[Pam81]

Any latest updates on how much time extra need to be accounted for diversions in Hubli - Dharwad en route to Pune?

I am driving to Pune from Bangalore tomorrow morning. Leaving by 7am due to constraints with kids. I will be facing huge traffic in Kohlapur / Satara but not sure if any relief since it's Sunday...

Kindly offer tips / suggestions!

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by Pam81

I am driving to Pune from Bangalore tomorrow morning. Leaving by 7am due to constraints with kids. I will be facing huge traffic in Kohlapur / Satara but not sure if any relief since it's Sunday...

Kindly offer tips / suggestions!

Whoa ! Sunday is all the more hellish out there on NH4 in Maharashtra To be very honest, tomorrow Kagal--Kolhapur--Pune--Mumbai will be witnessing extremely high traffic. Trust me when I say this. I have driven on Saturdays and Sundays from Belgaum to Pune/Mumbai many times and the traffic levels have always been soaringly high ( more than the usual high traffic in MH ). Given that you are starting from Bangalore by 7 a.m , you would be touching Maharashtra border roughly around 4-5pm, brace up to face heavy traffic for the next 260 kms till Pune.

[ram87pune]

I have just reached Hubli and staying here for 1 night. Left home on Prabhat road Pune at 1:40 pm and reached Vitthal Kamat immediately after Kini toll at 4:40. Took a break for approximately 30 mins. Drove non stop from there and reached Hubli at 8 pm.

Quick update on road conditions. Pune to Wai phata it's well known for its diversions and bad road quality. Post that till Kolhapur its between good to very good. One warning that while ascending the Khambatki ghat there are a couple of very nasty potholes. Do watch out. Post kolhapur its smooth sailing till Dharwad. Absolutely butter smooth roads with minimal traffic. Also toll amount reduces as you enter Karnataka.

[Pam81]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Given that you are starting from Bangalore by 7 a.m , you would be touching Maharashtra border roughly around 4-5pm, brace up to face heavy traffic for the next 260 kms till Pune.

How time it would take per your past drives for the last leg of 260km? How many more hours likely? Toll gates are accumulating points and might take 25 ~35 mins or so!

[rjalihal]

Hello all,

So, after an extended stay in Belgaum I drove back to Bangalore on 30th October and wanted to share my feedback. In my previous post I mentioned about taking an alternate route back (via Koppal). But after speaking with a few drivers from Patel Roadways (whom we know pretty well), they informed me that the traffic jam has now been addressed and the road is in much better condition albeit the diversions. So I decided to head back the same route I had taken. My findings/updates are listed below:-

1. 1

Definitely no traffic jams. Guess the day I traveled from Bangalore was a bad day. Appears to be a one off. That jam lasted for 3 days apparently and at night time it was 3+ hours as per the Patel Roadways drivers. Journey back I did not encounter any major jams apart from a few hold ups on the service roads due to massive humps and bad road conditions.

1. 2

When I neared Belgaum during my initial drive, it was pouring crazy and I missed seeing what road I was driving on. But on the return trip, it was clear and I could finally see what I had missed - The road from Belgaum to Dharward is absolutely joyous. Below are a few images of what I mean.

Seriously joyous drive


Watch out for roadworks like this:

1. 3

Diversions are still a pain. They have diverted the traffic towards the old highway on certain stretches after Hubli. The service roads are pretty bad. Images below.

Service road conditions


You will encounter mild traffic like this

1. 4

Tumkur to Nelamangala stretch is still a 4 lane dual carriageway. Truck traffic was crazy when I was there. Word of advise, time your trip to Bangalore such that you reach this stretch before 7pm. Believe me, it is no point driving on this road post 7pm. I don't understand why roads become narrow as you near a metro city in India (South at least).

1. 5

They are giving fliers promoting FastTag at several highway toll booths. Guess I will get one soon. But I don't plan to drive on this highway till it is done completely.

Foodie alert! :- Like spicy food? Fan of mutton? At the diversion at Shiggaon, there is a restaurant called Mahesh Savaji Dhaba. You have to eat here. Spicy mutton curry with hot rotis. For those with family/women/children, worry not, they have family rooms which are enclosed by a curtain. Appears to be popular among cops as I saw 2 police jeeps outside and a lot of khaki policemen at the restaurant. Munch away!

PS: Sorry I could not take a picture of the food as I was starving and went for it the moment it was served. Apologies for that. Next time, I will try to reason with my stomach!

Yum yum food awaits here!




Drive Safe!
-Rohan J

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by Pam81

How time it would take per your past drives for the last leg of 260km? How many more hours likely? Toll gates are accumulating points and might take 25 ~35 mins or so!

Minimum 1 hour. The maximum that it had once taken was 1.5 hours. Khed Shivapur toll,Pune alone that day took additional 20 mins apart from the routine 7-10 mins.

[ram87pune]

Reached Bangalore Dasarahalli at 6 pm. Left Hubli at 11 am. This includes 1 hr lunch break at Kamat Upachar Sira.

As mentioned by fellow bhpians, the diversions between Hubli and Davanagere are a real pain. It is even more frustrating because the roads between these diversions are superb so when you are enjoying driving on them, suddenly these diversions appear out of nowhere playing spoilsport. Traffic density increased post Sira and especially post Tumkur as people were returning to Bangalore on Sunday evening. Nelamangala toll was choked but traffic was moving at a steady pace. There was a traffic signal just after Tumkur bang on the highway. What's the purpose of this? It resulted in a km long snarl.

Will be returning to Pune on Thursday. Will update the return journey then.

[vivek95]

So how many of you suffered yesterday's mayhem on the Satara--Pune stretch ?? I was stuck in the enormous amount of traffic post Shirwal town for 2 hours straight and then on Pune--Mumbai Expressway for 1 hour. Typical Maharashtra traffic !!

