Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Posting here after a long time

Will be riding on the Bangalore-Mangalore road tomorrow early morning to reach my home town Ujire. Was wondering if anyone had updates about the route. Had heard about gas tankers toppling on the shiradi ghat parts on 4/6 and 4/7th.

Thanks in advance,
prashk

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Hi All,
I made a Trip from Bangalore to Chidambaram (TN) in end of March. I touched adjoining locations like Vaitheeswaran Koil (towards Mayailadurai) and then to Thirunallar.

Route Taken: Bangalore - Salem - Attur - Virudhachalam - Chidambaram - Sirkazhi - Karaikal - Thirunallar
Return route was very much the same with minor deviations.

The route from Bangalore to Salem is a four lane road in excellent condition. The road from Salem till Attur before deviating to Virudhachalam is also pretty good.

The road from Virudhachalam till Chidambaram is not in a good condition and its a 2 way road all along. There is lots or wear out on the road and quite a lot of potholes too. Consistent speed of 50kmph can be maintained. There is a deviation that Bhuvanagiri that takes very narrow to reach the Chennai-Nagapattinam Highway. Take the Bypass road near Chidambaram toward Sirkazhi on Chennai - Nagapattinam Highway. This road is 2 way road.

After Sirkazhi the road gets narrower till Karaikal. Lots of sharp turns and accident prone zone till Karaikal. Karaikal till Thirunallar is still a decent road though its small stretch of 2 way road.

Overall it was a tricky drive after Attur till Karaikal but my City 2014 did a good job on this road.

There is an alternative road as well. Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Thiruvanamalai - Panruti - Chidambaram - Sirkazhi - Karaikal - Thirunallar. However, I knew that the road between Krishnagiri till Thiruvanamalai was bad with lots of pot holes. I heard it was being re-laid. Hence, did not take a chance.

Hope this information helps.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Planning to drive from Ooty to Sullia on 3rd. Please let me know which route will be better:-

1. Ooty-Masinagudi-Gundlupet-Hunsur-Madikeri-Sullia
2. Ooty-Sulthanbathery-Gonikoppal-Madikeri-Sullia

Priority is for good roads.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India



Though it refers only tourist they may allow two wheelers .
Please conform it.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Update for wanderers/tourers who like going through interior roads.
Sunday morning did: Bangalore-Kanakpura-Kodihalli-Anchetty-Denkanikottai-Hosur-Bangalore
1)Bangalore to Kanakpura Nice road Juntion :- swift, fast roads.
2) Kanakpura Nice Road junction - Kanakpura :- At start till Kagalipura roads are bit uneven, but easy to ride/drive, and from then onwards since it is a state highway, roads are all good but bit narrow without dividers, but very easy to go fast.
3) Kanakpura to Kodihalli SH3 :- some part of the road from kanakpura towards kodihalli is the sangam road, which is again smooth fast roads. But roads are narrow. Before reaching Kodihalli road disappers, nd only dust nd gravel is their inside kodihalli(seems some new relaying work will be done).
4) Kodihalli to Anchetty :- again good roads but narrow roads, and in between at some villages, roads are very narrow. After crossing the KA-TN border, roads at each village are in bad condition but intermediatory ones are smooth. No food options.
5) Anchetty- Denkanikottai - Hosur :- Roads are very good, some places seems to be newly relaid tarmac.
6) Hosur-Bangalore :- GQ part so has to be superb road. Last Flyover before entering Karnataka is still under construction, divider and some part of tarmac are yet to be laid.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Route Taken : Bangalore-Kunigal-Hassan-Mangalore-Murudeshwara-Gokarna-Majorda-Karwar-Honnavar-Bangalore


Bangalore-Hassan: Very Good Roads.


Hassan-Gundya-Mangalore: Overall Good roads, but Shiradi didnt fail to show that its not to be taken lightly, accidentally ran into one of the odd Potholes, only to have the tyre side wall to crack open.


Mangalore -Murudeshwara: Overall average, Night riding/Driving still need to be over cautious, Diversions exist with unproper markings.


Murudeshwara-Gokarna-Majorda:good roads overall.


Honnavar-Jog Falls-Shimoga: Single two lane roads throughout. Need to be very careful for oncoming traffic in the forest sections.


