The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

sushrutha · 27th July 2009, 14:41

Back from Mudigere/Shimoga.Buses/vehicles have been plying on Charmadi Ghats, though I didn't travel on Charmadi Ghats. Also Shimoga - Theerthally route was submerged till last week (Due to heavy rain in Gajanur/Mandagadde area), but now it's all right to travel in this route ( Had been to Gajanur+ Mandagadde), but be careful about the rough ride & small potholes.

addyhemmige · 27th July 2009, 15:47

My parents had been to Mangalore yesterday. They went via Shiradi ghat and returned via Charmadi.

I have nothing to say about Shiradi since there are no developments there, but Charmadi it seems, is holding up very well. They say that they had a hassle free ride all the while. They did encounter a lot of buses on the way. The road has been widened at a few places.

prabhusati · 29th July 2009, 22:36

The online version of Udayavani mentions Charmadi Ghat road is closed for the next 3 months.

Udayavani - First look on Karnataka

If this is true, then the option for people to travel between Bangalore and Mangalore is the Shiradi Ghat and Sampaje Ghat roads.

One more website mentions about ban on excessively loaded vehicles on Shiradi Ghat.

D A I J I W O R L D+

Not sure how they will implement this!!

KSRTC has also announced that Rajahamsa buses also will follow the Airavath Volvo services via Madikeri (Sampaje Ghat). With this, the traffic on Sampaje Ghat will increase enormously. How will the road cope with this increased traffic is anybody's guess.

lohithrao · 30th July 2009, 09:53

I think the government should officially announce that people should not consider to travel by road to the coat, instead they can choose rail or Rail..Since the government incapable of building a road which can hold for few months...

Guess all the people who intend to make regular visits and who leave in coast should buy only Bolero/Gurkha and its kinds since the road condition does not seem to improve in this life time

rajshenoy · 30th July 2009, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by lohithrao

I think the government should officially announce that people should not consider to travel by road to the coat, instead they can choose rail or Rail..Since the government incapable of building a road which can hold for few months...

Guess all the people who intend to make regular visits and who leave in coast should buy only Bolero/Gurkha and its kinds since the road condition does not seem to improve in this life time

Good one.

But the railways are also not spared by the rains. Just few weeks back the Bangalore-Mangalore Train was cancelled for few days because of landslides

Also such a long route that goes via all the possible cities to finally reach Mangalore(I guess we need a Rail Mantri from Karnataka first)

prabhusati · 30th July 2009, 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Also such a long route that goes via all the possible cities to finally reach Mangalore(I guess we need a Rail Mantri from Karnataka first)

We do have one now. The Minister of State for Railways is from Karnataka, Mr.Muniyappa. But how committed is he to further Karnataka's interests is anybody's guess.

We all know his achievements (for Karnataka) as Minister of State for Highways for the last 5 years!!.

B.R.S.Rao · 1st August 2009, 17:19

The so called "National Highway No: 48",( shame to call this road as National Highway) i.e., stretch between Sakleshpura till Uppinangadi is in horrible condition. I request fellow tbhpns who are planning to drive in this road, to be very carefull and cautious. This stretch is filled with dangerous potholes filled with muddy water.Some potholes are so big that even Maruti 800 will vanish in that! Moreover even though govt. has banned the iron ore trucks in this stretch, I have seen hundred of them plying everyday! I suggest, please avoid this route.

mjothi · 2nd August 2009, 07:27

Oh no. After all those 100s of crore investment to lay tar through these ghats, it again back to same. I heard again they sanctions around 130 or 150crore to get this all done :(

kannan666 · 2nd August 2009, 08:55

Heard that most of the buses especially the Volvos are plying to Mangalore via Madikeri and because of the extra 40kms or so that they need to cover, they are losing revenue, sorry state of affairs indeed.

Samurai · 2nd August 2009, 10:34

Yesterday I had to travel in NH-48 for a brief stretch as I was driving from Dharmastala to Subrayamana. I took the turn at Gundya towards Subramanya, and that was a fantastic road, wide and spotless as a granite sheet.

However, the brief stretch on the NH-48 was a little scary. Mostly it was ok, but once in a while one comes across severe damage which is sometimes very dangerous and invisible to the eyes until it is too late. And this was during day time.

