[goandude]

Originally Posted by evilshantanu

Thanks for the update mate. I am going to Pune on 11th April, does the road widening work interfere with the road traffic? Did you experience any delays because of the road work going on?

Yes there are multiple diversions, 15 to be precise, on the C'durga Tumkur stretch. These are narrow and some have multiple speed breakers so they slow you down significantly. There are 4 diversions on the Belgaum Darwad sector but these are not so significant. On the Satara Pune sector also there are diversions and again not too significant. On the rest of the road I was maintaining 100 -120 speeds, so you can infer from my timings how the diversions effected overall progress.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by goandude

Yes there are multiple diversions, 15 to be precise, on the C'durga Tumkur stretch. These are narrow and some have multiple speed breakers so they slow you down significantly. There are 4 diversions on the Belgaum Darwad sector but these are not so significant. On the Satara Pune sector also there are diversions and again not too significant. On the rest of the road I was maintaining 100 -120 speeds, so you can infer from my timings how the diversions effected overall progress.

Thanks for the update. In fact, these diversions between Tumkur-Chitradurga haven't changed since many months and their number remain the same even today. Best time to pass them is mostly during the wee hours of the day when the truck traffic becomes thinner. The same if done in the opposite direction (towards Bangalore) might prove very time consuming as it witnesses lots of Private and Govt Bus traffic who are the last lot to yield way to be overtaken on these diversions. In general, you might agree that most of the long haul truckers on these diversions move extreme left or right to allow overtaking for cars.

In terms of the overall timings, these diversions may add about 15-30 minutes to your travel time from what I have experienced over the past few months.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Thanks for the update. In fact, these diversions between Tumkur-Chitradurga haven't changed since many months and their number remain the same even today. Best time to pass them is mostly during the wee hours of the day when the truck traffic becomes thinner. The same if done in the opposite direction (towards Bangalore) might prove very time consuming as it witnesses lots of Private and Govt Bus traffic who are the last lot to yield way to be overtaken on these diversions. In general, you might agree that most of the long haul truckers on these diversions move extreme left or right to allow overtaking for cars.

In terms of the overall timings, these diversions may add about 15-30 minutes to your travel time from what I have experienced over the past few months.

Bus drivers are the worst lot on highways, they do not like vehicles to overtake. Truckers are much more accommodating. As far as traffic is concerned, I don't think there are good times or bad, truckers are on the road all of 24 hrs.

However, the completed 3 lanes allow you to overtake from left most lane as the truckers occupy middle and right lane. This reduces the time lost on the diversions.

[evilshantanu]

So there is a slight modification in my plan, instead of leaving at 4 am now I plan to leave at 6 am. This would mean lot of silly traffic, but my experience with the previous Pune trips says that maximum it would cause me 2 hours delay, but getting 2 more hours of sleep would make a huge difference in the fatigue levels while driving

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by goandude

I don't think there are good times or bad, truckers are on the road all of 24 hrs.

As a matter of fact, on NH4 there are good times and bad if one needs time his/her travel plans. The maximum amount of trucks are witnessed only during the night, especially between Tumkur-Chitradurga stretch (and the opposite corridor).

In fact, if one is returning Bangalore from Pune/Mumbai, the best time to manage the last stretch of Chitradurga-Nelamangala is always before 10-11pm further to which truck traffic multiplies.

Recently when we had stopped for Tea at Guilalu toll plaza on our return, my father asked the Tea shop owner who was very clear in indicating the way TN, KA and KL (and rest of the regional truckers) plan their slots to traverse through this section of NH4. Hence, most of the times, very late at night you would normally see TN and KL trucks trying to reach Bangalore.

Agree on your point that truckers (long haul only) are the most gentlemen drivers on our Highways that one can guess by regularly driving on our highways.

And when it comes to 3 lane highway, In Indian road conditions, this is perhaps the most gambling situation if one needs to overtake. Though a majority of truckers occupy the center most lane, more often you will see them trying to overtake another truck either from left or right and to guess that is a big gamble. Best is to flash your headlamps multiple times irrespective of whether you are overtaking from left or right and continue.

[INNOWAGON_CL]

Since I have travelled the Mumbai - Bangalore - Coimbatore - Mysore -Bangalore - Mumbai stretch once in summer and also a Mumbai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Bangalore-Mumbai stretch again in winter, I can say that if we are leaving Mumbai / Pune, then, start Mumbai between 4 to 430 am in the morning so that we cross Pune by 730am and if we are leaving Bangalore then, start at 5am so that we are Neelmangala by 6 to 6.30am. In this way we can comfortably reach destination Bangalore by 6pm same day and Mumbai suburbs by 1130pm same day. We could have a journey with comfortable breaks and also could avoid night driving as much as possible.

