| Bangalore to Mangalore & back-via Shiradi Ghat
Team,
Travelled on NH48 last week. It was a pleasure to drive down to Mangalore. Had to bring my family back who were spending their holidays there.
Started from my home at 01:00 on 15th May 08 (i was travelling alone). There was a long line of trucks on the ring road towards tumkur road, but they were sensible enough to be one behind the other which allowed the cars to pass through by their side. Tumkur road was relatively free of the heavy traffic you see during day time. Hit the NH48 junction after Nelamangala at around 01:45. It was sad to see trees being cut down to widen the road upto Hassan. Traffic was light and because of the night time...found it easy to identify oncoming traffic. But after 03:00, started to see quite a few buses from Managalore. Road condition till Hassan is good. Reached Hassan at 04:00. The bypass road at Hassan is not good and looks there will be no effort to spruce it up before the monsoons. There is a diversion just at the end of the bypass for some repair work (could not understand what they were repairing). The road from Hassan to Sakaleshpur is also being repaired and is good for driving. Reached Donigal and noticed that the barrier wall which was shown in the newspapers to ban heavy vehicles entering the ghat section has been removed. Instead there were 2 cops with metal barricades and they would move them aside to allow cars to pass. Also noticed that they were allowing trucks and KSRTC buses also to enter the ghat section. On two curves, concreting has been completed only on one side and i personally feel that the road will not be complete by June 1 (announced in newspapers that the road will be open for all traffic by June 1). Intermittent areas between the concreted road and the tar road is also pending for asphalting. The asphalted road on the ghat section and the concrete curves have been done well, but the proof of quality will be tested during the monsoons. The the condition of the road now was like rain in a desert for me after travelling on this road during Aug 07 & Oct 07. The road from Gundya to Uppinangady is also being repaired in patches, and may not withstand the oncoming monsoons if not pepaired. Uppinangady to BC Road has been repaired and driving was a breeze. BC Road to Mangalore has been only patched up because of the 4 laning project. The pace of work is abysmally slow and may drag on for a few years. Reached home in Mangalore at 07:15. Total time taken from my home in Bangalore to reach my parents home in Mangalore was 6hours 15 min (no stops in between). My OMNI gave a 18.5kms fuel efficiency on this drive.
The return Journey:
My brothers wife & kids accompanied me & my family on the drive from Mangalore to Bangalore. The boot was filled with luggage with hardly any space available to view from the rear view mirror. Started at 08:30 on 18th May 08, reached Uppinangady at 09:30. Took at break at my in-laws house for an hour. Started at 10:30 and reached Sakaleshpur by 12:00 noon. Final coat of asphalting was being done on the highway just after Gundya. Work on the drain by the road side was also going on at a good pace. Again observed KSRTC buses coming down on the ghat, but did not observe goods trucks in the daytime. Stopped for Lunch at Kamat's (Udayapura) at 13:10 and started again at 14:05. Reached Nelamangala cross at 16:10, but then traffic was heavy and also it stared to rain heavily. Reached my brothers house at 17:00, took a break for an hour and reached my home at 18:30. I have'nt filled the tank to determine fuel efficiency on the return journey.
Overall....it was good driving experience after years of suffering due to bad road condition. Hope we will not have to experience it again in future.
Last edited by theMAG : 20th May 2008 at 14:27.
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20th May 2008, 14:21
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Thanks