Once I hit a part of the road at 50kmph where no pot hole was visible, but the road surface resembles a sine wave, thanks to overloaded mine trucks. I didn't see it until I hit the first crest, it looks like normal road until then. After that the whole vehicle follows the same sinusoidal pattern. If you are in a sedan or a vehicle with long wheelbase + low GC, your car will be hurt badly down below. I recall saying Oh-My-God at least 3 times before it was over. Thanks to GV nothing happened, not many cars could have survived it without bottoming out at every crest.

arin_12 · 2nd August 2009, 11:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjothi

Oh no. After all those 100s of crore investment to lay tar through these ghats, it again back to same. I heard again they sanctions around 130 or 150crore to get this all done :(

Mjothi, This is our regular process to make richer for the GOVT official and Contractor.

Banning Mining vehicle will be not possible but I think they can restrict the load capacity.

laluks · 2nd August 2009, 11:44

The canvas is improving day by day for our artists. I am sure this road will also raise to the same fame our "Leh" roads enjoy. We can expect to see more reports now saying we conquered "Shiradi ghats".

Hopefully one day the load is controlled for these trucks, and the roads repaired for good. I have seen some good initiatives like construction of drains and concreting the curves. This are in the right direction - but the million dollar question is will the contractor do a decent job?

Samurai · 2nd August 2009, 11:56

Controlling the mine trucks is not possible in the near future. This is because most of the said mines are owned by top politicians of every party. Therefore, all parties have vested interest in keeping the status quo on that.

And they will overload by at least 2 times if not more. Since overloading is not official, government can never call for a tender that asks the contractors to build it to handle the overloaded truck traffic. Therefore, contractors will never build a road that can withstand overloaded mine trucks, the specs won't ask for it.

lohithrao · 3rd August 2009, 09:51

Its been almost 5 years since the bad roads saga started and itsgoing round and round, the roads are still motorable and has not reached the state as it was 2+years back..but its matter of a month or little more i guess...

I must say we Indians are we patient

CrackedHead · 3rd August 2009, 10:32

I drove down from Bangalore to Mangalore on friday night in the little 800. Started really late (2 AM) because I wanted to hit the (now) dreadful BCRoad-Mangalore-Udupi in daylight.

Must say that the ghats and all the other bad bits of road are a piece of cake compared to what the roads around Mangalore have come to be. I was lucky to escape without damaged driveshafts (car has a sump guard so that wasn't a worry).

Aren't any repairs planned anytime soon? Will be driving back on the 15th of Aug - am taking a different route for sure.

Are there any alternate routes that will take me from Udupi to Dharmasthalla (but bypassing Mangalore) ?

27th July 2009, 14:41	#796
sushrutha Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Chikmagalur/Ban Posts: 1,703 Thanked: 333 Times View My Garage	Back from Mudigere/Shimoga.Buses/vehicles have been plying on Charmadi Ghats, though I didn't travel on Charmadi Ghats. Also Shimoga - Theerthally route was submerged till last week (Due to heavy rain in Gajanur/Mandagadde area), but now it's all right to travel in this route ( Had been to Gajanur+ Mandagadde), but be careful about the rough ride & small potholes.
	() Thanks

27th July 2009, 15:47	#797
addyhemmige Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore/Hassan Posts: 1,527 Thanked: 487 Times View My Garage	My parents had been to Mangalore yesterday. They went via Shiradi ghat and returned via Charmadi. I have nothing to say about Shiradi since there are no developments there, but Charmadi it seems, is holding up very well. They say that they had a hassle free ride all the while. They did encounter a lot of buses on the way. The road has been widened at a few places.
	() Thanks

29th July 2009, 22:36	#798
prabhusati BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 253 Thanked: 16 Times	The online version of Udayavani mentions Charmadi Ghat road is closed for the next 3 months. Udayavani - First look on Karnataka If this is true, then the option for people to travel between Bangalore and Mangalore is the Shiradi Ghat and Sampaje Ghat roads. One more website mentions about ban on excessively loaded vehicles on Shiradi Ghat. D A I J I W O R L D+ Not sure how they will implement this!! KSRTC has also announced that Rajahamsa buses also will follow the Airavath Volvo services via Madikeri (Sampaje Ghat). With this, the traffic on Sampaje Ghat will increase enormously. How will the road cope with this increased traffic is anybody's guess.
	() Thanks

30th July 2009, 09:53	#799
lohithrao Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kudla/Mangaluru Posts: 3,204 Thanked: 225 Times View My Garage	I think the government should officially announce that people should not consider to travel by road to the coat, instead they can choose rail or Rail..Since the government incapable of building a road which can hold for few months... Guess all the people who intend to make regular visits and who leave in coast should buy only Bolero/Gurkha and its kinds since the road condition does not seem to improve in this life time
	() Thanks

