[netarchie]

Did this trip last week

The road conditions are all fine both ways, some pot holes in Sira - Tumkur section on the way to Blr, which I guess is already being taken care of as I saw in my return Journey.
The flyover to Blr city after nelmangala is ready but not opened yet ! hope it opens soon.

I Could do the return trip from E-city Blr under 14 hours flat with about 1 hour stops in between for food ect.

Started from E-city from Blr at 1:00 P.M. had to halt at Tumkur road for about an hour for some office work, reached Hubli around 8:00 P.M, Koholapur Mcdonals at 11:00 P.M.Reached Navi mumbai at 4:00 A.M in the morning. heavy rains on expressway.

Rains did play spoil sport at times, but nothing major.

Some speedbreakers are removed or maybe some new flyovers have opened, but overall I found less speedbreakers to deal with this time during the trip!

The haveri-ranibennur-chitradurga section could be done under 2 hours 30 minutes, so an improvment over there too.

The journey from Mumbai to Blr was not smooth, pls refer to the thread here -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ed-petrol.html

Overall road conditions are fine as yet. Best section being Kohlapur to Bankapur toll naka and little afterwards before the first rail crossings.

The hubli -dharward stretch being the bottle neck as it is single lane !

[ampere]

So are all the bypasses open? Any thing under construction?
(Except for issues till Nelamangala)

[netarchie]

After the first rail crossing towards b'lore, a new flyover has opened, this was not there in april 2010. Atleast 2 or 3 flyovers are under construction between haveri and the last town before chitradurga. But overall the condition in this stretch has improved quite a lot. Still there are some rough patches but very few of them. Only thing to be afraid of are the speedbreakers as they can appear suddenly.

[paragsachania]

I think the major development that has happened in the past 3-4 months has been the much wanted Raninebbur bypass. I was the first one to take this in the first week of June (Of course when it came to reporting this on T-bhp).

The ROBs at the 2 places surely will take at least 2-3 months more when I looked at the progress in first week of June.

The "under construction" part from the bad stretch between Davanagere and Bankapura are usually the bridges and the 2 railway crossings which constitute to less than 10 kms for sure.

Overall, like netarchie puts, the stretch is pleasant including these bottlenecks when a regular traveller looks back at the state of affairs 1 year and beyond.

@netarchie,
The timings between which you did Kolhapur and Mumbai has incidentally turned out to be the best for me too to avoid the mad traffic from Kolhapur till Pune (If one is comfortable with night driving and I am). The numbers will definitely go up by atleast 45-60 mins more if the same was done during an evening.

If driving with no lady passengers and Kids, I start at 4pm from Bangalore to cross Kolhapur at 1am and be in Pune by 4am.

Comparitively lesser queues at the Toll Plazas, Disciplined driving by truckers, Govt and Private buses is another boon.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by ampere

So are all the bypasses open? Any thing under construction?
(Except for issues till Nelamangala)

Yes, I would say so. The wretched railway gates are still there. Work is going on in completing them, atleast I saw filling happening in the ramp. It might take a while though for the beams to connect the ramps.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I think the major development that has happened in the past 3-4 months has been the much wanted Raninebbur bypass. I was the first one to take this in the first week of June (Of course when it came to reporting this on T-bhp).

This for sure is a major development. It saves the pain of passing through the town which could make you slash your wrist and kill yourself at times in frustration.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

The ROBs at the 2 places surely will take at least 2-3 months more when I looked at the progress in first week of June.

You think so? I did not see any efforts being made to build those bridges except the ramps getting filled up.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Overall, like netarchie puts, the stretch is pleasant including these bottlenecks when a regular traveller looks back at the state of affairs 1 year and beyond.

Absolutely, but the incremental improvement is not worth 1 year of time though. That after charging toll at Bankapur for the wretched stretch towards blore.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

@netarchie,
The timings between which you did Kolhapur and Mumbai has incidentally turned out to be the best for me too to avoid the mad traffic from Kolhapur till Pune (If one is comfortable with night driving and I am). The numbers will definitely go up by atleast 45-60 mins more if the same was done during an evening.

For a change last time I left home by around 6:00 AM from Warje and surprisingly I found much much less queues in Shivpur, Taswade and Kini toll booths. Just one car/truck ahead of me. Was not sure it was just my luck or the time is the right one.

BTW, did any one notice? Taswade and Kini booths alone have increased their by Rs.6 for cars, from Rs.46 they moved upto Rs.52. And both are managed by Konark enterprises while none of other booths in Karnataka side has increased the toll ( except the Bangalore - Nelamangaly guy, JAS toll roads). Some booths in Maharashtra also have not increased( Shivpur, the one before shivpur, ). How is it that one section increases toll while others dont?

Nainar

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by anainar

You think so? I did not see any efforts being made to build those bridges except the ramps getting filled up.

Somehow I felt optimistic from my last trip on the ROBs. The only thing left now would be the ramp passing over the tracks which I am sure is the major but final event before completion. The speed at which the filling was happening over the ascent and descent on both sides was phenomenal though.

