[ampere]

Originally Posted by Klub Class

Last I checked, the roads are patchy and road work is going on with multiple diversions. The better and faster option would be : Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mysuru.

Thanks!

Is it that bad? Because all folks travelling to Mysore from North Bangalore (Belur Cross - Srirangapatna), have been happy with it. I guess looks like Hiriyur-Belur Cross is the culprit?

All said done, for lack of good hotels in Tumkur on the highway, Apoorva may still be a good option for a break I guess ? All I remember was Naveen Regency? Has anything else come up ? Have not read anyting of late.

Also How is Tumkur-Kunigal-Maddur?

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Pune took 14 Hours against my usual 11 or 12. This was between 1630 and 1800.

I was there on the Sunday too - on Sunday 22nd we reached Pune by 9pm. I was stuck in that mad traffic around Shirval for around an hour plus. I was told to avoid this stretch on Sunday - either reach Pune City before 5pm or come on Monday if you don't prefer to reach post midnight

[paragsachania]

Updates from the Year-end drive to Gujarat and back:

During the Year-end holiday break last year, with absolutely no plans to visit any holidaying destinations, we decided to drive to Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Rajkot etc) and make it a driving holiday.

Bangalore - Thane : 22/12/2019 | Start time : 04:14 am | End time : 10:13 pm

There was no plan to halt enroute, at least till we crossed Thane but since we made a mistake of starting on a Sunday (owing to event at my Daughter's school on Saturday), we ended up managing to reach Thane from Bangalore in about 17 hours! This is perhaps the longest that I have ever taken to drive to Thane over all my drives till the last decade and a half to here.

We managed to start at our usual time and by the time we left home, it was little beyond 04:00am. With good number of breaks in between, we managed to reach Thane only around 10:00pm. We saw absolutely no point in continuing further because that would have meant we drove along with a sea of buses and trucks till Ahmedabad that would have made us reach our destination only during the wee hours, wasting the entire next day on bed. Instead, we chose to halt at Thane and make an easy start next day to utilize the entire day well. Special thanks to H.V Kumar for helping me with the last minute booking for the overnight stay at Thane.

Route conditions:

Bangalore - Chitradurga :

• Roads remain good with no complaints

Chitradurga - Hubli :

• 6 lane work in Progress
• Lots of unmarked, inconsistent, unwanted, unscientific, unapologetic speed-breakers at every diversion
• Diversions are patched up but these sections are bumpy due to shoddy work
• There are many diversions that have speed-breakers just before merging back to the main carriageway. Be careful in case you think you can merge without slowing down
• 6 lane work progress is good, many sections are widened already and few have shoulder markings as well
• Caution: At various places on expanded sections, where the new layer of asphalt has been put, the edges are rough and will come without warning; be extremely wary and don't get carried away seeing open stretches
• Additional time: One will easily require anywhere between 45-90 extra minutes to reach Hubli due to this road expansion work

Dharwad - Belgaum - Kolhapur:

• The most well maintained section of the entire highway with zero complaints

Kolhapur - Satara:

• Traffic prone during the day as usual but roads remain good

Satara - Pune:

• Overall good with expanded 6 lane sections
• Traffic around diversions gets busier due to vehicular density

Pune Bypass:

• Except one diversion around Warje, rest of the bypass is all good but lot of traffic

Pune - Mumbai Expressway:

• For an awesome infrastructure built nearly 2 decades back, this one remains absolutely good as always

Bypassing Mumbai to Thane:

• Being a Sunday evening, this hardly took 45 minutes with good roads via Belapur Road - Airoli - Eastern Expressway

Breaks Taken:

• Breakfast : Ganesh Hotel, near Varur (Before Hubli)
  
• Lunch : Annapurna Hotel, Karad bypass
  
• Refuel : HPCL Station, after Umbraj
  
• Dinner : Food Plaza, Khalapur, Pune - Mumbai Expressway

Vashi - Bangalore : 31/12/2019 | Start time : 07:00 am | End time : 09:22 pm

We started from Seawoods, Vashi at 07:00 am and traffic on 31st was quite manageable but still thick in Maharashtra. Not wanting to take any risk of getting stuck in city traffic or at tolls entering Bangalore, I got off at Dabaspet and drove towards Doddaballapur to reach Yelahanka and that was a fantastic decision. Googlemaps didn't even show that as an alternate route and we could still beat it by 12 minutes despite of a longer detour.