Shimoga-Kadur-Tumkur-Bangalore : Pathetic practice of cutting branches of trees and leaving them on the road, without any markings which resulted in a Fatal head on collision of Two trucks(One of them who probably tried to avoid one which clogged the Bhadravathi by pass -Barandur--Tarikere for about 45mins to an hour. What was even more disturbing was the so called "Educated" breed of people overtaking all the vehicles and clogging the highway without allowing for the ambulance to reach the accident spot. Post tarikere roads are overall above Average till Bangalore.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Damn!!! What happened after that? You got new tyre?

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

This was a drive , so swapped the spare tyre and continued.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Came to know just now

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Ooty-Gudalur-Mudhumalai:

Ooty-Pykara: Lot of tourist traffic and vehicles parked alongside the highway occupying half lane width. Poor to average road quality.
Pykara-Gudalur: Traffic thins out but road quality worsens.
Gudalur-Theppekadu- Average roads.

This is a bad route compared to the usual 36 hair pin bend route but the police doesn't allow cars to enter the ghats from Ooty side, presumably due to high traffic.

Funny thing is, it would have been better to take this route from Ooty for descending the ghats rather than from Masinagudi side to climb up the ghats. This is because while climbing up, numerous private cars, having no experience ghat/hill side driving make life VERY difficult.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Hey I live around this area, if you wanna use the ghat road with the hair pins, say you are staying at kalhatty estate, and they'll let you got and the hairpin bend road is immaculate.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

They ask for a local resident pass. One look at my KA registered car and the police guy said "You are heading towards Karnataka no? Take that route" :-D

I agree the hair pin bend road is good but driving uphill on it is not enjoyable.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Uphill is the best :P and kalhatty estate is a resort of sorts

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Hello guys. Need a little help in deciding a route to Karwar from Pune. I would be riding with my better half and a saddlebag.
I have 2 options from how to proceed from Belgaum.
Via Khanapur-Kumbarwada-Anshi or Via Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola route.
If anyone has traveled these roads in the recent past could you kindly post the road conditions for these 2 routes. The Hubli-Yellapur road adds around 100 kms as compared to the Khanapur road. So I am considering taking the Khanapur-Kumbarwada-Anshi route, unless these roads are in a very bad shape.

Re: Updates On Road Conditions in South India

Route Taken : Bangalore-Davanagere –Dharwad-Kalhatgi-Mundgod-Malgi-Sirsi-Jog Falls-Sagar-Hasirumakki-Sampekatte-Kodachadri-Nagara-Ayyanur-Shimoga-Tarikere-Kemmangundi-Attigundi-BabaBUdangiri-Mullayyanagiri-Chikmagalur-Hassan-Kunigal-Bangalore.

Bangalore-Dharwad: Part of GQ overall very good roads.

Dharwad-Kalhatgi-Malgi -Sirsi: Except for a very small rough patch around Kalhatgi(IIRC) roads are about Average to above average country roads. Most of the roads are narrow till you hit the SirSi-Belgaum Highway. Very few fuel bunks on the way.

Sirsi-Siddapur-Jog Falls: Good roads throughout. The other road from Siddapur which connects closer to Thalaguppa is supposedly re-laid too.

Jog Falls-Sagara-Hasirumakki : Good single lane roads overall.

Hasirumakki –Sampekatte-Kattinahole: Overall above Average roads.

Sampekatte-Nagara-Hosanagara-Ripponpet-Ayyanur-Shimoga: Good Roads, Good Roads, Good Roads.

Shimoga-Tarikere-Lingadahalli: Average roads.

Lingadahalli-Kemmangundi- Attigundi: Mixture of Good Roads, bad roads and worst roads. The cement road till further of Kalhatti Diversion is very bumpy. Post that for the next 20kms is Highway Rider/Drivers Nightmare top speeds of 40kmph is what we were able to make. After the bad road part comes very good roads but super narrow one, one has to be very cautious as there would be hardly any space for a cycle to pass though if a big vehicle comes in front.

Attigundi-Baba Budangiri-Mullayyanagiri-Chikmagalur: The last few Kms to Baba budangiri is Horrible. Roads to Baba Budangiri is closed atleast for the next 2-3 months. There are extending the Cement Patch towards Attigundi. Post that its overall good curvy roads.

Chikmagalur-Belur-Hassan-Bangalore: Same old Story Good roads throughout.