Absolutely, but the incremental improvement is not worth 1 year of time though. That after charging toll at Bankapur for the wretched stretch towards blore.

Well, in the past one year, certainly there have been developmemts like the Chitradurga bypass, A few bridges over Tumkur, Chitradurga-Davanagere Stretch. These 3 bottlenecks were indeed the worst pain anyone could take.

Bankapura toll is for Bankapura till Hubli bypass and it makes sense to feel happy while driving towards Pune but eventually is a let down while driving to Bangalore. You would've realised that the onward Journey to Pune/Mumbai always seems faster and pleasant as compared to the return to Bangalore which is painful all the time.

For a change last time I left home by around 6:00 AM from Warje and surprisingly I found much much less queues in Shivpur, Taswade and Kini toll booths. Just one car/truck ahead of me. Was not sure it was just my luck or the time is the right one.

BTW, did any one notice? Taswade and Kini booths alone have increased their by Rs.6 for cars, from Rs.46 they moved upto Rs.52. And both are managed by Konark enterprises while none of other booths in Karnataka side has increased the toll ( except the Bangalore - Nelamangaly guy, JAS toll roads). Some booths in Maharashtra also have not increased( Shivpur, the one before shivpur, ). How is it that one section increases toll while others dont?

Nainar

Yes, early mornings towards Kolhapur is plesant. The same wont be the case towards Pune/Mumbai from what I have experienced. More than avoiding toll queues towards Kolhapur, its on the other side of the corridor which is clogged in the evenings and pleasant in the nights.

Last I travelled was 4th - 7th June and I paid 46 at both the places but did pay up 24/- at Nelemangala/Tumkur. Konark for sure has been the worst when it comes to toll management on the entire NH4.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Last I travelled was 4th - 7th June and I paid 46 at both the places but did pay up 24/- at Nelemangala/Tumkur. Konark for sure has been the worst when it comes to toll management on the entire NH4.

I traveled BLR-Pune on 10th and return on 18th. Both days they took Rs.52 at Taswade/Kine and Nelamangala/Tumkur toll I paid was Rs.31. For no change in the road condition, no extra services, just increase in toll. Dont know how these toll changes get approved. The increase is similar for every one and their toll collections would have gone up by @13% doing nothing.

Nainar

[netarchie]

Same with me on the toll price mentioned for Taswade/Kini/Nelamanagla.

@paragsachania..I guess it was one of your updates where you had mentioned that you travelled at night and had to wait very less time at toll gates and could do faster times, which in turn inspired me to do the night drive and i have never looked back !

The first time I started at 4:00 A.M. both ways and suffered at every toll gate between k'pur and mumbai.

There are has been improvements in the stretch, allthough a little slow, but things are certain to improve.

[goandude]

Hi am planning a drive Mumbai bangy and back next week. Plan departure 0600 both ways. I stay in CV raman nagar.

Want to know should I come to bangy via neelamangala , Or will it make more sence to do dobbespet dod bellapur

If via neelamangala, will it be better (less traffic mess) to take ring road or hebbal ulsoor OMR route?

via Dobesspet dodbelarpur yelahanka should I take ring road or go to hebbal ulsoor OMR?
I understand that work is going on at the ring road making it a big mess?

Also is the neelamangala flyover opento traffic?

Thanks

[Rajiv-Bang]

Originally Posted by goandude

Hi am planning a drive Mumbai bangy and back next week. Plan departure 0600 both ways. I stay in CV raman nagar.

Also is the neelamangala flyover opento traffic?

Neelmangala flyover was not opened to traffic till sunday last. But I feel driving on the Neelmangala- Peenya- Bangalore stretch is much better now as comapred to a month or two back.

[avigster]

Dear All,

Can someone suggest a good place to stopover for a night while my roadtrip from Bangalore to Pune this Saturday. I have a 3 year old daughter & my wife on this trip with me. Doesn't essentially have to be fancy, nonethless a neat & a safe place is must.
We're doing it on a three month old Verna VGT! any thing i need to be careful about?

Many Thanks in advace! /- VIG

[MX6]

Durga residency and Sankam in belgaum.
At hubli I stayed at Ambesh and found it ok and VFM.

[prince_pervez]

In Hubli there is hotel Ayodhya and you can rest for night for 500 bucks with car parking and security. Ok for a one night stay. However if you catch sankam on the way, nothing like it.

Originally Posted by avigster

Can someone suggest a good place to stopover for a night while my roadtrip from Bangalore to Pune this Saturday.

Hotel Hoysala, opposite Kittel College, Bangalore - Pune Road, Dharwad 580 001. It has good board and lodging facilities.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

In Hubli there is hotel Ayodhya and you can rest for night for 500 bucks with car parking and security. Ok for a one night stay. However if you catch sankam on the way, nothing like it.

Oops 20 minutes up, EDIT: Hotel Ayodhya is in the interiors, so you might not want to search for that on a late night.