The section wise road experience can be summarised as under:


1) Bangalore to Tumkur But it’s best to drive early morning, when traffic is least. It’s however, not easy to exit for food or toilet or fuel.

2) Tumkur to Chitradurga Good thing is that the village section of the roads cemented on both sides, there-by increasing safety. Also good number of facilities have been provided for pedestrians to cross the road.

3) Chitradurga-Davengere-Ranebenur-Hubli While construction activity related conversion to 6 lane is on, they do provide safe underpasses at some places and frequently service road turns into highway. Nevertheless, the service roads were also good enough to drive 40-60 kmph speed.

4) Hubli- Belgaum Hubli bypass is a two lane highway & we could face decent traffic because of industrial areas in & around. But once out of this byepass, cemented highway starts. One can easily zip on 100kmph or more.

5) Belgaum to Kolhapur Again most part of the four lane highway is cemented, allowing good speed. Quality of road is somewhat inferior compared to that in Karnataka. Even then one can go upto a speed of 80kmph or more at a few selected stretches.

6) Kolhapur to Satara As sun goes down we could face heavy traffic on road, coupled with some inferior quality of road & therefore we should be prepared for some drive fatigue to creep in. Speeds upto 80kmph can be reached in a few stretches.

7) Satara to Pune-Mumbai byepass road is about 110 kms and the Pune Mumbai Byepass road is about 45km and thereafter we enter the the 93 kilometer long concrete expressway that starts at Dehu Road near Pune and ends at Panvel and the speed limit is in range of 80 to 120 kmph. The tunnels are at Kamshet, Khandala, Adoshi (only while coming from Pune to Mumbai) Madap and Bhatan The interchanges are at Kusgaon, Talegoan, Khalapur, Shedung and the toll plaza are at Talegaon (Mumbai end) and Khalapur(Pune end). The Satara Mumbai stretch of 256 kms can easily be completed in 4 hours time.

Have been able to complete Mumbai-Bangalore stetch in 17hrs with break time of 1.5 hrs and in winter I had done in 17.5 hrs with 2.5hrs of break. But I find driving in winter more enjoyable compared to summer time driving and mileage was significantly better with minimal use of A.C. in winter during day time driving.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by INNOWAGON_CL

Chitradurga-Davengere-Ranebenur-Hubli While construction activity related conversion to 6 lane is on, they do provide safe underpasses at some places and frequently service road turns into highway. Nevertheless, the service roads were also good enough to drive 40-60 kmph speed.

Chitradurga-Davanagere-Harihar-Ranebennur-Haveri-Bankapura-Shiggaon-Hubli is 4 lane and there is no construction activity as of now whatsoever. The latest (at least 2 years now) development is the functioning of Railway Overbridges and opening of Haveri and Ranebennur bypass almost 2 years before.

The 6 lane work is in progress between Tumkur and Chitradurga only and is happening quite swiftly. There are at least 15+ diversions onto the service lanes both ways between these 2 towns to make way for overbridge construction at many junctions.

5) Belgaum to Kolhapur Again most part of the four lane highway is cemented, allowing good speed. Quality of road is somewhat inferior compared to that in Karnataka. Even then one can go upto a speed of 80kmph or more at a few selected stretches.

Belgaum-Kolhapur is still Karnataka. Border is immediately after paying toll (30INR) at Kognoli when you cross a river. The cemented stretch is constructed and maintained by Punj Lloyd and one of the most beautiful and fast stretches of the entire NH4. Dharwad-Belgaum stretch is now undergoing 6 lane conversion

6) Kolhapur to Satara As sun goes down we could face heavy traffic on road, coupled with some inferior quality of road & therefore we should be prepared for some drive fatigue to creep in. Speeds upto 80kmph can be reached in a few stretches.

It is quite normal for driving fatigue to show its signs after driving for 700 kms already. Best times to avoid this traffic is driving post 10pm after Kolhapur or passing this before 7am.

7) Satara to Pune-Mumbai byepass road is about 110 kms and the Pune Mumbai Byepass road is about 45km and thereafter we enter the the 93 kilometer long concrete expressway that starts at Dehu Road near Pune and ends at Panvel and the speed limit is in range of 80 to 120 kmph. The tunnels are at Kamshet, Khandala, Adoshi (only while coming from Pune to Mumbai) Madap and Bhatan The interchanges are at Kusgaon, Talegoan, Khalapur, Shedung and the toll plaza are at Talegaon (Mumbai end) and Khalapur(Pune end). The Satara Mumbai stretch of 256 kms can easily be completed in 4 hours time.

