[supreddy77]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Check this gmap link

Thanks a lot vivek95. Also, the gmap link is of great help.

[JMaruru]

I would be driving to Mumbai from B'lore, morrow early morning. How's the scenario with incessant rains in North Karnataka and Maharashtra, especially Mumbai ? I plan to leave early, say 4 AM from B'lore and would like to reach Mumbai before sunset!

Please advise!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

How's the scenario with incessant rains in North Karnataka and Maharashtra, especially Mumbai ?

Rains as on yesterday noon weren't that bad in Mumbai as well but forecast says expect more rains over the the next 2 days.

Your worry should not be anywhere but Sion and beyond where rains may affect traffic inside the city. North KA till Pune or Panvel should not be an issue at all.

Have a safe trip!

Few of us drive that side on day after .

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

I would be driving to Mumbai from B'lore, morrow early morning. How's the scenario with incessant rains in North Karnataka and Maharashtra, especially Mumbai ? I plan to leave early, say 4 AM from B'lore and would like to reach Mumbai before sunset!

Please advise!

It was raining heavily in Mumbai last 5 days( I live here ) and learnt that its raining in Pune as well. Currently the situation is better in Mumbai as compared to yesterday. It was flooding everywhere. Since you are planning to reach Mumbai before sunset, there shouldn't be any problem. IMD had predicted heavy rainfall for next 48 hours in Mumbai but then the rains started subsiding

No incessant rains in Belgaum, same is the story with rest of North Karnataka.

[narayans80]

A tad too late update to this thread Did a NH4 run in early June.

Onward was a Hosur-Shirur run, timed to cross into MH at night. And it worked! Clocked Kolhapur to Pune bypass in 2:45 hrs and 50 mins to cross Pune (got caught in some Metro construction for 5 mins). Few comments:

- MSRTC buses stop middle of nowhere, need to wary of that.
- Karad town has a huge jam at 2330 hrs.
- Attibele, Guialu, Taswade, Anewadi took 5-10 mins. Remaining were a breeze.
- Kamat, Dobbaspete was avoidable.

Started from Hosur at 1150 am, NICE Tumkur at 100 pm, 40 min in Kamat Dobaspete, 1 hr at Sugar n Spice Hubli, 20 min at Roti Ghar, Pune bypass at 140 am, Shirur 310am.

Return was a non-stop Shirdi-Madras run, start at 645am from Shirdi and ending at Home in Madras 710am next day. Pune bypass at 1220 pm, NICE Tumkur at 1230 am, Shoolagiri McD at 150am. Sai Park Inn 40 min, Sugar n Spice 40 min, BPCL COCO Chitradurga 20 min, 3 power naps 20-30 mins each between Bangalore and Madras.

[Tsixty1]

Any update post the on Bangalore - Pune? post the rain. The rain initially was not much in June but looks like in July few weeks it rained heavy in part of western India. Thinking to drive from Bangalore August 8th and back by 12th.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Tsixty1

Any update post the on Bangalore - Pune? post the rain. The rain initially was not much in June but looks like in July few weeks it rained heavy in part of western India. Thinking to drive from Bangalore August 8th and back by 12th.

The main section that will slow you down will obviously be the Chitradurga - Hubli section that is undergoing 6 lane work. Although the diversions were in the right order in May, their state deteriorated in July when we last drove with lot of potholes surfacing as a result of recent rains.

An extra 1 hour to tackle these diversions should be added to your overall journey time.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Tsixty1

Thinking to drive from Bangalore August 8th and back by 12th.

Had done Bangalore - Bankapura section twice in last two weekends. My earlier trip in section was at start of this year, even then road work had started. However, the diversions were less painful and smooth. Hence was wondering what everyone was complaining about till I had the updated experience in past weekends.

Thanks to rains and time, surface of deviation sections have deteriorated, hence you need to be careful at some sections. As Parag mentioned, budget around an hour due to the same.


Even at sections where deviations are not present, top layer is chipped off for relaying the surface. This causes a rough and noisy experience at some sections. Also, thanks to this, pebbles get thrown from other vehicles tyres. A car in our convoy got hit by a pebble causing a crack on windshield.



