[hvkumar]

North Goa, NH17

Road from Savantwadi to Panaji on NH17 is open.

Road from Nippani (NH4) to Savantwadi (NH17) via Amboli is open.

[hvkumar]

Baroda-Surat, NH8

The NH8, between Baroda and Surat, some sections, are under water,
there were 8-10 hour blocks yesterday, very bad scene for long
distance travelers.

(Reported by Ramky in Mahindra Scorpio Yahoo Group)

[ramkya1]

Thanks HVK for keeping this line running....

Actually, the section from Baroda to Surat is watter logged due to the reparis going on + some sections near Anklwshwar are under water, though drivable slowly. There was an overturned truck obstructing the road near Anklleshwar, someone I know got stuck in a traffic ALL NIGHT, 8 hours of dead-lock, came to office just now !!!!!!!! He reports pretty bad scene.

He also reports that sections of the Bardoli Roads are fully under water due to dam overflows.

--Ramky

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Baroda-Surat, NH8

The NH8, between Baroda and Surat, some sections, are under water,
there were 8-10 hour blocks yesterday, very bad scene for long
distance travelers.

(Reported by Ramky in Mahindra Scorpio Yahoo Group)

[hvkumar]

Goa-Belgaum road traffic restored

Traffic was restored on the Goa-Belgaum highway via Anmod on Tuesday morning. A landslide had blocked the highway for three days. However, traffic on the Goa-Mumbai route still remains affected by a river in spate at Banda. Buses are following a diversion via Amboli ghat, resulting in over an hour’s delay.

(reported in Times of India, Goa Edition, Aug 13)

Further news update is that Savantwadi-Banda-Goa road is also open.

[ramkya1]

The road between Baroda to Surat yesterday also was having problems, no grid-locks, but crawling traffic. 2 bridges inbetween has high water marks, the water is receding as per today morning reports.

Even one rail bridge in this section was closed for traffic yesterday night, today morning onwards trains are passing that bridge very slowly, water almost touching the bridge; reportedly water is receding today morning.

Anyone traveling this section, please plan for at least 5/6 hours of cushion for delays.

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Thanks HVK for keeping this line running....

Actually, the section from Baroda to Surat is watter logged due to the reparis going on + some sections near Anklwshwar are under water, though drivable slowly. There was an overturned truck obstructing the road near Anklleshwar, someone I know got stuck in a traffic ALL NIGHT, 8 hours of dead-lock, came to office just now !!!!!!!! He reports pretty bad scene.

He also reports that sections of the Bardoli Roads are fully under water due to dam overflows.

--Ramky

[tsk1979]

Road to Barog is completely blocked, no access to Barog Heights.
Landlide on Kasauli route cleared, but keeps happening again.
Non stop rain in Punjab and Himachal for past 3 days.

[hvkumar]

NH8: Bombay-Ahmedabad
Worsening Situation

Reported in Times of India, Aug 13

Vadodara/Bharuch: Incessant rains paralysed rail traffic between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and Mumbai and Delhi on Wednesday morning after two rivers between Vadodara and Bharuch — Dhadhar and Jambua — started flowing over the danger mark. The highways were faring no better with major traffic jams near Bharuch and Surat.

On the highways thousands of vehicles, including trucks and state transport buses, were halted at different locations. Amlakhadi bridge and Sardar Bridge became major bottlenecks as both have only one lane functional due to repair work. Meanwhile the NH-8 stretch between Surat and Bharuch, Olpad and Kim and Kim-Hansot remained closed due to heavy waterlogging.

Kumar's comments - This means all routes to Ahmedabad are closed, including the alternative through Olpad.

[ramkya1]

Road between Ahmedabad to Udaipur thro Himmatnagar is as good as ever, though some drizzles are there, no rains. Traffic is light, mostly trucks and local traffic.

Reached in 4 hours of leasurely drive, checked in for a monsoon holiday for the long week end. Reportedly, Udaipur - Jaipur is open and no problem.

--Ramky

[hvkumar]

Himachal

The light vehicles got stranded on the Dharamsala-Hoshiarpur National Highway at Dhaliara for more than two hours.

(reported in Tribune, Aug 13)

[pjay_in]

On Wednesday (13th Aug) evening I had to take up a night-drive with family from Mangalore to a place near Pattambi, due to a family emergency. We started at 6 pm from Mangalore, and reached Vilayur (between Koppam and Pulamanthole) at about 3 am. I drove unhurriedly because of 1) the road condition, 2) night driving, 3) rains, and 4) it did't actually matter whether we reached at 1 am or 5 am.

I didn't take down notes to record bad road stretches, but here is a general update on NH-17 south of Mangalore:

Mangalore-Kasargod: H.O.R.R.I.B.B.L.E. road especially till around Kumbala. There are some impossible stretches around Manjeshwar. Just before Kasargod the road improved and became good actually. As we entered the town area the quality dropped again a bit.