The speed limit is 80kmph all along the expressway. And now, you have speed interceptors and cops scan your toll receipt (Entry to exit toll) specially on weekends to check for overspeeding.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Belgaum-Kolhapur is still Karnataka. Border is immediately after paying toll (30INR) at Kognoli when you cross a river. The cemented stretch is constructed and maintained by Punj Lloyd and one of the most beautiful and fast stretches of the entire NH4. Dharwad-Belgaum stretch is now undergoing 6 lane conversion

+1. Without doubt the best stretch of the lot. The next one goes to Rannebennur-Hubli section.

My only worry on this part is that, they have humps some times before the diversion and sometimes immediately after. A consistency would have been better. (This is for the Tumkur-Chitradurga section)

But over all no complaints what so ever. I once did Pune-Satara in the thick of the traffic 6PM to 8PM. And that was quite taxing. But we were compensated by some nice sunsets along the way !

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

My only worry on this part is that, they have humps some times before the diversion and sometimes immediately after. A consistency would have been better. (This is for the Tumkur-Chitradurga section)

This is precisely what confuses anyone on this stretch, especially at nights when you usually slot down to lower that speed looking at that reflective "DIVERSION" sign and screech to dead halt realizing there is a speedbreaker!! In fact, one of the last few diversions towards Pune has a speedbreaker right on the main corridor itself. Had an experience of this when we were driving as 4 car convoy at night way back in Sep 2012

But overall, none of these diversions are a pain to tackle since the road condition is good enough even on the service lanes where you are diverted to. And with the 6 lane work almost complete in many section, this stretch resembles a superfast runway!!

[latentpotential]

I am planning a Mumbai-Pune-Bangalore trip soon (Mid May).
I request guidance from the recent travelers on this stretch to point out the sections of the journey which have a higher element of "risk" than usual.

[asdon]

Small update - The divertions between Tumkur & Chitradurga are reducing.. Yesterday I made a trip to Hiriyur and from Yashwanthpur Toll Bridge entry to Hiriyur TB Circle, I did in 1 hr 47min(166km), 5 bridges have opened up between Tumkur & Hiriyur, there are 3 more divertions till Chitradurga. Opening up the bridges have reduced my travel time by 25 mins. Major one yet to open is the one after Sira Kamath and one 20km before Hiriyur, where there is a road which connects to Srirangapatna & Mysore.

Originally Posted by latentpotential

I am planning a Mumbai-Pune-Bangalore trip soon (Mid May).
I request guidance from the recent travelers on this stretch to point out the sections of the journey which have a higher element of "risk" than usual.

There are no major risky segement in the streach( can't say much but talking from my 7 trip exp between BLR-MUM), depends on what time you start, so that you can avoid trucks, and yes one major thing to lookout for is cattles crossing the roads between 5pm to 7pm.. most of the streach in Karnataka is 6 lane, you will get about 7 divertions between Chitradurga & Tumkur all managable.

[santoshr]

I will be doing Pune-Dharwad tommorow, checking in to see on what's the latest. Anything apart from the scorching heat to be taken care of.

-Santosh

[asdon]

Originally Posted by santoshr

I will be doing Pune-Dharwad tommorow, checking in to see on what's the latest. Anything apart from the scorching heat to be taken care of.

-Santosh

No, rest will be taken care by the road you might encounter road work after Belgaum...

[santoshr]

Originally Posted by asdon

No, rest will be taken care by the road you might encounter road work after Belgaum...

Just returned. The road after the ghat, in and around Satara is in bad shape. The 6-lanning work has lead to only two lanes with many undulations.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by santoshr

Just returned. The road after the ghat, in and around Satara is in bad shape. The 6-lanning work has lead to only two lanes with many undulations.

There are some usually famous sectors like these:
- The ascent to Khambhatki Ghats
- Roads as soon as you pass the Bangalore side Entry for Satara (towards Pune)
- Those 10 odd kms just approaching Satara while driving towards Bangalore

If you noticed, the road after a few kms from Satara towards Bangalore is fully concretized till nearing Kolhapur and is a pleasant feeling as it remains in good shape all through.

The traffic density on KA roads is incomparable to that between Kolhapur-Pune/Mumbai and toll operators mint money everyday and condition of road remains bad (in comparision to rest of the sections in KA) most of the times.