[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by anainar

The chitradurga-Haveri stretch is getting worse and worse with every passing day. And why we should pay a toll of 80 Rs for that pathetic stretch of road.

Nainar

Is there a toll for chitradurga - haveri stretch ? AFAIK, there was none.

[JVH]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Is there a toll for chitradurga - haveri stretch ? AFAIK, there was none.

You are right! There is none.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Is there a toll for chitradurga - haveri stretch ? AFAIK, there was none.

You pay toll at Bankapur while coming from Pune for that wretched stretch. The toll gates are present side by side, While going from Bangalore you pay for the nice stretch, while returning you pay for the wretched one.

And just before Tumkur another toll gate for Rs.40, that is to go through the Tumkur bypass and mountain type speed breakers.

Nainar

[Akadian]

I agree with Nainar. We should not be made to pay toll for bad road stretches. Especially, those Rs 40 next to Tumkur really hurt IMHO

[shubhodeepdas@g]

Just did this stretch again last weekend (14th November - 17th November), till Pune and not all the way till Mumbai. This time with family and a toddler in tow, so timings were completely off with 4+ hours of breaks and 12 hours of driving time. Started at 4 AM and reached at 8 PM.

The stretch from Devangere till Ranibennur I bet is a lot better without the rain hitting you hard. Also noticed some improvements which is a good sign, probably this stretch will get completed in the near future.

The other thing that I noticed were the absence of many of the speed-breakers on the Tumkur Bypass. That's a welcome change as well.

The return path was 50% night driving, got delayed with a late delicious breakfast in Pune. Result was to hit Ranibennur right at twilight, probably the worst time to hit those bad roads. Started at 12 Noon and reached home by 4 AM, again with breaks of about 5 hours to keep the toddler happy.

Cheers!

[binaiks]

Would be glad if someone could give an idea of what the Bangalore-Mumbai stretch is like at present...

I (Along with my Parents, and brother's family) plan to drive to Mumbai on December 09 (Wednesday). We'd be going in an Innova - plan to start from Bannerghatta Road by around 4~5 in the morning. We need to go only up to CBD Belapur, in Navi Mumbai.

How is the road, like, now? Are they full of craters?

The NHAI website claims that only 25 kms of work is remaining in the entire distance of NH4 (That is Chennai to Mumbai).

Edit: Would also be glad if some one could give places where we could have some food - I mean some decent joints for Breakfast and Lunch. We'd also be driving back on Friday - so decent breaks on the return journey would also be appreciated.

We had driven Bangalore to Mumbai and back in May last year - then the road was in bits and pieces (We did the journey is some 12 and a half hours of driving - excluding all breaks).

[hvkumar]

No change in road condition from recent updates.
I think you should stop reading NHAI sites and go through posts in this forum - several posts on the Bangalore-Bombay route, which has comprehensive details on route and road conditions.
Hotel breaks - Upachar Kamats at Tumkur and Sira, BPCL Ghar near Davangere, Hotel Sankam Resideny in Belgaum, McDonald before Kolhapur, Hotel Sai Resort after Kolhapur and Hotel Mahendra in Satara.

[anainar]

Yes, no change in the road condition as such. Chitradurga is showing some promises of completing in time, but Davengere. Ranibennur -- no signs..

Apart from the one mentioned by HVK, there is on Hotel Sai International, just before Kohlapur when coming from Pune, on the left side. Loads of space, choice of food and they have a hotel for stay as well.

Nainar

[StarVegabond]

I would recommend BPCL Ghar Dhabha(few KM after Ranebennur) for breakfast and Sankam Residency for Lunch during the onward journey

if you leave at 4 AM, you can reach Ranebennur by 8.00 or 8.30 AM
after break fast if you can leave by 9 AM, you would reach Belgaum
in 3 and half hours. Sankam has IOCL fuel station adjacent to it, there is a near by ATM as well as Ample parking@Sankam. Food is great.

if 12:30 is too early for lunch for you then you can drive upto Kolhapur (90 minutes drive) and have luch there at 2 PM.

While returning, if you leave at 4AM from CBD Belapur, it would take you some 5 hours drive till Belgaum, you can have breakfast again at Sankam (buffet for some 80 RS), then you can have lunch/High tea near Tumkur
and reach Home by 6 PM.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I think you should stop reading NHAI sites and go through posts in this forum - several posts on the Bangalore-Bombay route, which has comprehensive details on route and road conditions.

Would've been possible if we had a more structured system. A simple search for updates on this highway appeared on Page 3 of search results - of course not appealing to a person (leave aside a member) searching badly for updates.

We could instead have topics having updates on each of the major highways instead of having a question-answer format.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Hotel breaks - Upachar Kamats at Tumkur and Sira, BPCL Ghar near Davangere, Hotel Sankam Resideny in Belgaum, McDonald before Kolhapur, Hotel Sai Resort after Kolhapur and Hotel Mahendra in Satara.

Thanks for this list. Hotel Mahendra - isn't this one on the right side of the road when proceeding from Bangalore to Mumbai?