1st August 2009, 17:19	#802
B.R.S.Rao BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Mangalore Posts: 121 Thanked: 60 Times	Sakleshpur-Mangalore(NH48)...Please avoid... The so called "National Highway No: 48",( shame to call this road as National Highway) i.e., stretch between Sakleshpura till Uppinangadi is in horrible condition. I request fellow tbhpns who are planning to drive in this road, to be very carefull and cautious. This stretch is filled with dangerous potholes filled with muddy water.Some potholes are so big that even Maruti 800 will vanish in that! Moreover even though govt. has banned the iron ore trucks in this stretch, I have seen hundred of them plying everyday! I suggest, please avoid this route. Last edited by Rudra Sen : 1st August 2009 at 17:36.
	() Thanks

2nd August 2009, 07:27	#803
mjothi Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,287 Thanked: 231 Times View My Garage	Oh no. After all those 100s of crore investment to lay tar through these ghats, it again back to same. I heard again they sanctions around 130 or 150crore to get this all done :(
	() Thanks

2nd August 2009, 08:55	#804
kannan666 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: KA-02 Posts: 1,002 Thanked: 128 Times View My Garage	Heard that most of the buses especially the Volvos are plying to Mangalore via Madikeri and because of the extra 40kms or so that they need to cover, they are losing revenue, sorry state of affairs indeed.
	() Thanks

2nd August 2009, 10:34	#805
Samurai Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore/Udupi Posts: 25,828 Thanked: 45,521 Times View My Garage	Yesterday I had to travel in NH-48 for a brief stretch as I was driving from Dharmastala to Subrayamana. I took the turn at Gundya towards Subramanya, and that was a fantastic road, wide and spotless as a granite sheet. However, the brief stretch on the NH-48 was a little scary. Mostly it was ok, but once in a while one comes across severe damage which is sometimes very dangerous and invisible to the eyes until it is too late. And this was during day time. Once I hit a part of the road at 50kmph where no pot hole was visible, but the road surface resembles a sine wave, thanks to overloaded mine trucks. I didn't see it until I hit the first crest, it looks like normal road until then. After that the whole vehicle follows the same sinusoidal pattern. If you are in a sedan or a vehicle with long wheelbase + low GC, your car will be hurt badly down below. I recall saying Oh-My-God at least 3 times before it was over. Thanks to GV nothing happened, not many cars could have survived it without bottoming out at every crest.
	() Thanks

2nd August 2009, 11:44	#807
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	The canvas is improving day by day for our artists. I am sure this road will also raise to the same fame our "Leh" roads enjoy. We can expect to see more reports now saying we conquered "Shiradi ghats". Hopefully one day the load is controlled for these trucks, and the roads repaired for good. I have seen some good initiatives like construction of drains and concreting the curves. This are in the right direction - but the million dollar question is will the contractor do a decent job?
	() Thanks

2nd August 2009, 11:56	#808
Samurai Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore/Udupi Posts: 25,828 Thanked: 45,521 Times View My Garage	Controlling the mine trucks is not possible in the near future. This is because most of the said mines are owned by top politicians of every party. Therefore, all parties have vested interest in keeping the status quo on that. And they will overload by at least 2 times if not more. Since overloading is not official, government can never call for a tender that asks the contractors to build it to handle the overloaded truck traffic. Therefore, contractors will never build a road that can withstand overloaded mine trucks, the specs won't ask for it.
	() Thanks

3rd August 2009, 09:51	#809
lohithrao Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kudla/Mangaluru Posts: 3,204 Thanked: 225 Times View My Garage	Its been almost 5 years since the bad roads saga started and itsgoing round and round, the roads are still motorable and has not reached the state as it was 2+years back..but its matter of a month or little more i guess... I must say we Indians are we patient
	() Thanks

3rd August 2009, 10:32	#810
CrackedHead BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Seattle Posts: 585 Thanked: 81 Times	I drove down from Bangalore to Mangalore on friday night in the little 800. Started really late (2 AM) because I wanted to hit the (now) dreadful BCRoad-Mangalore-Udupi in daylight. Must say that the ghats and all the other bad bits of road are a piece of cake compared to what the roads around Mangalore have come to be. I was lucky to escape without damaged driveshafts (car has a sump guard so that wasn't a worry). Aren't any repairs planned anytime soon? Will be driving back on the 15th of Aug - am taking a different route for sure. Are there any alternate routes that will take me from Udupi to Dharmasthalla (but bypassing Mangalore) ?
	() Thanks