Route conditions:

Pune - Satara:

• 6 lane expansion work in progress with around 5 diversions
• Satara - Pune is more patchy and more bumpier against Pune - Satara
• Inconsistent rough sections and potholes make cars make quick lane changes to avoid them

Satara - Karad - Kolhapur:

• Remains perfectly good, mostly concrete and well maintained

Kolhapur - Belgaum - Dharwad:

• Well maintained and beautiful

Hubli - Chitradurga:

• Better compared to Chitradurga Hubli as many sections are expanded and asphalted
• Be careful about passing rough edges over sections that are expanded and re-asphalted
• Busiest diversion is when exiting into Harihar with 2 way traffic

Chitradurga - Bangalore:

• Roads remain good with no complaints

Breaks Taken:

• Breakfast : Vittal Kamat, Satara Bypass
• Lunch : Hotel Neelkamal, Dharwad
• Refuel : IOCL COCO Dharwad
• Evening snacks: Upadhya Veg, Chitradurga

Other significant updates from the trip:

• Kamat Upachar at Ranebennur towards Mumbai attached to Reliance is permanently closed
• Kamat Upachar at Varur towards Bangalore attached to Reliance is permanently closed
• New Kamat coming up just before Jain Temple towards Bangalore
• A new Shell fuel station towards Mumbai is opening next to BPCL COCO after Dharwad at this approximate location
• FASTag experience mostly remained positive in Karnataka. Toll booths in Maharashtra have badly designated FASTag lanes and chaotic
• Police checking for documents is now a regular affair, in both directions after every toll booth in Maharashtra. I was stopped once in both directions
• Sunday is a bad choice to drive in Maharashtra; avoid it if you can and plan well
• While our onward journey took nearly 17+ Hours, the return journey was more faster and we could manage to do Vashi to Home in 14.5 Hours
• It means, a lot of factors affect your travel time
• Hubli - Dharwad bypass will be FASTag enabled soon

I used my now useless MapMyIndia GPS device to log the onward journey and here are some statistics from it:

Elapsed time Vs Distance travelled:

Speed Graph, mostly concentrated around 90-110 Kmph:

Mumbai Pune expressway on 31st was foggy and few sections had visibility between 50-100 meters:

https://youtu.be/wVpslO23WTw

Hubli Dharwad bypass will get FASTag soon:


During return journey, ended up meeting BHPian friend 500Conticruiser at Dharwad over lunch. It was great catching up mate!


During the onward journey, at one of the diversions before Pune, we were stuck here for over an hour and had moved less than 500 meters. Such is the traffic in MH on Sundays!!

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Hubli Dharwad bypass will get FASTag soon:

During the onward journey, at one of the diversions before Pune, we were stuck here for over an hour and had moved less than 500 meters. Such is the traffic in MH on Sundays!!

Nice detailed update !!! I totally agree with you on all the pointers as far as Mumbai--Belgaum--Mumbai part is concerned. I am too lazy to post an update on this thread, from my own drives ( about 4 times in last 3 months ). I am driving Mumbai--Belgaum day after tomorrow again.

Its good to know Hubli--Dharwad bypass is getting a Fastag lane but that's just about it. Thanks to its exorbitant toll amount for a stupid undivided 2 lane

That one particular diversion before Pune is now an everyday issue in the evening due to the enormous traffic irrespective of a weekend or a weekday ( relatively better on a weekday but still takes 25 - 30 mins as against 75 to 120 mins on Sunday )

Exactly on 31st December, I too drove from Belgaum to Mumbai, with a noon departure and going by your timeline, we both must have crossed each other somewhere on Belgaum--Sankeshwar stretch.

Looks like you still haven't tried the new swanky food mall on Mumbai--Pune expressway May be you wanted to cross Pune as early as possible.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

[*]Kamat Upachar at Ranebennur towards Mumbai attached to Reliance is permanently closed

That is sad news, this was my regular stop in this section since it was at perfect location for breakfast when starting from Bangalore around 04.00 AM.

