[samaspire]

Originally Posted by Shubbi

Though I have gleaned lots of information from TBHP so far, this is my first post here Anyways, does anyone know if the NITK toll-booth has any exemptions for local (KA19, KA20) vehicles? I have heard/seen varying takes on this; I have myself been let go twice, stopped once in the last 10 days. Any such experience?

They are not charging toll for Ka 19 vehicles till now, but this may change. Until last month ka 20 cars were exempt. The collection boys mentioned something like exemption for local vehicles within a 10km radius, but I wonder how they will implement it. Passes are available for regular travellers.

[CLIX]

Originally Posted by Shubbi

Though I have gleaned lots of information from TBHP so far, this is my first post here Anyways, does anyone know if the NITK toll-booth has any exemptions for local (KA19, KA20) vehicles? I have heard/seen varying takes on this; I have myself been let go twice, stopped once in the last 10 days. Any such experience?

Dec 2015 I was camped at Mukka beach. KA05. First day I paid a 1 way, seeing the toll booth for the first time. Next day I spoke to the guy at the gate (in Tulu). Explained that I stay just a KM beyond the gate. They'd recognise my car on following days. Let me pass a couple of times. One of the day's they fixed me a single charge for the full day. Doesn't look like there is a defined protocol for that scenario.

[catchmeifuwant]

Originally Posted by DejavuTrip

Yes. It is in good condition.

Hi forum,

Completed a road trip recently on 3rd Feb 2016 with family. Here's an update on the Bangalore-Mangalore-Udupi road condition.

Route taken (both to & fro)
Bangalore (BG road) - NICE road - Tumkur road - Nelamangala - Kunigal - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Shridi Ghat - Uppinangady - BC Road - Mangalore- Udupi

> Bangalore to Hassan - Excellent 4 lane toll road with median/dividers
> Hassan to Sakleshpur - Excellent 2 lane state road with NO median/dividers
> Sakleshpur to Nellyadi (via Shirdi Ghat) - 2 lane state road with No median/dividers. Road condition was very good for most of the section. There are very small patches in the shirdi ghat section where surface is rough (topping is sheared off). Good part is that a major portion of the ghat section is now concrete road. Watch out for slow moving tankers and drivers overtaking rashly
> Nellyadi to BC Road - Excellent 2 lane state road with NO median/dividers
> BC Road to Mangalore - Excellent 4 lane toll road with median/dividers
> Mangalore to Udupi - Excellent 4 lane toll road with median/dividers. Some stretches become 2 lane and diversions are in place - where bridges over the river are still being built

Time taken
Bangalore (BG Road) - Mangalore : 7 hrs 30 min . Stopped at A2B for 50 minutes for lunch (at Udayapura about 25 kms before Hassan / right opposite to Kamat Upachar). Was caught in a traffic jam for 20 minutes short of BC road due to road works

Mangalore - Bangalore (BG road) : 7 hrs 15 min . Break at A2B for 30 minutes

Cheers !!!

[Shubbi]

Originally Posted by CLIX

Doesn't look like there is a defined protocol for that scenario.

I also heard this tollgate would be dismantled once the bigger Hejmady tollgate comes online.
I saw few express bus drivers arguing with the tollgate folks to let them through by the sideway, while other buses were happy to pay and go. Probably people in this region are yet to get used to paying tolls

[scanD]

Fellow BHPians, thanks for the wonderful updates on road conditions on various routes.

I need to travel from B'luru to Udupi mid-week with family including small kids. Normally I travel during early hours and reach by 11am, but this time I'm planning to make it a night drive as I need to reach by 8 am.

Could anyone pls update on the fog conditions this week on the Shiradi ghat route.
Also, suggestions of any places to stop for breaks between 2 am and 6am would be helpful.

[chandan]

Thick fog since last evening . Heavy truck & bus traffic reported too. Not a wise idea to drive on shiradi in the night .

[KALSANKRPAI]

Originally Posted by catchmeifuwant

Hi forum,
Between Hassan to Sakleshpur except for the first 10 - 12 kms from Hassan the road condition was bad with lot of potholes, uneven surface and rough surface with stones etc I do not know whether
the road is relaid/repaired recently.

Can you please inform me the present position

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by scanD

Fellow BHPians, thanks for the wonderful updates on road conditions on various routes.

I need to travel from B'luru to Udupi mid-week with family including small kids. Normally I travel during early hours and reach by 11am, but this time I'm planning to make it a night drive as I need to reach by 8 am.

Could anyone pls update on the fog conditions this week on the Shiradi ghat route.
Also, suggestions of any places to stop for breaks between 2 am and 6am would be helpful.

Early mornings , i see heavy fog between hassan and uppinangady. Progress is slower these days , also most truckers start driving after 5-6 am towards sakleshpur. I had uploaded a video few days back.

As Udipi is 5.5 to 7 hours drive from nelamangala, You can start from nelamangala around 7-8 pm with a plan to reach Udipi by 2-3 am. Just that you will encounter all the buses between Hassan and Sakleshpur. I find early morning drives ( 1-4 am ) after sakleshpur very relaxing and hassle free. Almost zero oncoming traffic once the buses are gone. One more advantage of this timing is that that you wouldnt get the early morning Mangalore bound traffic on NH17

[scanD]

Originally Posted by chandan

Thick fog since last evening . Heavy truck & bus traffic reported too. Not a wise idea to drive on shiradi in the night .

