[speedsatya]

Updates on the Mangalore - Bangalore road via Charmadi- Mudigere - Hanbal- Sakleshpur - Hassan

Started 4.15 am IST and reached at 11 am IST including a 45 mins breakfast stop

1- Charmadi is still my preferred route ,just that this 1.5 km of narrow uphill stretch is the only bad stretch. Gravel dumped on the road , huge boulders on the sides , debris from scrapping the hillock and huge craters on the road edge ...all these make it a very tricky stretch to drive on ( especially in rains or when giving way to oncoming traffic )
2- encountered 3 minor jams mainly due to 12m KSRTC bus drivers struggling to take the hair pin bends and other idiots refusing to give way to these buses.

3- other than these , Charmadi was just awesome to drive on
4- this time we took the Mudigere - Hanbal- Sakleshpur route instead of going via Belur to Hassan.
5- Mudigere -Hanbal has been relaid and is in superb condition , while the 14 kms from Hanbal to NH48 just before Sakleshpur is a mix of some ordinary stretches with occasional bad ones. But still manageable.
6- Sakleshpur - Hassan runway is just as awesome as it has always been. There were hardly any vehicles on this road. It's very easy to max out your speedo no matter what vehicle you in ( though I wouldn't advice anyone to do this because of the many unmarked intersections for the local village roads )
7- overall it took us 90 mins to do the 90 kms from Mudigere - Hassan - first toll booth ( 30 INR ) via Sakleshpur / Hanbal. Which is almost similar timing as via Belur.


Some pics from the " bad " stretches between Hanbal to Sakleshpur

[maddy42]

The state of the road!!! Nightmare and the amount of time and resources wasted along with it. Can we not build a good road ever? Shows the state of our government.

This route can really be converted into one of the finest stretch of the road if the lobbies and politicians permit!

Maddy

[meetbadri]

Anyone driving towards Sakleshpur tomorrow evening? I will be starting from Vijayanagar at around 5:00 PM and taking Goraguntepalya – Nelamangala – Kunigal – Channarayapatna – Hassan – Sakleshpur tomorrow and will be heading towards Mudigere on Sunday via Hanbal and back to Bangalore on Sunday evening via Belur – Hassan route.

[RaguHolla]

The "30th Year" road () will open on August 15th! Do not ask me which year, hopefully this year. More news here. As per his own admission, you will be given 1.5 kms of road laid during monsoon! God bless you all, have a safe journey! In addition get ready for customary closure of road again during next year for remain 13kms. So same circus will repeat next year! Should I say adventure never ends?

[Rajesh K R]

I want to visit DSL - but do not want to drive in Charmadi. What other options are there? Is the road from Kukke to DSL (Via Gundya) in good shape? Is Vehicular traffic allowed or is the road blocked now ?

Or do we need to take some other road from Kukke (via Kadaba Ejilampady) - how is the condition of that road?

[deehunk]

The road from Kukke to Dharmasthala via Gundya is in good condition, do not take the option via Ejilampady to DSL, it is a very narrow stretch. I still suggest the best route to Dharmasthala is via Charmadi, plan your travel in the morning, you can easily manage Charmadi ghat.

[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by deehunk

The road from Kukke to Dharmasthala via Gundya is in good condition, do not take the option via Ejilampady to DSL, it is a very narrow stretch. I still suggest the best route to Dharmasthala is via Charmadi, plan your travel in the morning, you can easily manage Charmadi ghat.

@deehunk - thanks for the tip. I love driving on Charmadi and have been driving on Charmadi for the last so many years whenever i visit DSL even when Shiradi was motorable.

But, now seeing the mess currently, refer to Speedsatya's post and photos and various reports of jams in the Charmadi i am not upto it.

So, for me i think best will be the Kukke-Gundya-DSL & back to Kukke & BLR.

[motomaverick]

Folks planning a family trip in either two hatchbacks or 1 Innova to Mangalore next week. Planned route as per the comments above I gathered is

Blr - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Mudigere - Charmadi - Bantwal - Mangalore

Is the above route better or the one below, basically which is the lesser of the two devils.

Blr - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Shiradi - Bantwal - Mangalore.

[Samurai]

Holy Cow! We are already in July and Shiradi is still not open... This must be the longest clousure of such a major road. One could have built a brand new Road in some countries in the same time.

[lohithrao]

Ironically, it may hardly last few months trying to be optimistic here and post that we are back to square one

They may be planning to open it post monsoon, this way they may be hoping it to hold atleast till next monsoon :|

Originally Posted by Samurai

Holy Cow! We are already in July and Shiradi is still not open... This must be the longest clousure of such a major road. One could have built a brand new Road in some countries in the same time.

[_chikku]

If they are not opening the roads during monsoon, no need to do it after monsoon too. They can continue the concrete work for remaining stretch of the road after the season. Only reason for allowing traffic during rains was inability of the machinery to work during rains. I would want to wait till the work is completed .

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Blr - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Mudigere - Charmadi - Bantwal - Mangalore

Going by the present situation at Charmadi you may want to skip this altogether and take Mysore-Madikeri-Sampaje-Sullya option to reach Mangalore.

If you want to do Charmadi, best is to start super early in the morning (Say 3 or 4am) and take Hassan-Belur-Mudigere-Charmadi rather than Sakleshpur Mudigere.

The Sakleshpur Mudigere is not in best of its shape and a very narrow stretch, specially between Hanbal & Jannapura.

Blr - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Shiradi - Bantwal - Mangalore.

You cannot take this anyway as Shiradi is closed for repair works and there is no sign of when it will be thrown open to Public.

[lohithrao]

Airavata is taking chanarayapatna route, after kushalnagara they go via chanrayapatna and then the usual Kunigal route. road is supposed to be good and it takes about 8hrs. next time i drive to Bangalore i think i will take this route.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Airavata is taking chanarayapatna route, after kushalnagara they go via chanrayapatna and then the usual Kunigal route. road is supposed to be good and it takes about 8hrs. next time i drive to Bangalore i think i will take this route.

Yes. This has been mentioned by Satya earlier. Buses have got the hang of this route and the conditions remain good almost throughout and a not-so-famous and a non-regular route (CR Patna-Kushalnagara).

This is the rainy season I would avoid all such roads as many would be taking those options these days. All thanks to the joke called Shiradi Ghat repairs.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Is the above route better or the one below, basically which is the lesser of the two devils.

None of the above. Go with what Parag says. With the closure of Shiradi, its Mysore-Sullia-Sampage-Puttur option for Mangalore and Agumbe for Udupi/Manipal.