[CorsaLove]

Originally Posted by goandude

Thanks Corsa, this is a BIG improvement over the last one year or so. In fact i didnt drive down from Goa to Blore this time because the last time i did the trip the rds were awful. hope this monsoon dost wreck them. BTW are the haveri and ranibennur bypasses complete? or does one have to drive thru those towns?

Still have to go site seeing in those towns...

[ravibhat]

Right now I am in Ankola and will be back Bangalore in 1 week time.

Road condition upate:

Left Bangalore on April 18th at 7AM and reached Tumkur by 8AM and 20 minutes break to eat Dosas. Reached Chitradurga Reliance A1 plaza (quality has come down now and food is not good) by 10:20AM and 20 minutes break. Reached Haveri by 1:20PM.

Good 4 lane road between Bangalore - Chitradurga. 3 places (total around 100rs) we need to pay highway usage fee.

I can see lot of improvement between Citradirga - Haveri now. I could spot hardly 10 km bad stretches. Contractors have assured work will be completed by this year end. I don't trust that but Lets hope so.

Bangalore - Chitradurga : 200km : 3 hours. (25 minutes break)
Chitradurga - Haveri : 130km : 3 hours. (40 minutes break)
Haveri - Sirsi : 70km : 3 hrs (90 minutes break of lunch and friend's house visit) Road is quiet good with 10 km bad stretches in terms of single lane or rough surface.

Good News: Hardly any potholes we can spot

===

I have travelled between Sirsi, Kumta, Ankola. Now all potholes are filled and they have relaid the road in many places around Devimane ghat.

NH 17 they have relaid the surface but already because of hot summer and heavy mines truck made road un even. Heavy trucks tyres have moved the Tarr content to middle and one side of the road. My Innova tyres made funny sound when driven on smooth tarr surface, but more smooth ness will cause emergency breaking an issue because we tend to loose grip. Very funny looking stretch that is but with less potholes at last.

I will be travelling Sirsi - Sagar - Hosanagar - Teerthahalli - Agumbe - Sringeri - Kudremukh - Kalasa - Horanaadu - Chikamagalur - Hassan - Bangalore very soon and will update about it by May 5th.

Regards,

Ravi.

[gopalnayak]

Came back from my trip yesterday. I took the following route:

Bangalore - Tumkur - Shimoga - Sagar - Sirsi - Mirjan - Ankola - Karwar - Goa (Went upto Bali)
Return: Bali - Karwar - Honnavar - Sagar - Shimoga - Tumkur - Bangalore

Bangalore - Tumkur - Shimoga is very much motorable. I started at 6:10 AM (South Bangalore) and reached Shimoga at 11 AM with about 20 mins break in between. Reached Sirsi at 1:10 PM. Took an hour break there and reached Ankola a 3:30 PM. Shimoga - Sagar - Sirsi - Mirjan is a pleasure to drive. I was wondering is I am in Karnataka. I generally do not expect good roads in Karnataka! Ankola - Karwar - Bali took around 2 hrs. Tumkur - Shimoga route is full of surprises. There are lots of unmarked humps and I ran over atleast 4 of them. Luckily, there was no damage to the car. Road condition is a bit bad around Tarikere. There are bad spots, no bad stretches.

Honnavar - Sagar route is OK. There are quite a few bad spots here as well and the road is really narrow at some places. If you encounter a big vehicle (if at all that is), you'll have a tough time overtaking.

Originally Posted by ravibhat

I have travelled between Sirsi, Kumta, Ankola. Now all potholes are filled and they have relaid the road in many places around Devimane ghat.

This stretch was sheer pleasure. I did not really see any issue here.

Originally Posted by ravibhat

NH 17 they have relaid the surface but already because of hot summer and heavy mines truck made road un even. Heavy trucks tyres have moved the Tarr content to middle and one side of the road. My Innova tyres made funny sound when driven on smooth tarr surface, but more smooth ness will cause emergency breaking an issue because we tend to loose grip. Very funny looking stretch that is but with less potholes at last.

I had a real scare when driving between Mirjan and Ankola. There is a particular stretch when the tyres really start to make a funny noise. The closest noise that I have heard would be of the tyres of a loaded truck. But then, it stopped after I had travelled some distance. I got the same noise at the same spot on my return journey as well. Overall, the surface is generally pretty good and I was driving at 100+ all the time. The road is a bit rough at some places, but no real issues. These sections are also being repaired.

[lohithrao]

Ravi & Gopal, good update there!

I loved the route from the diversion i took near jog till i reached NH17 via Devmane ghat, few months back when i had been there!