Hope with new Chitradurga bye-pass and 6 laning of roads north of Chitradurga, one can reach further towards Hubli for breakfast.

A new Shell fuel station[/u] towards Mumbai is opening next to BPCL COCO after Dharwad

So this is the second Shell in this area, the one towards Bangalore after Hubli bypass being the first one.

Hubli - Dharwad bypass will be FASTag enabled soon

Along with the sister concern - NICE road. Glad to hear this

[vivek95]

Drove from Bombay to Belgaum yesterday. Started at 1:15 pm from my place Mulund west, Mumbai and reached my home in Belgaum ( Bhagyanagar ) at 10:00 pm.

• Distance - 482 kms door to door ; Drive time - 7 hours 5 minutes ; Break time enroute - 1 hour 15 mins
• Fuelled up at IOCL COCO at new food mall, Mumbai--Pune expressway.
• Mileage achieved on my VW Polo Petrol 1.2 MPI - 17kmpl ( 20% AC usage. There was no need of AC as such as weather was very cool )
• Roads remain excellent all throughout. As always, the drive on this 500 km route fascinates me a lot owing to its scenic beauty and a certain character of the road ( even though traffic in Maharashtra is high ). Mumbai--Pune expressway and Satara--Kolhapur are my top picks.
• Pune-- Satara is back to being very good now. All the 5 diversions have been newly asphalted. The uneven patches and potholes that cropped up post monsoons have been patched up and taken care of. One can absolutely drive at good speeds on this 6 laner even at night without having to worry one bit.
• Needless to say, traffic in Maharashtra was crazy high right from Mumbai--Pune expressway to Kagal. But once into Karnataka it all vanished, the last 85 kms part in Karnataka took me only 55 mins to cover as there was very less traffic and I constantly maintained 110 kmph.
• Fastag experience at each and every toll ( 5 in Maharashtra and 2 in Karnataka ) was seamlessly awesome. I didn't have to "stop" at any toll , just drive slow ,get the tag scanned and the barrier opens up.
• Stops included ->> 35 mins at New food mall, Expressway ; 20 mins at Pune bypass as I had to quickly draft an email to my organization and stuff like that ; 15 mins at Vithal Kamat, Khambatki ghat foothills ; 10 mins at Kolhapur bypass. Total -- 80 minutes

# Spotted a BHPian on Pune bypass ( MS Swift with MH 11 Satara regsitration )





# Maharashtra special - Yummy Vada Paav , Misal Paav and Nimbu Paani at New food mall, Mumbai--Pune expressway. This was from Shri Krishna outlet ( Pune based food joint )






# Sharing a pic of my car just for the sake of it, taken before the drive.

[@Chaand]

Planning a Pune Coimbatore non stop run soon. Will leave from Pune around 9 pm so as to be in Coimbatore by 9 pm the next day. What are my options for clean washrooms and breakfast en-route ? I'm aware of Sai International but that would be like an arrived-too-soon types early in the morning. Would prefer South Indian breakfast in KA.

Replies appreciated. Thanks!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by @Chaand

Would prefer South Indian breakfast in KA.

Replies appreciated. Thanks!

*Amar only Veg* just before Tawandi Ghats after Nippani.

Vittal Kamat soon after Kini toll too isn't a bad deal.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by @Chaand

Planning a Pune Coimbatore non stop run soon. Will leave from Pune around 9 pm so as to be in Coimbatore by 9 pm the next day. What are my options for clean washrooms and breakfast en-route ? I'm aware of Sai International but that would be like an arrived-too-soon types early in the morning. Would prefer South Indian breakfast in KA.

Replies appreciated. Thanks!

Originally Posted by paragsachania

*Amar only Veg* just before Tawandi Ghats after Nippani.

Vittal Kamat soon after Kini toll too isn't a bad deal.

He is leaving at night 9pm from Pune towards Coimbatore. Parag sir, may be you mistook the departure timing ??

For a 9pm departure from Pune, ideal breakfast stop in the morning would be somewhere around Chitradurga-Hiriyur-Sira region.