Kasargod-Payyannur: I took the Chandragiri/Bekal route after Kasargod, fearing that the highway might continue to be very bad. It turned out to be a sensible decision, as the road surface was okay. The only problem was the frequent speed breakers. After Kanhangad we rejoined NH17 and there onwards the road was just so-so till Payyannur (occasional bad stretches where you have to slow down).

Payyannur-Kannur: The road was good generally. The several FM stations of Kannur definitely elevated our spirits as we focussed less on the road and more on the songs.

Kannur-Calicut: Good.

I bypassed Calicut (from Westhill till I joined the new bypass on Mavoor road, the road condition was just average. But from there the bypass to Ramanattukara was very good).

Ramanattukara-Valancheri : Generally good. Monsoon is yet to get its results.

Valancheri - Koppam: Having deviated from the highway, the difference in quality was felt. Road was not that good (but still drivable).

We found police parties at many places on the way, stopping our car and asking questions. When I complained of these frequent checks, one inspector told me I could expect more on the way as they had intensified security ahead of 15th of August.

The next afternoon I drove from Pattambi to Palakkad. Pattambi to Kulappully (near Shoranur) was ok, and from Kulappully to Palakkad was very good (the repair works done last season were holding good).

If I have missed out something or erred somewhere, I will correct these after my return journey. I am driving back on 17th morning.

[hvkumar]

NH 4: Hubli-Chitradurga (Bombay-Bangalore Road)

Rains have extracted their toll on NH4. Roads are damaged around Ranebennur, on stretches between Ranebennur and Harihar, Harihar-Davangere bypass and also randomly between Davangere and Chitradurga.

[hvkumar]

Mysore-Coimbatore Road, NH209

Update from DWind
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/942746-post14.html

Quote:
Nanjangud - Chamraj Nagar : The Najangud bye-pass is still not complete and is fit only for Trucks. The road beyond to Chamraj Nagar is better buit you still have to be careful about the odd Pothole and slow down if you see any slight indication of habitation.
Chamraj Nagar - Thimbam: NH 209. The road condition can be divided into 2 phases. CH Nagar till Chikkhole / Suvarnavathi resorvoir. The road until then is a car breaker. Be extremely careful when you drive here. There are potholes everywhere. In fact, the Lorries have started to take the shoulder which is better than these potoles. You can follow them but be careful that you do not center your humps as they can scrap your car if it has a low GC. Once you cross the reservoirs the road gets better and you can travel at a better pace. You still have to be careful for you might encounter some bad stretches(Huge craters filled with water) which can be tricky. Take a cue from the Lorry Drivers and how deep the crater is and then decide your route. The road gets better once you cross TN border.

[sriturl]

Last week did Bang-Hyd and returned yesterday(Hyderabad to Bangalore)
Other than places where 4 laning is complete, the surface is seriously affected by rains.
Pretty bad surface around Penukonda.
Also, most diversions have pot holes. You need to slow down significantly at a few diversions. If there is water around pot diversions, best to slow down.

[maddy42]

I travelled on these routes and here is my observations.

Calicut airport to kalpetta
Roads on the straights are good and not many speed breakers.
4 set of potholes till you reach the Ghat section on the route to kalpetta. The ghats have bad roads now. Entire one side of the roads have peeled off on the hairpin bends.
Kalpetta to mananthvady is decent. Just keep a lookout for few series of potholes.
Mananthvady to tholpatty is decent but the quality has reduced from the highway though. The sides of the roads are not very good.
Tholpatty to kutta and then kanoor is horrible. Esp the tholatty gate to kutta gate is pathetic. @-3rd gear is most suited in a jeep or bolero or safari

Route 2
Kanoor( coorg) to mysore via nagarhole forest road.

Kanoor to balele is not in a great conditions. Balele to hunsur in the forest is pathetic for 10 kms. Small cars cannot traverse this path. Once we reach the road where the road to kutta meets it from there the roads are good but with lotsa speedbreakers.

Once you reach hunsur just be careful as there are 3 sets of speedbreakers 2 kms 4 kms and 5 kms from hunsur. From there to mysore the roads are good.

[shankar.balan]

Two bits for everyone - Bangalore-Ooty/ Nilgiris-Bangalore-15th-17th Aug-08.
1.Nanjangud-Gundlupet-Bandipur - pretty ok except for about 15-20 km before Bandipur - road widening works are proceeding extremely slowly. trees being chopped down etc. Road surface pretty badly potholed but navigable. Just be a bit careful you dont knock your underside in case you are in a regular car.
2.Bandipur to Ooty - no problems at all except very few patches of potholes within the National Parks of Bandipur-Mudumalai.
3.Ooty-Doddabetta-Wellington-Coonoor-Kotagiri-Kodanadu-Kil Kotagiri-Nedugula-Majoor etc roads are excellent throughout.
4.Ooty through Pykara through Gudalur to Theppakadu - the road has been done up well and it is a good pleasurable drive now. Small patches where there are potholes but a millionfold improvement on this road since May 2008.