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Early mornings , i see heavy fog between hassan and uppinangady. Progress is slower these days , also most truckers start driving after 5-6 am towards sakleshpur. I had uploaded a video few days back.
...

Thanks for the info and also a practical plan.
I had seen the video posted by speedsatya and felt it was way too much fog for 10:00 am. Was hoping if things would have improved over the past couple of weeks.


When i came up with the plan of night driving.. i had imagined the fog to be a problem only on the ghats. So, had considered catching up with the BLR-MLR bus traffic sometime before hassan and then religiously tailing a bus in areas of the dense fog.
Looks like that is not feasible as the fog seems to be everywhere and not just in the ghats.

Will rework on the plan as reaching at 2AM would be inconvenient to my hosts.
Cheers.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

We encountered some of the heaviest fog I have ever seen on NH48 ( but nothing like the one I saw in December ).

Originally Posted by scanD

Thanks for the info and also a practical plan.
I had seen the video posted by speedsatya and felt it was way too much fog for 10:00 am. Was hoping if things would have improved over the past couple of weeks.


.

Apologies for the confusion . The timestamp isnt accurate . This was actually between 645 and 7 am IST

[Sri Vathsa]

Originally Posted by scanD

Fellow BHPians, thanks for the wonderful updates on road conditions on various routes.

I need to travel from B'luru to Udupi mid-week with family including small kids. Normally I travel during early hours and reach by 11am, but this time I'm planning to make it a night drive as I need to reach by 8 am.

Could anyone pls update on the fog conditions this week on the Shiradi ghat route.
Also, suggestions of any places to stop for breaks between 2 am and 6am would be helpful.

Did this route in mid December, started at around 4pm Bangalore and reached around 1140 pm in udupi, with a break of about 30 minutes, Bangalore till hassan is excellent, you can drive any time during the day or night. But after that no divider /median and narrow roads makes it a pain to drive.

Most of these buses have deadlines to reach destination and they simply don't care about cars or any other vehicles! Shiradi ghat sometimes would have pile up of vehicles around night and these commercial vehicles keep honking for no reason.

[bhandary]

This is my very first post here on Team-BHP forum and would like to share one of my memorable journey.

End of December, I had the fortune to travel solo on my Wagon R from Manipal to Bangalore after my family decided to stay back for the year end holidays and I had to get back to Bangalore. My plan was to start early morning between 5 am and 6 am from Manipal on monday. But since I slept late the previous night and with no deadlines to meet on reaching Bangalore, I had a sound sleep till the first rays of sunlight streaked into the house. I woke up at 6 am got ready unhurriendly and since the luggage was already packed and ready the previous night itself, I was able to start the journey at 7am. Had a few luggage and hence the car was not loaded fully. The night before, I had the fuel tank filled fully and checked the tyre pressure.

I took to NH66 (formerly NH17) all the way upto Kankanady in Mangalore. From Kankanady (pumpwell circle) it was NH75 (erstwhile NH48) towards Bangalore. Reached Uppinagadi at around 9.45am and stopped at Hotel Aditya for the breakfast. Did a quick visual check of all the tyres, engine temperature, oil levels and resumed the journey to Bangalore. No untoward incidents and the traffic was sparse in between probably due to the odd timing of the start of my travel. The shiradi ghat section was relatively free and there was no major traffic holdups or serpentine queues on both sides.

Lunch was at Hotel Kamat on Hassan-Bangalore NH road which was around 1.15 pm. After a break of 30 minutes and again a quick check of the car vitals, I resumed my journey. Thereafter it was non-stop to Bangalore via NICE ring road to Bannerghatta and reached my home at 4.45 pm.

I am compiling snippets of my journey which could help fellow travelers and look forward to post them shortly.

[Shubbi]

Originally Posted by bhandary

I took to NH66 (formerly NH17) all the way upto Kankanady in Mangalore. From Kankanady (pumpwell circle) it was NH75 (erstwhile NH48) towards Bangalore.

Unless you had a reason to go via Pumpwell, when coming from Surathkal/Udupi, you could turn left at Nanthoor, take the flyover and reach Padil, saving you from the higher traffic on Pumpwell-Nagori stretch. This road is good with a divider, with the last one KM near to Padil involving curves.

[bhandary]

Originally Posted by Shubbi

Unless you had a reason to go via Pumpwell, when coming from Surathkal/Udupi, you could turn left at Nanthoor, take the flyover and reach Padil, saving you from the higher traffic on Pumpwell-Nagori stretch. This road is good with a divider, with the last one KM near to Padil involving curves.

You are right. I had dropped in to visit an old acquaintance (almost after 20 yrs) who stays at Highlands (near Unity Health complex). Distancewise, Nantoor-Padil route is shorter by a km and with fewer vehicular traffic than Nantoor-Pumpwell circle-Padil route.

[couswheels]

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