[dass]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I will tell you from my personal experience the real advantages of choosing Kolhapur over Belgaum even if it meant driving little inside the city for that hotel:

Which hotel would you suggest in Kolhapur for a nights stay, with family Parag bhai?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dass

Which hotel would you suggest in Kolhapur for a nights stay, with family Parag bhai?

The best in town is Sayaji. These are the same folks who also own the Barbecue Nation Restaurant Chain.

[condor]

Had to do an unplanned, urgent drive down to native in Belgaum district yesterday. Started 1 pm from home, via NICE road and then NH4. The pain point section was Chitradurga to Davangere, and Parag's inputs for road conditions and breaks were very helpful. Perhaps the only time I have done a drive without stopping for a tea, or even a food break. Food was on-the-go (from home). Took 9 hours from home to native, for the 520 km approx. Apart from the initial part in BLR city, the last 150 km was from Hubli by-pass, into Dharwad and beyond. Got lucky on Hubli-Dharwad bypass to be able to overtake a few times even in the post-sunset time.

[condor]

When at Dharwad, was talking to folks about driving on that by-pass, They say that it's only between 11 am and 4 pm that it is relatively safe. The stretch has gotten so bad that apparently even the NWKRTC drivers are trying to get away from driving on that stretch (they try for other routes).

The other point they shared is that during peak traffic time, especially after dark, it is better now to go via the city - even if one has to encounter the city traffic. The Hubli-Dharwad road has now been done up after the BRTS was completed. And of-course, that atrocious toll on that section.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by condor

When at Dharwad, was talking to folks about driving on that by-pass, They say that it's only between 11 am and 4 pm that it is relatively safe. The stretch has gotten so bad that apparently even the NWKRTC drivers are trying to get away from driving on that stretch (they try for other routes).

The other point they shared is that during peak traffic time, especially after dark, it is better now to go via the city - even if one has to encounter the city traffic. The Hubli-Dharwad road has now been done up after the BRTS was completed. And of-course, that atrocious toll on that section.

I completely agree with the locals. I too have decided to use the internal Hubli--Dharwad city route ( now 4 laned with BRTS lane in the centre) post 9pm and before 9 a.m. Infact I have already done this two times when I was driving Mumbai--Manipal once and from Mysore to Mumbai the other time. It is faster and safer, especially during night time and toll free on top of it

[condor]

Originally Posted by vivek95

,.. post 9pm and before 9 a.m...

Anything after dark, I would say. Either one crosses the whole section before it gets dark or stay away.

I did the first 18km upto the exit for Dharwad at 7 pm. Crazy is a under-statement. Was lucky too this time, for being able to overtake twice.

Btw, I am a passive local of that place

[autoweirdo]

Travelled Pune to Bangalore over the weekend.
Encountered traffic jam on Hubbali bypass (recarpeting work on) and post Tumkur due to some padyatra. Started at 5am from Vimannagar and reached 9pm at Sarjapur Road. Took multiple long breaks approx 2 hrs as travelling with 1 yr old daughter.

Pune - Satara: Bad as usual with multiple diversion specially in Pune district.
Satara - Kolhapur: Good but with more local 2 wheeler traffic near Kolhapur.
Kolhapur - Dharwad: Very Good and mainly 6 lane and less traffic.
Dharwad - Hubbali: ok with road carpeting on so slow traffic in few patch.
Hubbali - Chitradurga: multiple diversions. Diversions till Haveri are troublesome as road condition is not good, but post Haveri it's easily manageable.
Chitradurga - Tumkur: Very good 6 lane road.
Tumkur - Bangalore: good but heavy traffic.

I expect atleast 3 flyovers to completed by March end for Hubbali Chitradurga section, rest will atleast go till Monsoons. No issue faced for fastag scan nor any police checking enroute.

[Aiel]

I travelled from Bangalore to Mumbai on the weekend of February 6.

- We left Bangalore at 6 AM and we reached our overnight halt of Kolhapur by 4PM, with minimal breaks. We had packed our breakfast & lunch.

- Regarding the Hubli bypass, the day we travelled was the day of the Farmer's Chakka jam. As we entered the bypass, I noticed that overtaking seemed to be breeze, with me happily passing trucks with lots of overtaking opportunities. However, at the first exit, the reason became clear, as the police were blockading the trucks and asking the cars to exit the bypass, and pass through the city to reach back to the highway. This added to the delays.

- We took a break at Fern, Kolhapur, which was about 1-2 kilometers of the highway. This place was clean, staff was courteous and the rooms and food were good.

