[praful]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Praful - Few points to note on the Ponda - Dharwad leg:

a. Be prepared to get stuck in a jam of mining lorries on NH4A b/w Tisk and Molem. I was stuck in one for almost an hour last Saturday - never seen so many lorries together in my life If you are lucky, you might not face a jam but definitely some moderate/heavy lorry traffic would be there. Factor for at least an extra half hour/one hour for this.

b. DO NOT TAKE RAMNAGAR - DHARWAD ROAD. Take a left at Ramnagar and continue on NH4A till few kms before Khanapur. You will see a sharp (almost U) right saying 'Yellapur' - take that road till Bidi where again you will have to take a left for Kittur. This is a very inconspicuous turn and you might mistake it for an interior road leading to the village market. There are no signboards here. If confused, ask for directions to Kittur.

c. Road conditions are excellent all the way from Ponda to Khanapur (NH4A). Khanapur - Bidi (18 kms) is good with few rough patches. Bidi to Kittur (15 kms) is mostly rough with potholes and narrow roads but since it is a short stretch, no major issues.

d. You can find ample info on condition of NH4 from Dharwad to Bangalore on this thread.

Overall, you would take around 3-3.5 hours from Ponda to Kittur depending largely on the intensity of the 'lorry jam' that you might face.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a tonne, so I will skip the Dharward shortcut! I hope there is network coverage along the route will be using google maps on the go so I don't miss any of the turns.

Hope that the Khanapur-Bidi-Kittur stretch is OK types!

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Most painful stretches are the railway crossings and passage through Ranebennur.

+1 to that! I must have spent atleast about 30-45 mins just to pass Ranibennur, and another 1 hour overall must have been wasted in the two railway crossings.

God only knows when the bypasses will be complete!

Originally Posted by praful

Any pointers? What is the usual drive time for the NH4/NH4A route and for the NH17/NH206 route. Im not an extremely fast driver will be my first time driving on these narrow highways. On a bike it takes me about 14 hours to reach Panjim via the NH17 route. I am expecting it take me a lot longer in my car!

I did this route of NH 206/17 on 27 Feb 2010 during my Goa trip. The quality of NH 17, though 2 laned, was excellent, free from potholes. NH 206 was also okay with some rough stretches and intermediate lane of 4.5 m width between Tumkur and Shimoga. From Shimoga onwards the road quality was superb. I took aobut 15 hours including coffee, breakfast, lunch breaks and photo sessions. We also had some diversions to visit some temple en route. For further details of my travelogue, please see

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...mbai-pune.html

[praful]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I did this route of NH 206/17 on 27 Feb 2010 during my Goa trip. The quality of NH 17, though 2 laned, was excellent, free from potholes. NH 206 was also okay with some rough stretches and intermediate lane of 4.5 m width between Tumkur and Shimoga. From Shimoga onwards the road quality was superb. I took aobut 15 hours including coffee, breakfast, lunch breaks and photo sessions. We also had some diversions to visit some temple en route. For further details of my travelogue, please see

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...mbai-pune.html

Thanks a lot for the inputs. Even I am targeting around the 15 hours mark.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Guys,

Just back from Goa via Ponda - Anmod - Londa - Khanapur - Kittur - Dharwad - Davangere - Tumkur. Will post up the latest conditions soon. Stay tuned!!

Here is a quick dump on road conditions:

a. Ponda - Anmod (48 kms): You need not enter Ponda. Just before you hit Ponda (assuming arrival from Margao side on NH17B), you get a deviation (right) for Curti (it says 'Towards Belgaum'). Take that and you hit Curti on NH4A. Roads from here to Anmod via Molem are good to excellent, only pain being the lorry traffic. Roads at GA/KA border have also been repaired and are in good condition. Ghat section is in excellent condition but be watchful of your speed as some of the curves are too tight and will put your driving skills to test. As you cross into Karnataka, you might be stopped for checking at Anmod.

b. Anmod - Ramnagar (24 kms): Roads on this stretch are again good and you can easily average 70-80 kmph.

c. Ramnagar - Khanapur - Bidi - Kittur: Details available here

d. Dharwad bypass: As always in excellent condition but for being 2-lane. Wonder why is it not being 4-laned given the heavy traffic it takes.

e. Dharwad - Haveri: Superb roads

f. Haveri - Davangere: This is where the pain begins. Haveri bypass is still incomplete and expect jams at the two railway crossings. Passing through Ranibennur is a royal PITA as well.

g. Davangere/Harihar bypass is incomplete too and the many diversions tend to get irritating. Also, you have to be watchful of the nasty humps especially if you are driving a low GC vehicle. A good staying option, if you intend to take a break at Davangere for whatever reasons, is Genesis Resort, about 20 kms after the bypass begins, on your LHS. A/C rooms at INR 1,200 are slightly overpriced but good/clean. Phone no. - 08192 280194

h. Davangere - Nelamangala: Superb roads with all bypasses now complete.