Good news that roads have improved... this calls for many drives/rides

[lohithrao]

Would like to know the road conditions on Hosanagara, havent been there for a longg time

Waiting for the updates from ravi

[ravibhat]

True, Diversion road near Jog Falls which go towards siddapura - sirsi - devimane ghat - mirjan - ankola improved a lot from last 1 month except for couple of bridge work.

Still If one uses AC I suggest take NH4 and then NH4A from bangalore to Goa via chitradurga , Hubli.

Shimoga route is good and AC not needed but it has unexpected potholes and narrow road from which your speed decreases.

Its good to see repair work is done very fast hopefully it will last long!

Regards,

Ravi.

[CorsaLove]

Thanks for the updates Ravi!! it is really great to know and I agree with you that the NH4 is a better option now.

I'm planning to do Bangalore - Pune - Shirdi next month and will take the NH4 all the way to Pune and back as I have to visit a friend there.

[lohithrao]

Ot, how far is shirdi?? i might be going there soon...

[CorsaLove]

Pune is 800 KM from bangalore, i'm not sure how many KM is Shridi from Pune, but it is a 4 hour travel i'm guessing..

Anyone has any ideas on this?

[goandude]

Originally Posted by gopalnayak

I had a real scare when driving between Mirjan and Ankola. There is a particular stretch when the tyres really start to make a funny noise. The closest noise that I have heard would be of the tyres of a loaded truck. But then, it stopped after I had travelled some distance. I got the same noise at the same spot on my return journey as well.

I had a similar experience. The tyre treads of the heavy mine trucks leave their imprint on the tar when it is soft, due to high ambient temperature. Thus when your tyres travel over these imprints it makes this peculiar sound. Not to worry.

[goandude]

A friend of mine did Bangy Ankola last week. It seems that the rd from chitradurga to haveri was bad with diversions ever so often. so instead of staying on NH 4 till hubli he took the sirsi route which he claimed was much better.
The diversions on the NH4 which were maintained by the contractors are now not maintained by any one so - huge potholes. The NHAI website states that the contract for the Haveri Chitradurga stretch has been terminated.

[CorsaLove]

Originally Posted by goandude

A friend of mine did Bangy Ankola last week. It seems that the rd from chitradurga to haveri was bad with diversions ever so often. so instead of staying on NH 4 till hubli he took the sirsi route which he claimed was much better.
The diversions on the NH4 which were maintained by the contractors are now not maintained by any one so - huge potholes. The NHAI website states that the contract for the Haveri Chitradurga stretch has been terminated.

I did not have any of those problems on that strech in March. May be the rains have taken their toll on the diversion road

[sfilinto]

Originally Posted by gopalnayak

Came back from my trip yesterday. I took the following route:

Bangalore - Tumkur - Shimoga - Sagar - Sirsi - Mirjan - Ankola - Karwar - Goa (Went upto Bali)
Return: Bali - Karwar - Honnavar - Sagar - Shimoga - Tumkur - Bangalore

Hi Gopal,
what was the route you took between tumkur & shivamogga ? via chitradurga ? ?

[sfilinto]

Team,
I am planning to drive Goa-Belgaum-BLR later today.
here is the plan
1) Leave goa before Noon.
2) Travel to belgaum via Sawantwaddi ( or mabey anmod )
3) got about an hours work in belgaum
4) head towards hubli and then down to haveri.
5) night halt at Haveri.
6) next morning leave to bangalore via tumkur.

Questions:
1) any suggestions on the timelines each section would take ?

2) I have heard some conflicting information on the condition of this route.
also does this road have heavy truck traffic ?

3) whats a better route between goa and belgaum ?
via swantwaddi or via anmod ? ( i mean road conditions )

4) any suggestions on a place to stay in haveri. - a friend suggested a hotel on the highway in haveri he has stayed in the past but could not recollect the name.

TIA.

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Originally Posted by sfilinto

Team,
I am planning to drive Goa-Belgaum-BLR later today.
here is the plan
1) Leave goa before Noon.
2) Travel to belgaum via Sawantwaddi ( or mabey anmod )
3) got about an hours work in belgaum
4) head towards hubli and then down to haveri.
5) night halt at Haveri.
6) next morning leave to bangalore via tumkur.

Questions:
1) any suggestions on the timelines each section would take ?

2) I have heard some conflicting information on the condition of this route.
also does this road have heavy truck traffic ?

3) whats a better route between goa and belgaum ?
via swantwaddi or via anmod ? ( i mean road conditions )

4) any suggestions on a place to stay in haveri. - a friend suggested a hotel on the highway in haveri he has stayed in the past but could not recollect the name.

TIA.

Hi, I Travelled on the Goa -sawantwadi- belgaum route 2 days back.The road is Good.A double road with less traffic,decent i would say.