- We left from Kolhapur at 6AM once again and took a break for breakfast at Aram Regency (after Satara, right on the highway). This place is clean, with good food and neat restrooms. This place is quite big, enabling you to stretch your legs and giving the kids a chance to run around.

- We reached Khargar around 12:30 PM and after lunch & tea at my sister's place, we reached Malad by 6 PM.

Overall, the early start times kept us fresh and not too tired, except for the intra-Mumbai stretch, which was predictably more tiring than the other legs.

[chetancm7]

I travelled on 12th Feb from Bangalore to Hubli. the diversions have reduced now. I remember counting 56 in Oct'20 but now its reduced to 12 diversions which is a decent drive. Dont know the condition beyond Begaum though!

[abhatt]

Did Bangalore to Mumbai during the end of Feb. Karnataka highways are amazing except for 17 diversions and 1 of them makes you drive on a 4 lane highway near Chitradurg. Once this patch is sorted, I feel the 400 km journey from Bangalore to Hubli can be covered in 5 hours.

The single lane drive of 28kms is beyond me. I wonder if that highway exists so that people do not forget our roots.

Once the single lane is finished, the road till Kolhapur is a breeze.

There was a queue of vehicles being asked for Covid Test around Kagal before entering Karanataka for travelers going the other way. I have a Goa trip coming up and will try to avoid Karnataka. I am not sure if Kagal guys let people drive to Nipani and take a turn to Goa without Covid cert. If anyone can throw some light on that it will be very helpful.

Finally, the ride till Pune was relatively a breeze.

Khed-Shivpur toll was a TOTAL MESS. It was probably struggling with FasTag adoption. Crazy jam that ruined my 30 mins. Overall the road from the toll to Expressway which was around 35 kms was busy. Typical city highway.

Once I hit the expressway, it was 6 pm and boy I love the Mumbai - Pune expressway. The sunset was magisterial with stunning views. I might have gone above the speed limit multiple times on this road. Wonder if I will get a ticket for it at my place (if we have become so advanced now).

Surprisingly Mumbai traffic wasn't too bad and passed via Wadala tunnel. First time I drove via this route and it was a good change to end the journey.

Started at 5 am from Whitefield and reached Andheri at around 8:30 pm with 3 breaks totalling a lil over 1 hour. Overall a 14+ hour journey.

[udayjani]

Hi Folks,

I am planning for a trip from Bangalore to Ahmedabad and have some queries and doubts on the below points.

1. Do we need Covid Certificate while travelling by road and will we stopped at before entering Maharastra and Gujarat?

2. We have planned to start from Bangalore and halt at Hubli and again halt at Pune. While checking the Google Maps between Hubli and Pune. The maps shows an alternate route near Nipani instead of usual NH48. (Attached the map for reference)

Besides this, I would also like to know should I stick to NH48 since Google is suggesting state highways at many places. If someone can mention the main destinations like Tumkur, Davanagere, Hubli, Pune, etc so that I can keep a tab on it while driving.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by udayjani

1. Do we need Covid Certificate while travelling by road and will we stopped at before entering Maharastra and Gujarat?

For onward Travel, as far as I am aware, there are no such restrictions. It would for your return travel into Karnataka where you will be asked to produce the Covid -ve certificate.

2. We have planned to start from Bangalore and halt at Hubli and again halt at Pune. While checking the Google Maps between Hubli and Pune. The maps shows an alternate route near Nipani instead of usual NH48. (Attached the map for reference)

It is not an alternate route. It is THE route you need to take as it bypasses Nippani Town.

In general, there are a enough signage to assist you to reach all the way to Ahmedabad, more so after Thane till Ahmedabad, there is no dearth for such signages when you cross every town enroute.

Besides this, I would also like to know should I stick to NH48 since Google is suggesting state highways at many places. If someone can mention the main destinations like Tumkur, Davanagere, Hubli, Pune, etc so that I can keep a tab on it while driving.

You need to stick to the National highway.

Bangalore-Tumkur-Chitradurga-Davanagere-Hubli & Dharwad Bypass-Belgaum-Nippani-Kolhapur-Karad-Satara-Pune-Pune Mumbai Expressway-Panvel-Vashi-Belapur Road-Airoli-Eastern Express Highway-Thane-Ghodbunder Road-Vasai Creek-Vapi-Valsad-Navasari-Surat-Ankleshwar-Bharuch-Vadodara-Anand-Ahmedabad

[paragsachania]

I and my dad went on a circuitous day trip, first driving towards the western coast to Padubidre, then climbing up North till Ankola and then driving down to Bangalore via Hubli (Shiggaon) and Davanagere route. The entire route was ~1200 Km long but the experience was anything less than fantastic.

