[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Taz-On-The-Road

Thanks for the valuable info Kumar sir. Is the Ganapatipule-Goa border stretch doable in an Innova in a reasonable amount of time? Also, how do I reach Amboli from NH17? Where do I have to take a deviation to reach Amboli and how then do I connect back to NH4? Thanks in advance.

Ganapatipule-Goa border is less than 5 hours.
For Amboli, turn off Nh17 just before Sawantwadi town, and climb up the ghats.
From Amboli, if you want to go south, take the road via Chandgad to Belgaum. If you want to go north, take the road via Ajra to Nippani on NH4.

[ndalal02]

Originally Posted by Taz-On-The-Road

I am planning to do Bangalore-Mahabaleshwar on the 30th of this month. I prefer driving in the nights hence will leave Bangalore at about 11PM. Last time I drove on this stretch in January, it was a big mess till Hubli. Took me 12 hrs to do Bangalore-Pune and 7hrs for Bangalore-Hubli alone. The stretch from Chitradurga-Haveri was really bad. Does anyone know about the latest condition of this road? Has any work been done on this stretch? Kindly let me know of any latest updates that you have.
Also, I plan to travel onwards from Mahabaleshwar to Ganapatipule and then back to Bangalore with a stopover at Amboli ghats. Route info and guidance will be much appreciated as I haven't ever been to the Konkan belt. Thanks in advance

Hi,

I have done Bangalore - Mumbai many times but during the day. I am planning my next trip during the night. So I had few questions on night driving (any inputs would be much appreciated):

Is the highway safe for night driving?
Can you still maintain speeds of 120-130 (which I normally do during day driving) during nights as well?
I have seen many trucks without tail lights and wrapped in dark tarpaulin. Arent they serious danger?
Is the traffic lesser during nights?

Thanks,
Nirav.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ndalal02

Hi,

I have done Bangalore - Mumbai many times but during the day. I am planning my next trip during the night. So I had few questions on night driving (any inputs would be much appreciated):

Is the highway safe for night driving?
Can you still maintain speeds of 120-130 (which I normally do during day driving) during nights as well?
I have seen many trucks without tail lights and wrapped in dark tarpaulin. Arent they serious danger?
Is the traffic lesser during nights?

Thanks,
Nirav.

I have done it regulary and completely through the nights between August09 and Feb10 but we restricted to just myself and my Dad.

Having driven more than 6-7 occasions through the night I found that if one is used to night driving (with enough rest before), the road is free from village and town traffic (especially MH till Kolhapur).

There are no good places to eat in the night and you may have to live with whatever you find convenient at that point in time.

In Karnataka, there are hardly any 24Hrs Fuel stations barring a few before Dharwad (High court Bldg) and one in Belgaum. In Maharashtra, I have found plenty of them stay open and there is no risk. Hence plan your journey accordingly.

Since it is night, its usually trucks which rule but they behave very well and give way to your flashing of lights unlike the effort during the day where they are usually in the fast lane (Kolhapur-Pune).

May be you can start at 4Pm from Bangalore, Reach Davanagere at 7pm, Dinner at Ranibennur Ghar Dhaba and then refuel at Dharwad exit around 10pm to reach Kolhapur at 12-00am and exit Pune by 2-30/2-45am and reach Mumbai entry by 4-30am.

The reason I am telling you to start at 4pm or even 3pm from Bangalore is:

1.You will have better visibility between Davanagere and Haveri for those unmarked speedbreakers which is a little difficult under the cover of darkness.

2.Reach Mumbai before the sun rises as the early morning Sun rays falling over your eyes (especially after driving whole night) gets really irritating and eyes burn.

[gururaj r]

Originally Posted by ndalal02

Hi,

I have done Bangalore - Mumbai many times but during the day. I am planning my next trip during the night. So I had few questions on night driving (any inputs would be much appreciated):

Is the highway safe for night driving?
Can you still maintain speeds of 120-130 (which I normally do during day driving) during nights as well?
I have seen many trucks without tail lights and wrapped in dark tarpaulin. Arent they serious danger?
Is the traffic lesser during nights?

Thanks,
Nirav.

You have not mentioned which car you are going to drive. Let your headlamp be 90/100. During the night trip it should throw sufficient light to show the road and the speed breakers as they are not marked sufficiently well. Carry a set of bulbs and fuse. A powerful torch also would do a lot of good. Happy journey. I have done the journey alone in this sector and so far not encountered any safety issues.

[jassi]

anyone planning to do this trip over the next 2 weeks - i plan to move my car to pune and would like to drive it (preferably in day) vs put it in a truck with other home appliances :-)

[sumobom4]

I intend to drive down from Bangalore to Pune with my parents. Want to avoid night driving and have no intention of making it a non-stop journey due to my Mum's health. So, plan to stop overnight at Belgaum. Since my office stint here in Bangalore ends today, I will be starting tomorrow. However, given that the Ayodhya verdict will be announced tomorrow, is there anything that I need to watch out for? I desperately need information regarding this.