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

I would recommend BPCL Ghar Dhabha(few KM after Ranebennur) for breakfast and Sankam Residency for Lunch during the onward journey

During my last trip, we had stopped at Sankam for lunch. The food was just amazing - but the service was too slow then. The main course was served in less than 20 mins - but the dessert took forever to appear, and caused lots of time loss for us. But nevertheless, I'd surely try this restaurant once again for the good food they served back then.

Here is a link to my blog post on my trip back in May 2009.

[hvkumar]

[quote=binaiks;1620338]Would've been possible if we had a more structured system. A simple search for updates on this highway appeared on Page 3 of search results - of course not appealing to a person (leave aside a member) searching badly for updates.

We could instead have topics having updates on each of the major highways instead of having a question-answer format.

Entirely agree with you, there are multiple threads and navigating them to get to the right answer is not easy. Nonetheless, if one is patient, one can get a gold mine of info in these threads.

hanks for this list. Hotel Mahendra - isn't this one on the right side of the road when proceeding from Bangalore to Mumbai?

Yes, that is right, you can't miss it, it comes after the flyover in Satara bypass. You have a U-turn immediately after crossing the hotel, with well-marked signboards. Good food, parking and clean toilets.

During my last trip, we had stopped at Sankam for lunch. The food was just amazing - but the service was too slow then. The main course was served in less than 20 mins - but the dessert took forever to appear, and caused lots of time loss for us. But nevertheless, I'd surely try this restaurant once again for the good food they served back then.

Surely the best on this route. Rooms are also good.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by binaiks

During my last trip, we had stopped at Sankam for lunch. The food was just amazing - but the service was too slow then. The main course was served in less than 20 mins - but the dessert took forever to appear, and caused lots of time loss for us. But nevertheless, I'd surely try this restaurant once again for the good food they served back then.

After about 8 hours of drive, ones back and legs need a break
it is always good to have an 1 hour +/- 15 minutes break. Sankam offers a great option for it, it has good clean toilets (for family, self), a good restaurant, reasonably good service/price, great quality, a lounge (for some quick nap 10-20 minutes), fuel station for re-fueling, ATMs etc

if you are in a hurry, then you can always request for a quick service.

but my suggestion is to immerse your self in that 60-75 minutes break, especially if your family is also with you. 15-30 minutes can be re-gained on way.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

but my suggestion is to immerse your self in that 60-75 minutes break, especially if your family is also with you. 15-30 minutes can be re-gained on way.

We usually change positions (My Brother, and I, Drive) every two hours or so. SO each of us get adequate rest, and we usually prefer shorter breaks.

I'll post a travelogue once the trip is over - perhaps with up-to-date updates on how the road is like, as well.

Thanks a lot guys for all the info. Reached back in Bangalore after a short trip to Navi Mumbai.

We started on Wednesday (December 09) at around 0430. We stay on Bannerghatta Road - took the NICE road from here to Tumkur (Rs. 63 for Toll). We stopped at Davangere for Breakfast (around 0815). We had to go inside the town for some decent hotels - the food was too oily and spoilt the entire day. (Dosa appeared to have been fried - with oil just dripping out).

Lunch was at Sankam (around 1230). We stopped for tea at Soul Curry (just after Wakad Naka - the place where the Pune By-pass ends). We hit the Expressway at around 1830, and were at CBD Belapur by around 1930. Took 15 hours including breaks.

On the return, we started from CBD Belapur on Friday (December 11) at around 0530. Reached back in Bangalore (Wockhardt Hospital, Bannerghatta Road) around 2015. (We landed up at the hospital since I fell sick on the way back - high fever and body aches).

Roads: The section between Nelamangala to somewhere around Hubli BP is a huge pain. In many places (I'll give the exact sections later - as I corroborate with the toll receipts) there is less of road and more of potholes - plus you pay for toll.

Will try to post a detailed report later.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Roads: The section between Nelamangala to somewhere around Hubli BP is a huge pain.

Hey thats wrong . Nelmangala and before Hubli are pain patches.
Not Nelmanagala to Hubli. You encounter the beautiful Chitra - Tumkur stretch and a complete 200 + kms of it. This is the 2nd best stretch uptil Pune.

In many places (I'll give the exact sections later - as I corroborate with the toll receipts) there is less of road and more of potholes - plus you pay for toll.

Will try to post a detailed report later.

Looking forward to it.

[explorer09]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Would've been possible if we had a more structured system. A simple search for updates on this highway appeared on Page 3 of search results - of course not appealing to a person (leave aside a member) searching badly for updates.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Entirely agree with you, there are multiple threads and navigating them to get to the right answer is not easy. Nonetheless, if one is patient, one can get a gold mine of info in these threads.




Yes, that is right, you can't miss it, it comes after the flyover in Satara bypass. You have a U-turn immediately after crossing the hotel, with well-marked signboards. Good food, parking and clean toilets.



Surely the best on this route. Rooms are also good.

Nice idea. If i am not wrong, we have a thread for Accomodation updates wherein people keep putting in updates for hotels/resorts. We could have a similar thread for Road updates wherein we agree on some format and keep putting in updates about the road conditions and route taken after each road trip.

Regards,
Sandeep