[vnk77]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

How is the road condition on this route? Where do you deviate near Linganamakki to Kollur?

After Linganmakki there is only one road. After about 10Kms there is a split, one (the straight one) leading to Bhatkal and the other (left one)towards Halady.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I think just repairing the road should suffice. Road widening allows bigger vehicle and more heavy truck/bus traffic. Who knows, even mine truck might start using this route then

I think the whole idea is to allow mine trucks through Agumbe. Otherwise why should they take up this work in such a hurry and with such a grand plan when there are no plans to overhaul more often routes like Shiradi ghat? I am surprised no one has opposed this plan.

[Samurai]

Currently, Agumbe ghat is the most scene ghat in Karnataka. If mine truck start taking this route, that is the end of it. It will become dusty and dirty like the Shiradi ghats.

But the current government is owned by the mine lords, no amount of protest will change their corrupt minds.

[mohan41]

According to this news report Agumbe Ghat Road to get major face-lift | The Canara Times "Once the
proposed project is completed, the nine km stretch of the Ghat can be traversed in 10 minutes. Heavy vehicles excluding mini buses will not be permitted to use the curves". Hope this is true and they dont allow mining trucks after the widening of curves. It also says the work is due to efforts of union minister Veerappa Moily.

[vnk77]

Any news if there is any planned up gradation/repair of Shiradi ghats similar to what is planned for Agumbe?

[_chikku]

well, no news about shiradi section. AFAIK stretch between madikeri and sampaje is going to be closed for 4 laning. That should be good news

[lazybrain]

This means that we are left with only couple of shortest routes from bangalore to Mangalore? Bangalore - Shiradi - Mangalore or Bangalore - Charmadi - Mangalore. In my opinion, Shiradi ghat is not motorable unless you own SUV (fairly manageable). I am planning to drive down to mangalore on 31st october and planning to take charmadi ghat considering that when i drove on Sept 15th (The road condition was pretty decent then). any pointers on recent road conditions via charmadi route?

[prasad14]

Hi,

I came back yesterday from a trip to Kukke and Mangalore (Summer Sands). This was the route taken:

Bangalore-Shiradi-Kukke-Sulya-Kasargod-Mangalore-Charmadi-Bangalore. The drive thru this rather longer route was to enjoy country side roads, than the highways (and I figured out that country roads are much better than highways). Here are some details:
1. Bangalore(JPN)-NICE-Magadi-Hassan-Sakleshpur: Just under 4.5hrs (Honda City ZX). Road inside Magadi town is pretty bad. Otherwise the roads are pretty decent till NH48. Road doubling work till Yedyur, keeps one honest. Watch out for traffic on the wrong lane.

2. Shiradi Ghat: Well documented on this thread. Took about 75mins for this stretch of 38kms. Great road from Gundya to Kukke.

3. Kukke-Sulya-Kasargod: Excellent single road passing thru arecanut plantations, till Sulya (40kms). At several places, there is a huge gap b/w the road and the ground below. Had to back-off at a couple of places to make way for govt. buses, that look huge on this narrow road. Overtaking is pretty tough. But there isn't much traffic.

Sulya-Kasargod (58kms) is just excellent with wider and smooth roads. River Payaswini gives company for a while and the landscape keep changing from arecanut plantations, to forests and at places one gets to see a cluster of hills in all directions. Lost my way a bit here, thanks to factually incorrect map by TTK. This map shows that the road from Sulya touches NH17 and I need to take a right towards Kasargod. However, this road touches another SH going from Vitla to Cherkala. I took a right here and was proceeding towards Vitla happily on a beautiful tarmac, wondering what happened to the famous traffic and pathetic state of NH17. Finally, at Badiyadka asked someone and he directed me to go to Kumble and join NH17. It added about 16kms more.

4. Mangalore-Charmadi-Belur-Hassan: Took the inner road going via Derlakatte, Sajipa and reached Bantwal (30kms). Decent roads with occasional pot-holes all the way up to Ujire(45kms). Roads gone bad in a few bends in Charmadi, but generally drivable till Kottigehara (40kms). Roads very good from Kottigerehara to Mudigere (15kms) and very very bad from Mudigere to Belur(35kms) and very good roads again from Belur to Hassan (38kms).

5. Hassan-Bangalore: Left Hassan at 5:30PM and drive became very difficult once it became dark, due to incoming traffic with high beams. Overtaking oil tankers was a major pain and once the road widening portion starts, it becomes even more difficult due to frequent shifting of lanes. Luckily, spotted a fellow BHPian (Swift Dzire, KA ?? ? 1068) who was driving very well (excellent use of indicators) and shamelessly followed the same for more than 30mins, which made my drive easier. Branched-off from NH48 and the drive thru Magadi and NICE was extremely peaceful.

Want to thank all the BHPians who answered many queries on the nitty-gritty of the route. Didn't ask for any tips on Sulya-Kasargod route and paid the price.

Shall post some pics tomorrow,

Thanks,

Prasad

[Samurai]

Is the Peenya flyover complete? Can we attempt the Nelamangala-Peenya stretch?