[ankurd]

I took the Bangalore-Belgaum-Pune-Devlali route on the 31st. Drove a Scorpio.

Roads good all thru except roads in Karnataka , even with the few diversions are much better than Maharashtra.
Started at 7:30 am, reached Pune at 10 pm, halted there for the night and started for Devlali around 10:30 and reached at 3.

Going back we had decided to not stop enroute. So took about 3.5 hours to Pune from Devlali. Side note - it was weird noticing the absence of helmets and general traffic sense. We stopped at a red light and people looked at us like what were we doing :-).

We started from Devlali at 7:30 am, stopped at Belgaum for a late late lunch at 5pm. Then started around 6 from Belgaum and reached Bangalore at 2:30 am.

We had taken the paytm Fastag and it was a brilliant idea. You can get it at the e city took office, just go to the building next to d mart and there a point of sale. Works between 10-4. Lots of time saved with this!

I used Waze for navigation, it helps mark a lot of stuff as a crowdsourced platform, its available on Apple store and Android, would love to see more adaptation of it in india. You get speeding alert, bad traffic alert, potholes marked etc.

[ram87pune]

Just back from Davangere. Actually I had gone to Kabini and while returning, took internal roads to directly connect to NH4 at Davangere. Must say did not pay a single penny as toll between Kabini and Davangere and still enjoyed butter smooth roads with minimal traffic.

From Davangere till Hubli the road condition is great only when there are no diversions. Post Hubli till Kolhapur again the roads are great. And then the usual roads between Kolhapur and Pune.Today being a weekday, there was very less traffic on tolls between Karad and Pune.

Overall took exactly 9.5 hrs to reach Pune from Davangere. This includes two food/bio breaks totalling 1 hr.

Some other points

1. Just before the diversions begin between Hubli and Davanagere there are nasty speedbreakers which can catch you out.

2. Just after Satara, there are some potholes bang in the middle of the road. Beware.

3. A few kilometers after leaving Karad, police are present with speed guns. They will later stop you at the next toll.

[Bigzero]

Originally Posted by ram87pune

Just back from Davangere. Actually I had gone to Kabini and while returning, took internal roads to directly connect to NH4 at Davangere. Must say did not pay a single penny as toll between Kabini and Davangere and still enjoyed butter smooth roads with minimal traffic.

Sorry for the Off-topic question, but what route had you taken from Kabini to Davanagere?

[ram87pune]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

Sorry for the Off-topic question, but what route had you taken from Kabini to Davanagere?

We came via Hassan-Belur-Kadur route. Basically we went along as the Google maps suggested. But the roads were very good barring a few stretches near towns and most importantly zero tolls till we reached Apoorva Resorts Davangere.

[BlueEyes]

Returned from week long Mumbai road trip yesterday(Bangalore-Pune-Mumbai). This trip was scheduled few months back but could not make it then. This is my first visit to Mumbai and first time driving beyond Kolhapur.
Few observations:

• Fastag worked on all toll both effectively
  
• What's the story behind unfinished flyovers between Satara-Pune? It really pains me to pay for the toll when the road is half done. Even now when I think of it it really angers me. I am sure a lot of members using this section of the road share the same emotion but someone must be accountable for this. At least I could see some work being done at Hubli-Davangere stretch but nothing on Satara- Pune Honestly,it is such a shame that major corridor like this which is connecting the entire south to this huge commercial hub is in this kind of dire state.
  
• I am so in love with landscapes you encounter around Satara while driving. Could only imagine how beautiful drive would have been with super smooth roads, especially when you are paying hefty toll throughout.

Would like to share something I encountered in Mumbai. I had checked into a flat booked through Airbnb which is right on the edge of Aarey forest(Goregaon E). One evening (around 8PM) when returning from Bandra, Gmap guided me through a slightly different route then usual one. There is this one stretch where I pass this set of huts and then it's pitch dark, my destination is about 2kms from here. This is a terrible road with hardly any traffic. Suddenly I see a Leopard jumping right infront my car!! It crossed the road with forest at one side and a compound wall on the other. It sat on that compound for about 20sec before making the jump and disappearing. This completely shook me, a guy on two wheeler suddenly approached me from behind, wanted to confirm what we saw. On the way to my apartment I alerted a couple walking on this stretch just few meters from here.
This perhaps came as less shocking to me as I had recently seen a documentary on Nat Geo about Leopards in Aarey forest and how they coexist with human habitats. So, I kind of knew where I am. But, what an experience it was and how I wish my car dashcam was working. It gone kaput just a day before I started my trip from Bangalore and I didn't have time to replace it, ha what timing!!

[Pam81]

Originally Posted by vivek95

So how many of you suffered yesterday's mayhem on the Satara--Pune stretch ?? I was stuck in the enormous amount of traffic post Shirwal town for 2 hours straight and then on Pune--Mumbai Expressway for 1 hour. Typical Maharashtra traffic !!

It’s ultimate and very reliable that you lose time post Kapurbhol where if you take right, you could go to Saswad and reach Hadapsar to east of Pune. Google was alerting me to take right but when I was crossing it already 12 in the night, did not want to risk it in case get a flat tire or so! And so I inched my way into Pune city by 2.15am. Lost 30 odd mins in first diversion vehicle pile up and another 25 in second diversion and last 20 mins in Khed Shivpur Toll.

[VWAllstar]

Try not to miss the below dishes at Sai International, Yellur (Kolhapur)

1. Rawa fried prawns (best till date)
2. Mutton Sukkha (fresh and tender meat)
3. Dal fry and Jeera Rice (all time fab)
4. Caramel Custard

Best place for a halt. Ample parking lot, car wash facility close by, clean toilets and great food.