This was done on a weekday, where I took off from work and enjoyed the complete journey driving along various sections of Karnataka that included Western Ghats as well as coastal route of the mesmerizing Mangalore - Goa section.

The overall route for the day.


The time v distance graph

Since this thread talks about Bangalore to Pune, I will focus my post only on updates regarding this section.

Road conditions:

Overall, the route conditions are fantastic between Hubli and Bangalore. Although I merged onto NH48 at Shiggaon (~35km before Hubli), the road conditions on this work in progress section of Hubli to Chitradurga section remain consistent across.

Diversions have reduced a lot. My last drive was in Dec 2020 during which too there were quite a few diversions. The diversions are less between the 130 Km stretch of Hubli to Chitradurga while they are more between the small stretch of 70 Km between Davanagere and Chitradurga.

However, the completed sections are in fantastic shape and you will easily make up for any lost time on those diversions by gaining a lot of time on the good stretches.

You can note that the last 360 Km of this trip (Shiggaon to Bangalore) was done in 5 hours along with a dinner break at Dabaspete. I stuck to my usual cruising speeds of 100-110-120 based on merit of roads.

Here's a 2x time-lapse video depicting the road conditions between Hubli and Davanagere where 6 lane expansion work is 90% complete with only few diversions left:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TvuEHWCB8E&t=805s

Here's an interesting image, the elevation graph that shows that the highest section we drove was Charmadi Ghats while we drove at near sea levels for nearly 200 km between Padubidre and Ankola. It also shows how Charmadi ghat is at a higher elevation than the Arebail ghats of Yellapura region.

[chetancm7]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I and my dad went on a circuitous day trip, first driving towards the western coast to Padubidre, then climbing up North till Ankola and then driving down to Bangalore via Hubli (Shiggaon) and Davanagere route. The entire route was ~1200 Km long but the experience was anything less than fantastic.

This was done on a weekday, where I took off from work and enjoyed the complete journey driving along various sections of Karnataka that included Western Ghats as well as coastal route of the mesmerizing Mangalore - Goa section.

The overall route for the day.
Attachment 2130048

The time v distance graph
Attachment 2130047

Since this thread talks about Bangalore to Pune, I will focus my post only on updates regarding this section.

Road conditions:

Overall, the route conditions are fantastic between Hubli and Bangalore. Although I merged onto NH48 at Shiggaon (~35km before Hubli), the road conditions on this work in progress section of Hubli to Chitradurga section remain consistent across.

Diversions have reduced a lot. My last drive was in Dec 2020 during which too there were quite a few diversions. The diversions are less between the 130 Km stretch of Hubli to Chitradurga while they are more between the small stretch of 70 Km between Davanagere and Chitradurga.

However, the completed sections are in fantastic shape and you will easily make up for any lost time on those diversions by gaining a lot of time on the good stretches.

You can note that the last 360 Km of this trip (Shiggaon to Bangalore) was done in 5 hours along with a dinner break at Dabaspete. I stuck to my usual cruising speeds of 100-110-120 based on merit of roads.

Attachment 2130051

Attachment 2130045

Here's a 2x time-lapse video depicting the road conditions between Hubli and Davanagere where 6 lane expansion work is 90% complete with only few diversions left:

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=6TvuEHWCB8E&t=805s

Here's an interesting image, the elevation graph that shows that the highest section we drove was Charmadi Ghats while we drove at near sea levels for nearly 200 km between Padubidre and Ankola. It also shows how Charmadi ghat is at a higher elevation than the Arebail ghats of Yellapura region.

Attachment 2130056

The only query i have is how did you get these charts? Its really amazing how far we have reached in terms of a car being connected to technology. I am pretty sure this must be an app based extract of your overall journey.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by chetancm7

The only query i have is how did you get these charts? Its really amazing how far we have reached in terms of a car being connected to technology. I am pretty sure this must be an app based extract of your overall journey.

Nothing to do with connected car. It's rather a connected cable interfacing my Laptop and the MapMyIndia navigation device .

I use my MapMyIndia PND to log the entire trip. I then extract the log file in GPX format and then use 3rd party sites like gpsvisualizer to generate customized graphs out of it but using the same log file.