[KishoreC]

I did Shiradi ghat last weekend. Road is in horrible condition, still manageable. Beware of the deep potholes, they are really deep and can gobble up the whole wheel of a sedan size vehicle. Good thing is very less traffic.

Also did Agumbe in that trip, going up has become a little difficult. Not all the HP turns are completely made of concrete. The ones which are completely concrete even at the bends are fine. In others the tar at the bends got washed away.

Coming down is fine as long as you use engine break and manage not to break on the bends. Found of smaller vehicle traffic and local buses on this road.

[lohithrao]

Kishore, Shiradi is much better off then what it was few years back so looking at that the present condition is great...

Agumbe one has to watch out for those mini buses, these guys just rip down.

[amritnoronha]

Originally Posted by MCR

Amrit, Donot worry about your car's suspension. The suspensions are tested in much worser conditions and defenitely it can take the Shiradi ghat. Only thing is if you hit the pothole at speed, then the cars underbody scrapes. This should be your major worry.

Start early from Bangalore say at 5.00 AM and you can have breakfast at Madikeri say at around 9.30 AM even if you drive 80-90 kmph, this way you can avoid coming into Mysore. The roads from Madikeri till Sampaje are average, but from Sampaje onwards its smooth sailing all the way till BC road. The Sampaje - BC road stretch is not as wide as Shiradi ghat, but the traffic is lot lesser and you can comfortably cruise at 80-90 kmph.

My suggestion would be Bangalore - Srirangapatna - Hunsur - Madikeri - Sampaje - Sullya - Puttur - BC Road - Mangalore.

Enjoy your trip.

thanks guys.. looks like Madikeri is the best route as of now... kewlness!! will take that and see if i can scrape the undersides as an experience!!

[vicky76]

Hi Guys, I heard that Shiradi Ghat road was being repaired. Is that true? I plan to travel to Mlore on the 20th with family. Is the Mysore Madikeri route the best & safest option to do in a Hyundai Accent?

[Fortuner71]

Originally Posted by vicky76

Hi Guys, I heard that Shiradi Ghat road was being repaired. Is that true? I plan to travel to Mlore on the 20th with family. Is the Mysore Madikeri route the best & safest option to do in a Hyundai Accent?

Yes Shirdi ghat is being repaired , but this will take sometime. Mysore - Madikeri route is good , drive safe , avoid night drives .

[vicky76]

Thanks Fortuner71. I will be driving only during the day.

[lohithrao]

Fortuner, Are they fixing the landslides or re tarring the road?

Originally Posted by Fortuner71

Yes Shirdi ghat is being repaired , but this will take sometime. Mysore - Madikeri route is good , drive safe , avoid night drives .

[KishoreC]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Fortuner, Are they fixing the landslides or re tarring the road?

The repair seems to of bigger magnitude.

Saw concrete drains getting made at the edge of the road. A major portion of the drain was already complete. Didn't see any action on the road as such. This was one week back.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by KishoreC

The repair seems to of bigger magnitude.

Saw concrete drains getting made at the edge of the road. A major portion of the drain was already complete. Didn't see any action on the road as such. This was one week back.

Can someone tell me why are they are constructing these drains? Those areas are prone to land slide, so what you will have will be a drain filled with rocks and mud.

[lohithrao]

Well last year when the roads got fixed, i mean temporarily, after getting the road work done later they started to build the drains, at someplaces they dint find enough space for the drain since this was a last thought decision and by this time it had started to rain.

Ultimately due to the heavy rains and lack of drain many parts of the ghats road got damaged, heights of engineering!

soi presume still they might have not completed the drain work looking the way they worked...

Originally Posted by KishoreC

The repair seems to of bigger magnitude.

Saw concrete drains getting made at the edge of the road. A major portion of the drain was already complete. Didn't see any action on the road as such. This was one week back.

[KishoreC]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Can someone tell me why are they are constructing these drains? Those areas are prone to land slide, so what you will have will be a drain filled with rocks and mud.

For roads with steep grade the main thing that deteriorates the road very fast is water flowing on the road. At the first stage of deterioration you'll see water channels on the road. These slowly wash away the tar and underlying layers, exposing the ground underneath. Once 2 or more layer has been washed away, petty patchwork is not sufficient to repair the road. It gets washed away very easily.

For plain roads stagnated water on the road is the main culprit.

So I guess the construction company wants to make sure there is no water flow on the road. Makes sense to make all the water going into side drain and control the flow of water. With proper alignment of the tar surface all the water can be channeled to these side drains and the main tarred/concrete surface can be kept comparatively dry.

You're right, these areas are prone to land slides, but then which Ghat section is not. I guess they will have to reconstruct the sections that get destroyed by land slides.

[MCR]

The creation of water channel seems to be a good idea. However the best road to Mangalore/Udupi now should be through Madikeri or charmadi ghat.
These routes are longer than the Shiradi ghat route but the road surface is almost non existent in Shiradi ghat.

[rpmx1000]

Hmmm..I'm planning to Drive to Sringeri , Udupi and Kollur this weekend from Bangalore.

Have you tried the route via Tumkur, Tiptur, Arsikere , Bhadravati (NH206)
and then divert on NH13 via Mandagadde and Koppa (This route seems to suggest about 347 km of driving.

Sringeri to Udupi is via Karkala , so that should not be an issue.
Do let me know if you have tried that?

[MCR]

@rpmx1000,
The best route would be:
Bangalore - Magadi - Kunigal - Hassan - Belur - Chickmagalur - Aldur - Balehonnur - Sringeri.

This way you can avoid Traffic on the Peenya and Nelamngala Sector of NH4.
Also the roads are good upto Aldur and from Aldur its average with some good stretches till Sringeri.

[civicsense]

Going by the recent discussions on this thread, a tractor seems like the best vehicle on which to travel from Blr-Mlr!!

Anyhow, it looks like I have to take my Civic through one of these routes this Saturday. There are no train tickets to be had and going by bus with family is ruled out.

From what is discussed here, it looks as if both the Blr - Madikeri - Mlr route and Blr - Hassan - Sakleshpur route are equally bad. I am not considering the route through Chikmaglur since that seems to be longer by 50-60km without much benefit in return.

My current plan is like this:

Blr - Mlr : Saturday, 17/10/09: Try the Kunigal-Sakleshpur-Uppinangadi-Mlr stretch (NH-48). I plan to start early, say 5 AM and go through the NICE-Madagi Rd route to touch NH-48 ( total of around 350km). I know that the Shirdi ghat section is real bad, but it is the shortest route. Also the stretch from Blr to Sakleshpur seems alright from this discussion

Mlr - Blr: Monday 19th 1 PM: Since I will be starting in the afternoon, I will try the Mlr- Madikeri - Hunsur - Srirangapatana - Blr stretch (SH-88 & SH-17)so that I hit Mysore road before it is completely dark. (around 390km)

Maybe if the NH-48 stretch is not that bad, I could consider coming back through that route too, but driving on Mysore road is way way better than a bad, pot-holed road, that too at night.