i. Nelamangala - Yehwantpur: I took a chance driving on this stretch instead of the earlier planned deviation via Dobbasapete/Doddaballpur and it paid off. Since I crossed Nelamangala around 2 pm on a Sunday, traffic was low and I reached the ORR intersection in 20 minutes.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any specific queries.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Here is a quick dump on road conditions:

a. Ponda - Anmod (48 kms): You need not enter Ponda. Just before you hit Ponda (assuming arrival from Margao side on NH17B), you get a deviation (right) for Curti (it says 'Towards Belgaum'). Take that and you hit Curti on NH4A. Roads from here to Anmod via Molem are good to excellent, only pain being the lorry traffic. Roads at GA/KA border have also been repaired and are in good condition. Ghat section is in excellent condition but be watchful of your speed as some of the curves are too tight and will put your driving skills to test. As you cross into Karnataka, you might be stopped for checking at Anmod. looks like things have iomproved a lot xcept for the checking bit

bh. Davangere - Nelamangala: Superb roads with all bypasses now complete. you mean that that the work at citradurgare BP and Tumkur BP has been completed? Then this is fast work

i. Nelamangala - Yehwantpur: I took a chance driving on this stretch instead of the earlier planned deviation via Dobbasapete/Doddaballpur and it paid off. Since I crossed Nelamangala around 2 pm on a Sunday, traffic was low and I reached the ORR intersection in 20 minutes. did the same myself mid feb with ditto results

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any specific queries.

Thanks for the info my comments above

[praful]

A quick recap, the NH206/NH17 route takes anywhere from 14-16 hours to reach for sedate drivers!

What is the expected time to cover the NH4/NH4A route?

I want to avoid night driving on Non-GQ roads so I thought I'd take the NH206/N17 route on my journey from Bangalore as I'd be starting wee hours of the morning.

And, I'd take the NH4/NH4A route on my return journey as I would start post lunch from Goa, which means for more than half of the trip I would be traveling in the dark so the GQ route would be comparatively safer.

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by praful

What is the expected time to cover the NH4/NH4A route?

About 12 hours with reasonable breaks. See my post here

GQ route would be comparatively safer.

+1. I feel driving on divided roads is a lot safer than single lane highways at night.

[praful]

Originally Posted by bullinb

About 12 hours with reasonable breaks. See my post here

+1. I feel driving on divided roads is a lot safer than single lane highways at night.

Thanks a tonne your linked post was pretty helpful. Especially the Beedi-Kittur part,now really considering going all the way till Belguam.

But 12 hours? I wonder if I can manage that.

Anyhow lets see, will take a call based on the time that I leave.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by praful

Especially the Beedi-Kittur part,now really considering going all the way till Belguam.

Bidi-Kittur is not bad and definitely going all the way up to Belgaum is not justified. Please read my post here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post1800871

[praful]

Alright update from my side!



Onward Journey : I did Bangalore (Banashankari) - Tumkur - Shimoga - Honavar - Goa (Anjuna) [NH206/NH17] => 720 Kms in 14 hours. Started at 3.30 AM from my house.

Road conditions have improved quite a bit over the last 15 months. Especially the NH17 stretch which is not as broken as it was before.I'd definitely recommend this route if you don't spending a little extra time to reach Bangalore. The only confusion was the exit from NH4 at Tumkur, but google maps+gps helped. Overall road surface is pretty decent!


Return Journey : I did Goa (Anjuna) - Londa - Ramnagar - Khanapur - M.K. Hubli - Haveri - Bangalore (Banshankari) [NH4A/SH31/NH4] => 670 Kms in 13 hours.

NH4A stretch was beautiful, not a single mining truck anywhere empty roads all throughout. The surface was pretty manageable, bad at places but forgivable! At Khanapur I missed the Beedi-Kittur turn and some dumb Auto guy suggested me a route which was supposed to be half the distance of the Beedi-Kittur route and that turned out to be the Khanapur-M.K. Hubli stretch, those 25 Kms took about 45-60 mins to cover and i'm pretty sure my suspension would need a overhaul just for this stretch! :x Luckily for me since I was passing pretty late at night I did not have any traffic jams at the two railway crossings or in Ranibennur!

[addyhemmige]

Pardon me for going OT, but what is this M.K.Hubli?

[praful]

Here have a look....

M.K. Hubli - Google Maps

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Pardon me for going OT, but what is this M.K.Hubli?

It's a village on NH-4 between Hubli and Belgaum.
Wikipedia
WikiMapia

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by praful

The only confusion was the exit from NH4 at Tumkur

It is quite confusing especially at night but easy to remember - the first left after the toll booth.

Originally Posted by praful

At Khanapur I missed the Beedi-Kittur turn

I did too. You need to take a sharp right just before Khanapur town. The signage here says to Yellapur. Continue upto Beedi and take the left turn in the middle of the village towards Kittur.

[addyhemmige]

Thanks guys, I was under the impression that this was Hubli city with the initials conveniently forgotten