[shamanth]

Yes, they have completed the road and are doing toll testing. only flyover from Yeswantpur to 9th mile is not open for traffic. toll road from 9th mile to Nelamangala is ready. It just take 10 mins to complete the whole stretch. Now i prefer Nelmangala route rather than Magadi, in Magadi route magadi town is in horrible condition, it will take more than 20 mins to just cross the town and approach road to Magadi road via t.dasarahalli is in shambles. Its really great to see nelmangala route is ready. Even nelamangala to kunigal is manageble barring small bad stretch.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by prasad14

4. Mangalore-Charmadi-Belur-Hassan: Took the inner road going via Derlakatte, Sajipa and reached Bantwal (30kms). Decent roads with occasional pot-holes all the way up to Ujire(45kms). Roads gone bad in a few bends in Charmadi, but generally drivable till Kottigehara (40kms). Roads very good from Kottigerehara to Mudigere (15kms) and very very bad from Mudigere to Belur(35kms) and very good roads again from Belur to Hassan (38kms).

You should have taken Mudigere-Gendehally-Belur road. This road, although narrower than the route you took is very good and has very little traffic.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Better get a jeep instead of a Civic

I wish it happens soon.

Originally Posted by shamanth

It just take 10 mins to complete the whole stretch. .

yeah 10 mins to complete the stretch, but last monday it took 100mins to travel from Yeshwanthpur to my office@ Lavelle Road.
@ Yeshwanthpur due to Metro work, they have made the road to single, Narrow road allowing only one vehicle at a time Near Yeshwanthpur Rly station, which is causing Major traffic jam.

Originally Posted by shamanth

Now i prefer Nelmangala route rather than Magadi, in Magadi route magadi town is in horrible condition.

Today morning I took Magadi road to compare the travel time between Nelmgangala nd Magadi, travelling on Both of the roads takes equal timings.
But Magadi road is in pathetic condition @ Sunkadakatte + Magadi town.
Nelmangala road has unscientific road humps.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

You should have taken Mudigere-Gendehally-Belur road. This road, although narrower than the route you took is very good and has very little traffic.

Belur-Cheekanahally-Mudigere road has gone to dogs once again, too much of potholes.

[lazybrain]

Originally Posted by prasad14

4. Mangalore-Charmadi-Belur-Hassan: Took the inner road going via Derlakatte, Sajipa and reached Bantwal (30kms). Decent roads with occasional pot-holes all the way up to Ujire(45kms). Roads gone bad in a few bends in Charmadi, but generally drivable till Kottigehara (40kms). Roads very good from Kottigerehara to Mudigere (15kms) and very very bad from Mudigere to Belur(35kms) and very good roads again from Belur to Hassan (38kms)

can you please let us know some more details/status on Charmadi ghat? Last time when i drove down from Charmadi (on Sept 15th) visibility was almost zero due to dense fog and surprisingly it was 11:30 AM when i crossed kottigehara and touched charmadi. I am aware that fog on Charmadi is very common but i presume its only during night time and early morning. But i felt very strange when i came across fog at 11:30 AM (It was drizzling though that time). Can you please let us know what time around you reached charmadi and did u come across dense fog hampering visibility?

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by prasad14

Hi,

I came back yesterday from a trip to Kukke and Mangalore (Summer Sands). This was the route taken:

Bangalore-Shiradi-Kukke-Sulya-Kasargod-Mangalore-Charmadi-Bangalore. The drive thru this rather longer route was to enjoy country side roads, than the highways

Shall post some pics tomorrow,

Here are some pics:

The road from Kukke to Sulya:


Someshwara beach near Ullal:


Sunset at Summer Sands resort. Sea wasn't rough, but the waves were carrying a lot of sand with them. So, taking bath and playing around wasn't all that fun:


At the start of the climb on Charmadi at about 12:45PM. Notice the fog:


It quickly started raining and we covered most part of the ghat in the rains. The rains did stop after 15mins or so, but still it was foggy:


The fogs moved a bit and offered a glimpse of the majestic valley:


As we moved further towards Kottigehara, there was a sudden increase of fog and visibility was pretty poor (this was around 1:10PM):

[lazybrain]

Awesome pics prasad! This is at least some good news though its foggy we have better visibility compared to the foggy condition i experienced during September. I would say its still manageable. Thanks for the update!

I will be driving down towards the end of this month. Will capture some pics on Charmadi ghat section and upload it here for benefit of all.

[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by lazybrain

can you please let us know some more details/status on Charmadi ghat? Last time when i drove down from Charmadi (on Sept 15th) visibility was almost zero due to dense fog and surprisingly it was 11:30 AM when i crossed kottigehara and touched charmadi. I am aware that fog on Charmadi is very common but i presume its only during night time and early morning. But i felt very strange when i came across fog at 11:30 AM (It was drizzling though that time). Can you please let us know what time around you reached charmadi and did u come across dense fog hampering visibility?

Hi, did u do this trip on your wagon-R? I did a trip to Dharmasthala in March in my Wagon-R on the same Charmadi route. How is the Charmadi ghat road now? i mean after the rains.