[rajivtelang]

Update on return journey from Mumbai to Bangalore. I am at Belgaum right now for night stay. While crossing the MH KA border the cop there asked for RTPCR reports. We were 5 of us in car and I started showing one by one, he glanced at three and then asked for destination. Upon hearing it as Bangalore he noted my name, car number and origin of journey. This is just FYI with latest data this evening.

No disturbances in the border area now. Passed Satara, Karad and Kolhapur with a fear of KA registered vehicles might be attacked but no such things. Life seemed quite normal there.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

No disturbances in the border area now. Passed Satara, Karad and Kolhapur with a fear of KA registered vehicles might be attacked but no such things. Life seemed quite normal there.

Good to know you had a pleasant drive. Regarding the disturbances at the border, it subsided during last week itself and now things are absolutely back to normal. Even the bundh call given for 31st Dec was called off too.

[jkrishnakj]

OT: the whole ‘disturbance’ gets raked up only during the Karnataka assembly session at Belgaum each winter.

Purely political. Ofcourse I’m saying all this without knowing the sentiments of the people residing in that area.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

OT: the whole ‘disturbance’ gets raked up only during the Karnataka assembly session at Belgaum each winter.

Purely political. Ofcourse I’m saying all this without knowing the sentiments of the people residing in that area.

Which means it is a high risk travel time for MH and KA registered vehicles each year.
Perhaps car insurance companies should be notified about it and get an exception clause added in the policy.

[normaltusker]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Update on return journey from Mumbai to Bangalore. I am at Belgaum right now for night stay. While crossing the MH KA border the cop there asked for RTPCR reports. We were 5 of us in car and I started showing one by one, he glanced at three and then asked for destination. Upon hearing it as Bangalore he noted my name, car number and origin of journey. This is just FYI with latest data this evening.

We travelled the same route yesterday and were asked to give our name and details to another lady. Waited in the queue only to be asked to proceed without the need to give any names or details.

----------------
On the other hand, the drive from Mumbai to Belgaum was slow thanks to the bad roads and diversions between Pune and Satara. It was a pleasure driving until Tumkur thereafter only to be hit by a patch of super bad roads stretching about 10-15 kms in Tumkur.

Got out of the highway and took inner roads immediately after Nelmangala toll since I had to go towards Hesarghatta Main road anyways. This saved me at least 15-20 mins of waiting in traffic.

[condor]

I have couple of times mentioned in this thread that it would be better to go into Hubli-Dharwad instead of that by-pass. However, please note that - there will be traffic, lots of signals between the two cities - and a speed limit of 40kmph. This is a painful combination :(

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by condor

I have couple of times mentioned in this thread that it would be better to go into Hubli-Dharwad instead of that by-pass. However, pls note that - there will be traffic, lots of signals between the two cities - and a speed limit of 40kmph. This is a painful combination :(

This makes no sense unless you are doing it between 2100 and 0800 and during this time of the day, even the bypass itself is easier to manage.

The traffic on the roads of Hubli itself is unruly that you will lose whatever energy you have preserved for the rest of the journey in tackling the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad.

It is a given that the so called "Bypass" is a scam that collects 90/- for mere 30km of single carriageway which itself is dangerously designed. But even with slowest moving traffic, one can manage end to end in anywhere between 30-45 minutes.

When you are on a highway drive, the last thing you want to do is to enter a city and cross it and here we need to cross two . I will any day prefer the bypass!

[condor]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I will any day prefer the bypass!

Isnt that why I shared this ?

After my trip last week - by-pass when going, inter-city when returning, I am now having second thoughts on taking the inter-city route. I posted this to share that I think I was not correct earlier, when I said it may be better to go inside.

Of course, you are the dada for this route

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by condor

Isnt that why I shared this ?

After my trip last week - by-pass when going, inter-city when returning, I am now having second thoughts on taking the inter-city route. I posted this to share that I think I was not correct earlier, when I said it may be better to go inside.

Of course, you are the dada for this route

My co-brother during his return from Goa last week ventured into Dharwad to savour lunch at his favorite Khanavali. While he didn't regret the meal, he was non stop explaining how painful it was to drive from Dharwad to Hubli and finally touch the highway.

I had last driven into Hubli city exactly in Dec 2020 but thankfully we had to return back to our base Shiggaon after dinner and hence the pain was less.

And I am also not surprised about the infamous 40 Kmph speed limit between the twin cities despite of 4 lane being done. I have memories of paying fine between these cities for going 63 in a 40 zone in 2008 and I was baffled realising that the limit here was 40 .

[condor]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

While he didn't regret the meal, he was non stop explaining how painful it was to drive from Dharwad to Hubli and finally touch the highway..

For such a venture, it is better to exit Dharwad via Kalghatgi road. Of if it is one of the Savaji's in Hubli, then enter Hubli via the airport entry point.

However, noticed that the Kalghatgi exit was blocked this time, and one could not enter it from the city side.

And I am also not surprised about the infamous 40 Kmph speed limit between the twin cities despite of 4 lane being done. I have memories of paying fine between these cities for going 63 in a 40 zone in 2008 .

I think we should do a fist bump for the speed ticket. Have got one around the same time, at 07:00 !!