On positive note, work seems to be progressing smoothly and Chitradurga and Davanagere seems to be getting bye-pass. Once done, this will surely help in saving considerable time.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

On positive note, work seems to be progressing smoothly and Chitradurga and Davanagere seems to be getting bye-pass. Once done, this will surely help in saving considerable time.

True that. I had mentioned about it last time when I drove Aurangabad in May this year. The biggest development due to 6 lane work is that Harihar will have a fully functional and bidirectional bypass now.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Few good things about the 6 lane work:

• A parallel bridge across Tunga Bhadra is coming up on Harihar Bypass. It means no more partially entering the town when driving south
• Each of the entry and exits for Haveri and Ranebennur towns will get an overpass thus doing away with the dangerous and unscientific merging that exists as of today
• Work is carried out at rapid pace but few bridges will take time to complete, expect another 18-24 months for 100% completion
• Many sections have expanded to 6 lane though inconsistently and these extra lanes can “carefully” be used as the 3rd lane when 2 trucks are crawling

But between May and July itself, the whole situation changed. The diversions went from Good to bad (to worse) at few sections due to rains.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

True that. I had mentioned about it last time when I drove Aurangabad in May this year. The biggest development due to 6 lane work is that Harihar will have a fully functional and bidirectional bypass now.

But between May and July itself, the whole situation changed. The diversions went from Good to bad (to worse) at few sections due to rains.

Any recent update Parag? I actually do Bangalore - Belgaum - Bangalore every month. My last trip was in July 1st week and it wasn't really that bad. I usually start early morning from Bangalore and reach Belgaum for lunch. The deviations are adding up an extra hour to my usual time. I am in Belgaum currently (did not drive this time) and the rains have been very heavy over the last 10 days. I wonder what is the state of those deviations right now?

I have a trip coming up to Sirsi the next weekend. I turn off at Haveri for Sirsi. I am running on brand new 19" alloys on my X3. I am mainly concerned about huge water filled craters on those deviations where it's impossible to judge the depth. With this kind of rain I am sure those sections have gone for a toss. Temporary roads + HGVs + Rains are a deadly combination.

Thinking of alternative roads. I could turn off at Hiriyur and reach Tarikere and then Shimogga - Sagara - Sirsi. But going via Shimoga is really pointless given the time this route takes.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Any recent update Parag? I actually do Bangalore - Belgaum - Bangalore every month. My last trip was in July 1st week and it wasn't really that bad. I usually start early morning from Bangalore and reach Belgaum for lunch. The deviations are adding up an extra hour to my usual time. I am in Belgaum currently (did not drive this time) and the rains have been very heavy over the last 10 days. I wonder what is the state of those deviations right now?

My last updates too dates back to the first week of July Santosh. While I found diversions towards Hubli better, the same is not true about diversions towards Bangalore.

This could also be due to the fact that we drove towards Hubli very early morning with hardly any traffic at least till Bankapura while we drove towards Bangalore under darkness starting from Hubli at 20:00 Hours. In fact, one of the cars (Innova Crysta) also suffered a puncture while jumping over a large pothole in one of the diversions before Davanagere.

If done during the day, I feel the diversions are OK (I won't refer to them as good or decent given the way they have placed humps inconsistently). Also, the fact that it has rained quite heavily in the last 2-3 weeks around here would have surely made the condition little more bad.

All said and done, you are at ease to tackle this 200 Km stretch at day time or during odd hours even at night. Under regular hours, the highway traffic along with local traffic adds to your frustration.

[vivek95]

NH4 ALERT at Belgaum

Highway is currently blocked at Belgaum due to flooding. I will provide further updates accordingly.
Location - North end of Belgaum near Barde Dhaba
Source- Allabout Belgaum

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Highway is currently blocked at Belgaum

Just noticed on Marathi News channels that even Kolhapur bypass is currently submerged under rain waters, especially the Gandhinagar area of the bypass.

Visuals clearly indicate water logging at a greater extent on both North as well as South bound corridors.

With these developments, it is better to avoid traveling by road till the water levels recede once raingods take a break here.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Just noticed on Marathi News channels that even Kolhapur bypass is currently submerged under rain waters, especially the Gandhinagar area of the bypass.

Also, according to news reports, a section of the highway has cracked open near Shiroli, Kolhapur.

From today's Indian Express newspaper:
Link

[condor]

Another update I saw on FB - Looks Bad