle. In such situations, drivers need a safe area to maneuver, and a shoulder provides this space. The narrow lane and curved bridge design can also increase the likelihood of lane departure crashes and make it more difficult for drivers to regain control of their vehicle safely. Expressways are designed for high-speed travel, and the current design does not meet the safety standards for this type of road. IMHO

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

To be fair, my memory says that you can observe the curve and rumble strips from a fair distance, d.

I guess this is the Bidadi - rail over bridge. The one now infamous for the Volvo drifting video and a serial accident soon after that.

Ideally, yes, for a newly constructed highway, they could have designed it better. More so since there was no geographical limitations there - No water body (a small lake was already filled up during construction), mountain etc.

What takes you by surprise I feel is the slight curve before the bridge, followed by a straight rail over bridge. Just as one aligns to the straight bridge, road again starts curving after the bridge.

But that said, I haven't felt this was risky turn as such. I guess with the preceding section being a fast one, everyone reaches the start of the bridge at more than ideal speed and then panics. The rumble strips, though does the intended work of warning drivers, also makes people panic and slow suddenly causing tricky situations.

This will be one the first places on this highway to have a speed breaker coming up I feel.

[shankar.balan]

Specifically ref those bridges and rumble strips and cats eyes markers embedded in the road.

Ive driven up and down this road several times since around Feb/ March 2022 until just last weekend. Ive driven several different vehicles on it. My own widely diverse vehicles and a couple of others one of which belongs to my Dad and one to a friend.
If one drives sensibly and at fair and sensible speeds, in an ‘anticipatory’ manner, keeps around the speed limits, observes lane discipline and is generally alert and vigilant, these curves and rumble strips will neither catch one by surprise nor unsettle one’s vehicle in any way.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by vsarath

We are calling it an expressway. While the curve and rumble strips are meant to alert drivers to slow down, relying solely on drivers to obey speed limit markers may not always be enough. The lack of a shoulder can increase the risk of run-off-road crashes, especially when a vehicle enters a bridge. Additionally, if the expansion joints become too wide, they can create a bump in the road that can cause a driver to lose control of their vehicle. In such situations, drivers need a safe area to maneuver, and a shoulder provides this space. The narrow lane and curved bridge design can also increase the likelihood of lane departure crashes and make it more difficult for drivers to regain control of their vehicle safely. Expressways are designed for high-speed travel, and the current design does not meet the safety standards for this type of road. IMHO

Your arguments are honestly valid. Even I was caught off guard with this bridge and the speed limit of 60 kmph here is an anomaly considering rest of the stretch is 100 kmph. Yes, it's a bottleneck and a safety concern but you should do fine if you stick to the speed limit. I found myself approaching this stretch at approximately 115-120 kmph and thus had to slow down to 70-80 kmph to navigate this stretch but if you're doing 100kmph, it's very much easy to tackle this stretch without being caught off guard, especially from Bangalore end where this bridge is found right after a hill if I'm not wrong.

Definitely not according to international standards. I won't be surprised if this stretch sees a lot of accidents and an alternate stretch/ bridge is constructed eventually.

And I agree with the argument that there should be safety built into the design but let's be real - such designs have become a necessity in our circles only recently and a lot of it has to do with budgets/minimum acquisition of agricultural land, which I presume is the case here.

[vsarath]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

I guess this is the Bidadi - rail over bridge. The one now infamous for the Volvo drifting video and a serial accident soon after that.

Ideally, yes, for a newly constructed highway, they could have designed it better. More so since there was no geographical limitations there - No water body (a small lake was already filled up during construction), mountain etc.

What takes you by surprise I feel is the slight curve before the bridge, followed by a straight rail over bridge. Just as one aligns to the straight bridge, road again starts curving after the bridge.

But that said, I haven't felt this was risky turn as such. I guess with the preceding section being a fast one, everyone reaches the start of the bridge at more than ideal speed and then panics. The rumble strips, though does the intended work of warning drivers, also makes people panic and slow suddenly causing tricky situations.

This will be one the first places on this highway to have a speed breaker coming up I feel.

Oh, I was not aware that accidents are already occurring at this location. Despite the advancements in road infrastructure, it's crucial to pay attention to these finer details. Consistent road design, with the absence of unexpected or confusing elements, can promote safe and confident driving among drivers.

[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

I guess this is the Bidadi - rail over bridge. The one now infamous for the Volvo drifting video and a serial accident soon after that.

Ideally, yes, for a newly constructed highway, they could have designed it better. More so since there was no geographical limitations there - No water body (a small lake was already filled up during construction), mountain etc.

t that said, I haven't felt this was risky turn as such. I guess with the preceding section being a fast one, everyone reaches the start of the bridge at more than ideal speed and then panics. The rumble strips, though does the intended work of warning drivers, also makes people panic and slow suddenly causing tricky situations.

This will be one the first places on this highway to have a speed breaker coming up I feel.

There are two bridges of this kind on this stretch. This one seems like the Bidadi one. I have passed through this bridge five or six times and never found it a problem, honestly. I think sometimes we just need to accept things at face value - in this case, the road design. Isn't it ironic that when mishaps occur, people first blame the design and the lack of any markers, and when the markers are in place, we still blame saying it is not enough?

And we can't be sure of what constraints existed when building this bridge the way it is. One thing I can say is that the elevation gain between Ramanagara and Bangalore is quite a bit and this could have forced the current alignment alongside any commercial factors. And somehow, I have seen most bridges to be a two lane one. Not sure if there's any reason for that.

The comments here aren't personal. Quoted you only for the context.