For a biobreak/quick coffee stop at midnight ( clean washrooms ), I can only think of McDonalds at Kolhapur byepass that is open 24*7. This is on right side though heading from Pune to Bangalore.

Alternatively, the 24*7 Cafe coffee day just before Dharwad is another option for midnight stop ( again on right side ).

Hope you get inputs from other BHPians for a morning breakfast stop.

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by @Chaand

. What are my options for clean washrooms and breakfast en-route ? I'm aware of Sai International but that would be like an arrived-too-soon types early in the morning. Would prefer South Indian breakfast in KA.

Replies appreciated. Thanks!

You may want to try the Benne Dosa at Davanagere. Guru Koteshwara is the name of the place. Just a little inside town, and not too much off from the highway. If you depart by 9, you might reach this place by 7.30 am or so.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vivek95

He is leaving at night 9pm from Pune towards Coimbatore. Parag sir, may be you mistook the departure timing ??

Indeed I mistook the departure timings.

In case you are leaving at 9pm from Pune, best bet indeed would be Chitradurga and Sira only.

At Chitradurga - Upadhya Veg
At Sira - Kamat Upachar

There is also a new Benne Dosa Hotel coming up at Shamanur exit on Davanagere bypass but it looked like a small place.

Just like Thatte idly hotels at Kunigal or Bidadi, Star Biryani at Ambur or Maganlal Chikki at Lonavala, we will have stupendous competition on who serves the best

[ruzbehxyz]

I know a lot of people who use only Shell fuel especially in/around Pune. For the benefit of them, one can use the Shell pump after Hubli Dharward which is on the highway, if you plan to drive till Bangalore.

Shell Pale NTI
Dharwad, Karnataka 581207
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QzcRyMnp9uziY2Q66

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by @Chaand

Planning a Pune Coimbatore non stop run soon. Will leave from Pune around 9 pm

If you are a night owl, Davangere or even Chitradurga might be too early. You can look at Kamat Sira, Kyathasandra. CCD Kyathasandra. Pavithra Thatte Idli is a choice for food, but not for clean restrooms. Be prepared with the restaurants from the first post, between Hubli and Tumkur so you are not caught off-guard if you end up napping more enroute.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Shell pump after Hubli Dharward which is on the highway

Is it finally open? There's one after Khed toll on the southbound.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

At Chitradurga - Upadhya Veg
At Sira - Kamat Upachar

Upadhya is now renovated and renamed (as Upadhya Ruchi I think). For some strange reason Google won't navigate properly for Kamat Sira driving southbound or entry to the service road is possibly closed. I overshot it when driving down on 4th.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Is it finally open? There's one after Khed toll on the southbound.

This one is Pune bound, next to BPCL COCO. It was getting ready when I drove during last week of december. ruzbehxyz's recent update confirms this is now operational.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Other significant updates from the trip:[list][*]A new Shell fuel station towards Mumbai is opening next to BPCL COCO after Dharwad at this

There is another Shell, Bangalore bound near Varur(after Hubli) which has been operational for nearly a year now and we had refilled here last year while driving back from our Monsoon drive.

Upadhya is now renovated and renamed (as Upadhya Ruchi I think).

Didn't notice if it had got a new name but I navigated straight to "Upadhya Veg" and was right there. In fact, even if you look the URL for the maps in above posts, it shows Upadhya Veg only. I had stopped here for evening break during my return on 31st.

For some strange reason Google won't navigate properly for Kamat Sira driving southbound or entry to the service road is possibly closed. I overshot it when driving down on 4th.

The Kamat is no longer part of BPCL and has moved ahead by 200 meters and there is a break in the fencing right in front of it. You really need not drive on the service road to access this. At least this is how it was in April.

[blackwasp]

Any hotels between Kolhapur and Belgaum that will allow a late check-in? Between 11 pm and 1 am in the night? Plan to just sleep and leave early morning next day. Destination is Bangalore and plan to depart Pune at 7 pm

My usual place is Sai International, but if there is a hotel thats 1-2 hrs further ahead, I would like that to go there and save some time from the next leg of the trip. Or does it make sense to drive through the night and reach Bangalore early morning? We have 3 drivers on board, so night driving shouldn't be an issue.