[mooza]

^^ Why not try to reach Belgaum by tonight itself. Even if you could manage to leave Bangalore by around 3 pm, most of your driving could get completed during the daytime. Safer option, in my opinion

[sumobom4]

Originally Posted by mooza

^^ Why not try to reach Belgaum by tonight itself. Even if you could manage to leave Bangalore by around 3 pm, most of your driving could get completed during the daytime. Safer option, in my opinion

I would have done that, if it were not for the fact that my parents will be joining me in Bangalore today evening. Their flight comes in at 6.30 pm and I need to pick them up from the airport.

[Rajiv-Bang]

Originally Posted by sumobom4

I would have done that, if it were not for the fact that my parents will be joining me in Bangalore today evening. Their flight comes in at 6.30 pm and I need to pick them up from the airport.

If leaving today is not an option try to leave Bangalore by 4-5 AM in the morning. You can be in Belgaum by 10-11 am depending on your driving. My personal feeling is you should opt for Kolhapur or Satara rather than Belgaum given the past history. The judgement is at 3.30 pm i guess you can easily reach these places.

[sumobom4]

Originally Posted by Rajiv-Bang

If leaving today is not an option try to leave Bangalore by 4-5 AM in the morning. You can be in Belgaum by 10-11 am depending on your driving. My personal feeling is you should opt for Kolhapur or Satara rather than Belgaum given the past history. The judgement is at 3.30 pm i guess you can easily reach these places.

Thanks for the suggestion, Rajiv. I will try to do that. Past history in North Karnataka was what I was worried about, in the first place!

[abtom]

Hi Jassi,

Originally Posted by jassi

anyone planning to do this trip over the next 2 weeks - i plan to move my car to pune and would like to drive it (preferably in day) vs put it in a truck with other home appliances :-)

I plan to drive to Pune from Blore. Unfortunately, my start date is not fixed - could be any one of the days between 7 to 10/Oct. The most likely dates are 7/Oct or 9/Oct. The variables that will determine the exact date will be kids exams, son's basketball training and a likely business meeting at Mumbai. So I do not know if this message will be of any help to you!!

I will be driving my SX4. I've done the trip several times the last couple of years in my Qualis. I've done both full daytime trip as well as a combination of day and night driving. However, I plan this trip to be an all daytime ride - start from Ramamurthy Nagar (near Banaswadi) at about 5:00AM and reach Pune no later than 6:00 PM.

If you are looking for someone to share the ride in your car, I cannot be that person. But, if your car is looking for company on the road, my SX4 would be interested - if we can co-ordinate our trip

[anainar]

Atrocious!! I did the return trip from Pune on October 3rd. The Shivpur toll road and the next one have been taken over by one P.S.Tollways from NHAI. First thing they do is raise the toll for cars from Rs45 to Rs 60 and the other toll charges from Rs.25 to Rs45 for cars. Similar raise is done on other types.

That makes me ask this question. This road has not changed, nothing is being done, no additional work is being carried out, but why the toll charges are increased just because of it is taken over by some private player? What can we do to raise this issue? A raise of 60% is unheard of in anything.

Nainar

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by anainar

Atrocious!! I did the return trip from Pune on October 3rd. The Shivpur toll road and the next one have been taken over by one P.S.Tollways from NHAI. First thing they do is raise the toll for cars from Rs45 to Rs 60 and the other toll charges from Rs.25 to Rs45 for cars. Similar raise is done on other types.

That makes me ask this question. This road has not changed, nothing is being done, no additional work is being carried out, but why the toll charges are increased just because of it is taken over by some private player? What can we do to raise this issue? A raise of 60% is unheard of in anything.

Nainar

There was a recent news article and also a mention of the same by MX6 somewhere that the toll charges have been increased to make way for the 6 laning between Pune and Satara by Reliance Infra who've targetted 2 years for completion.

[MX6]

While the 6 laning is welcome, I found the existing 4 lane not maintained properly. I saw potholes in the existing lanes of this stretch. Hope this doesn't become a money minting process for the contractors who keep tolls for building them, then keep heftier tolls for annual repairs.

I believe already RTI activists have asked for reasons for this hike.

But what really hurts is the fact that these polls are placed at inopportune places that even if one goes to the tirupati temple across the khed shivapur toll or go 30 kms further down, one pays the same amount of 60 bucks.

I hope down the line the toll booths are moved from the main highway (helps in decongesting highways and let traffic going further down pass without stopping) and on to the exits. So it's one toll you pay at the place where you take an exit. not every 30 or 40 kms.

But then in India, where I read people make entry points in Mumbai - Pune e-way as well from unauthorised places, anyone will escape paying toll by finding a shortcut.

[abhaybakshi]

Hi,

I will be travelling from Pune to Banglore with my wife and kid.

Plan is to spend a night in Hubli and then start early from Hubli next day.

Please help me with the en route hotels and alternate plan.
My only criteria is that I dont want to do 900+ kilometers in one go.

As per my plan,

1. Start from Pune at 8 AM
2. Breakfast and tea near Satara at 10 AM
3. Lunch at Kolhapur / Belgaum at around 12 PM
4. Refreshments at Chitradoorga at around 2 PM
5. Halt at Hubli at around 4 PM

Stay in a budget hotel (must be clean and neat). Thinking of hotel Ayodhya. Any idea how far is this from pune-bangalore highway?

Day 2
====
1. Start early at 6 AM
2. Breakfast before Davangiri
3. Reach Bangalore by 2 PM for lunch

Your views please.