The expansion was to accommodate the BRTS path. Outside this, it is still 2+2 lanes - but there's too much traffic for most of the stretch to allow higher speeds.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by condor

For such a venture, it is better to exit Dharwad via Kalghatgi road. Of if it is one of the Savaji's in Hubli, then enter Hubli via the airport entry point.

This was Basappa. However, he simply relied on googlemaps and ended up having a tough time.

The expansion was to accommodate the BRTS path. Outside this, it is still 2+2 lanes - but there's too much traffic for most of the stretch to allow higher speeds.

Aware of the BRTS part. However, what I mentioned earlier was that the road is now dual carriageway for 2 way traffic which was single carriageway when I was caught for over-speeding in 2008 .

[paragsachania]

NBTL Flyover to remain closed till Jan 14



Source: Deccan Herald

[mankuthimma]

Talking about Hubli bypass, but in another direction, I got curious about this new road, just wanted a confirmation on that.
Last week, while coming on Yellapura - Hubli highway, my intention was to hit NH48 and stop at Ganesh Hotel, Varur for lunch. I had set Gabbur Toll plaza as the way point.

Just before entering Hubli, there was a Y fork. There was a small direction board on the left saying service road pointing to a narrow road next to a flyover, the right one was leading to a newly laid 4 lane road. Gmaps was not clear on which road to take and natural instinct was to take the wider road and I took the right side of the fork. There was no indication in gmaps or outside anywhere saying what road was this. GMaps navigation was clueless and started dancing without recognizing this road.
Few meters later, there was a overhead direction board which if I remember correctly, said, Gadag, Kampli and Hospet. Since there was no mention of NH48 or Bangalore anywhere, I thought I took a wrong road and made a U turn after some distance to enter the aforementioned service road and head towards Gabbur toll plaza, which was not exactly a smooth affair.
When I came home and relooked at the maps, it looks correctly marked as bypass, but somehow on that day, gmaps navigation didnt recognize this road. I hope this is the new Hubli bypass road which connects to NH48?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

I hope this is the new Hubli bypass road which connects to NH48?

This is the extension of the Ankola to Hospet via Hubli Gadag. Basically a bypass in east-west direction to cross the city. The work was in full swing 2 years back and now even the overbridge cutting across Bangalore-Hubli road is fully done as you would have noticed.

Unfortunately, they haven't constructed any interchange at the intersection where Pune highway and this road meet. So less likely that when you are coming from Yellapura side you will be taking this road to connect to Bangalore highway.

However, maps does refer to this new east-west bypass as functional since it navigates through the same road between the 2 points:



This is going to be helpful for those coming from Hyderabad via Hospet to bypass Hubli and directly hit the Yellapura highway. Nevertheless, the primary benefit is for all those trucks heading towards Hospet from Karwar port.

[vivek95]

Guys, I have a good news or may be it is too early to conclude it as a good news , but still, I had a good feeling after many years about Pune--Satara section of NH4. Basically, I drove from Mumbai to Karad today morning and was slightly surprised to see things getting spruced up. Listing out the tiny improvements that I noticed today, hoping that this will turn out to be a big upgrade in the coming months :-

1. Looks like it's no more the stupid Reliance infra managing this project. I specifically saw new company boards - "SDPL infrastructure". On reaching Karad, googled up and learnt that SDPL is Pune based. However didn't find any recent news on internet about SDPL taking this over from Reliance. Any pointers or inside information anyone ??

2. On hitting Pune, the first thing that caught my attention was the slightly better looking medians which used to be an eyesore all these years with the weeds grown all over the place, haphazard alignment, protruding blocks etc. I saw that the weeds were significantly reduced ( lots still there ). The heaped up mud near the bottom portions were cleared up. Some stretches got new paint, new markings. Protruding blocks were set back in place.

3. The median between main highway and service road was even more chaotic all these years. It looked better this time with new paint and other trivial stuff that I mentioned in point no.2

4. At one particular stretch on Pune bypass, the layer of tarmac was new and smooth. This was beyond Ambegaon Budruk heading uphill towards Katraj tunnel.

5. Some stretches had new lane markings

6. Saw good number of labourers in nice uniform and working actively in removing weeds or general beautification of the medians and road in general.

7. The left most 3rd lane had heaped up mud and loose gravel at many places that was left unattended all these years. It was virtually unusable. However right from Pune to Satara, the third lane today looked spruced up and usable. All mud and grass and overgrown weeds are gone. I used the third lane liberally to overtake trucks without hesitation. ( Can't help as some trucks hog the fast lanes ). Earlier I used to be apprehensive about using 3rd lane, but today used it without any worry.

8. There is one diversion between Pune and Shirwal and the flyover and underpass used to look so shabby and haphazard. Today while passing, I noticed that it looked better and the underpass seemed to have been cleaned up.

9. The road surface as such is yet to be atteneded, potholes and dips and worn out surfaces still exist. May be the new guys will touch this part later, hopefully. However the activity of workers that I saw today was certainly never seen before on this 136 km stretch in the last 10 years.

10. Overall the drive ended up with a good feeling. I am hoping that the new contractor completely upgrades this highway in the coming months, especially the road surface and not stop at just some tiny improvements.

Driving back to Mumbai but in dark, will post if I find anything significant on my return journey

--Dr. Vivek