[explorer09]

I started the previous day evening this time and took the Shimoga route. We converted the return journey into a mini road trip and i think it was a wise decision. Murudeshwar, Jog falls and stayed back for the night at Shimoga. Took the Shimoga-Chitradurga-Tumkur route on the way back on Sunday morning and I could reach my home at Bannerghatta by lunch time.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by explorer09

Took the Shimoga-Chitradurga-Tumkur route on the way back on Sunday morning and I could reach my home at Bannerghatta by lunch time.

How are the road conditions on this route now and has the road widening work been completed ?

[explorer09]

You mean the Shimoga-Chitradurga stretch? Road condition wasnt consistent thoughout...but there wasnt a bad stretch. For the most part, I could cruise at 60-80 on this stretch. Took me a little more than 2 hours to reach Chitradurga from Shimoga.

By the way, has anyone been on the Shimoga-Kundapur road recently? via Hosanagar-Nagara-Siddapura?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by NPV

How are the road conditions on this route now and has the road widening work been completed ?

Originally Posted by explorer09

You mean the Shimoga-Chitradurga stretch? Road condition wasnt consistent thoughout...but there wasnt a bad stretch. For the most part, I could cruise at 60-80 on this stretch. Took me a little more than 2 hours to reach Chitradurga from Shimoga.

By the way, has anyone been on the Shimoga-Kundapur road recently? via Hosanagar-Nagara-Siddapura?

Pretty much clears the confusion now since I last got the update and had posted here:

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Roadwork is still in progress but indeed much better than what it was before. In a nutshell, "drive worthy" (By anybody's standards).

Chitradurga - Holehonnur is complete. So its the last 20 kms till you reach Shivamogga where work is still in progress.

This is an update from a colleague who took this route 2 weeks before.

[hallik9]

Originally Posted by explorer09

You mean the Shimoga-Chitradurga stretch? Road condition wasnt consistent thoughout...but there wasnt a bad stretch. For the most part, I could cruise at 60-80 on this stretch. Took me a little more than 2 hours to reach Chitradurga from Shimoga.

By the way, has anyone been on the Shimoga-Kundapur road recently? via Hosanagar-Nagara-Siddapura?

I drove from BLR to Kundapur via Agumbe on the 24th. Roads throughout were decent and nothing to worry about. The procession/festivities on the roads slowed us down but I could still reach Kundapur by 10pm after leaving Bangalore at 2pm. On my return, I committed the blunder of taking the Shiradi ghat. The roads in the ghats for the first half are a total mess. It took me an 45 mins to cover the first 12kms. Left Kundapur at 1pm and reached home at Bannergatta road by 9.30

[rahulb22]

Hello Folks,

Just completed 2 round trips over the last 2 weeks to Mangalore. All the trips were via Shiradi and I guess it is time to say that cars with low Ground clearance need to be extra careful on the 20 kms stretch after the concrete section. Some of the potholes are really deep. I scraped the mud flaps on my Ertiga on 2 occasions, so sedans/hatchbacks might find it quite tough. Having said this, I somehow still prefer the Shiradi route mainly for the good roads except for this stretch and also for good break options.
So, if you are driving to mangalore, please consider this while making your route plans.

Cheers
Rahulb22

[kumar.cg]

I drove through Charmadi on the way back from Udupi on 28th August 2017. Here is a Youtube video of the journey. The misty portion is after the first ten minutes. This is to give you an idea of the current road condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_U2CgMGDCQ

[FORTified]

Anybody used Charmadi ghat recently? How are the roads? Can a low GC sedan survive there?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by FORTified

Anybody used Charmadi ghat recently? How are the roads? Can a low GC sedan survive there?

Is way better to Shiradi. No issue for low GC cars. Roads are good throughout. Bad patches are very few and that too not as bad as how Shiradi has. Overall bad section will add up to less than 1km In bits and pieces.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by FORTified

Anybody used Charmadi ghat recently? How are the roads? Can a low GC sedan survive there?

I drove through Charmadi to Bangalore and back to Manipal last week and the road was in pretty good condition. There are small sections at the hairpins that are broken, where you have to be careful but nothing deep enough to scrape even a low GC car. Like Paragbhai said, the bad stretches might total upto 1 km from across 300 km.

And another 1 km for a bad stretch just after Karkala bypass heading towards Manipal.

[paragsachania]

Newly opened Kamat Upachar:

Last night I noticed a newly opened Kamat Upachar that comes on your left soon after Kunigal bypass ends towards Hassan.

Kamat Upachar Kunigal
Nademavinapura, Karnataka 572134
091481 25555

https://goo.gl/maps/NDq1S9u9FJD2

The facility looks better then the other one at Udyapura and seems like this may take up some crowd from Swati which is another 3-4 kms ahead.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Newly opened Kamat Upachar:

Last night I noticed a newly opened Kamat Upachar that comes on your left soon after Kunigal bypass ends towards Hassan.

Kamat Upachar Kunigal
Nademavinapura, Karnataka 572134
091481 25555

https://goo.gl/maps/NDq1S9u9FJD2

The facility looks better then the other one at Udyapura and seems like this may take up some crowd from Swati which is another 3-4 kms ahead.

Yes, i too noticed this place couple of weeks back. May be the necessity forced them to move away from the A2B which opened in front of them.

I mostly drive early morning and this doesnt work with me.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by rahulb22

..I somehow still prefer the Shiradi route ..

Just did the Shiradi stretch, very much do-able in a sedan although it is in a mess. Just have to be a bit careful and look out for potholes.

The annoying part is the couple of unmarked speed breakers just before Sakleshpur bang on a National Highway!!?, Who with a sane mind allows such dangerous speed breakers on an NH, I haven't come across such huge ones anywhere else in India and it is illegal for sure. It's very difficult to make them out from a distance even in broad daylight and went right through one of those strips , thankfully speed was lower.

The pleasant part was driving through Peenya Nelamangala stretch, absolutely no ocean of Trucks like before thanks to GST implementation, the whole stretch was clear and sailing out of Bangalore was a breeze in the morning.

[_chikku]

Guys, I will be traveling to Puttur this weekend. Planning to go via Sakleshpura- kudraste- somwarpete - Madikeri- Puttur. Any one travelled recently here? How is the road condition for small cars?

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by _chikku

Guys, I will be traveling to Puttur this weekend. Planning to go via Sakleshpura- kudraste- somwarpete - Madikeri- Puttur. Any one travelled recently here? How is the road condition for small cars?

Unless you have some work in Sakaleshpur, there is no point in taking the above route. Instead you should try Channarayapatna-Holenarasipura-Arakagudu-Somwarpete-Madikeri. Except for frequent speed bumps in CR Patna-Arakalagudu stretch, you have good roads all throughout till Puttur.

Also if you are staying in south Bangalore and planning to leave early then you can even stick to Mysore-Madikeri-Puttur route. This has been my regular route now a days and unless I have a hitch to drive in those twisties and lonely road of Somwarpete stretch.