Thread approved and stuck

Really nice idea Santoosh. It would help tourers immensely. I definitely would update about roads when I do a tour.

Bangalore-Himavad Gopalaswamy Hills

Bangalore-Himavad Gopalaswamy Hills (as of Aug/09)

Road Description:
State Highway - 17 is as you all know good till Mysore(*there are alternate routes), 140 kms from bangalore.

Next 60kms to Gundalupet is a bit busy during day with a couple of bad patches (like the road between KR Market and Kengeri)
Some road work!(Aug/09)

last 20kms is bad (speeds below 40kmph)

Adjectives for the place:
- Cool breeze(10 degree centigrade)
- Lush Green
- Trekkable
- Wildlife (Everything you find in Bandipur)
- Hill ranges
- Krishna Temple
- Overnight stay
- Rock climbing

more soon

Thanks red , Someone atleast had the time to update :-)
hoping for more inputs from ppl.

Doing hampi and other places this weekend . will update on that too .

Santa

Bangalore to NH48:

Most of you will take NICE road and hit NH4 and then turn left at nelamangala for NH48.

I suggest to take the Doddaladamara road (Big Banyan tree) on Mysore road (SH17). It's just after the kengeri road flyover, you have to take a right. Head in this road to meet Magadi Road, go through magadi and head towards to Kunigal to meet NH48.

Kalasa to Kottigehara:
When you exit Kalasa, you will see a fork in road, the right goes to Kottigehara but this road is not so good, instead take the left to goto Magundi and then you will join the road from Chikamagalur which goes to Kottigehara, this is far better than the other road

If you are coming from Kottigehara towards Kalasa then you have to continue straight instead of taking left towards Kalasa at the very first intesection meet on the way.

really a vry nice idea,i wud definitely go thourgh this thread when i head on for the tours in future it wud rather help many.

please make this thread move on guys

Around Hyderabad

NH 7 almost complete and good on both sides for at least 100 KM. On Bangalore side the double road is till Kurnool. Kurnool to Ananthapuram is not good. Drive carefully. On Nagpur side the GQ ends at Kamareddy and a typical NH starts. Watch out for idiotic drivers.

NH 9 worst as usual but road doesn't those big bumps and potholes now. Traffic is the biggest pain. Both sides. Especially towards Vijayawada. Heavy winds. 280 KMs takes 5-6 hours easily. In that time you can cover over 350 KMs on SH1 and reach Ongole which is 150 KMs ahead of Vijayawada.

SH 1 Good but watch out for an occasional pothole that can give u a decent jerk. That is till Nagarjuna Sagar. After the ghat section and before Macherla you gotta be careful - looks like a good road but it is very patchy. Watch out for pot holes from 10 KM before Nekarikallu till Addanki.

You can take the Nasararaopet & Chilakaluripet route to hit the NH 5 instead of going to Addanki and join teh NH 5 at Medarametla.

It would also be good to mention the time of the year when you traversed this route. Another person doing the same route during a different time of the year (lets say monsoons) will not have the same experience. Hence, please do include this detail too.

@Darthveda: That fork you were talking about. Isn't the one on the left which slopes upward and curves left?

I took that route in May 2008 while returning, and while coming into Kalasa I took the Kottigehara route. Absolutely terrible road the Kottigehara one. Still no improvements or what?

I found the Magundi route bad upto Balehonnur from Kalasa. After that was just brilliant.

@silver falcon: Good tip there. And where are your road updates from the I-day ride?

Here are some of my road condition updates:

1) Bangalore - Shivanasamudra Falls:

Travel date: 20th Aug 2009.

Bangalore-Maddur-Malavalli-Shivanasamudra: Bangalore to Maddur is a well-known road to most people. It is a well-laid highway all the way to Mysore, save for some town traffic in between and couple of new speedbreakers that have been added. Small part of the highway just after Bidadi is undergoing maintenance, so the highway becomes an undivided two laner.

Enter Maddur, and take a left turn to head to Shivanasamudra/Talakad/Kollegal/Dindigul. It is a well-marked turn. The road upto Malavalli is patchy with a lot of undulations. I did this ride on an MT-01 (heavy, and un-flickable bike) so it wasn't very comfortable. On our Indian bikes, it should be a piece of cake.
From Malavalli to Shivanasamudra, the road improves to a newly laid buttery smooth surface, until 2 kms before Shivanasamudra. Road re-laying is going on, and the undivided 2 lane road becomes a very narrow 1 lane road till just before the turnoff into Gaganachukki.

There is an alternate route to Shivanasamudra which is through Kanakapura, and is much better, but would take the same travelling time.

I took about 1 hour and 40 min to cover the 120 kms (Kengeri-Shivanasamudra), and it should take maybe the same time, give or take 15 min via the Kanakapura route.

More updates on more roads coming up soon

Yes, it's the left road which slopes up and then to the left. you need not goto balehonnur you can take the right and goto kottigehara, if you want to come to bangalore faster
However, balehonnur to aldur road is awesome with lot of twisties, but doesn't make up for faster travel time. Try Balehonnur to Koppa to thirtahalli you will love it

Another route, i would suggest anyone wanting to reach bangalore from subramany faster to avoid is the bisile ghat road, never ever take this road, i took 2 hours to cover 32km the road is scenic with lot of hills and less traffic but the roads....

Bangalore - Mysore
140 Odd Kms
Smooth 4 Laned Road, Nevertheless the most Dangerous Road in Karnataka mainly due to the unscientific placement of Road Humps which are almost invible until you reach a spot where u can do nothing but juggle over it and damage a Fork and possibly a Bone...There are about a couple of Dozen Road Humps(Really Big ones) on this stretch with no sign boards what so ever. Also the Human intruders who always need to cross the road in a hurry to attend the world meeting...Add to it the Stray dogs and cattle.
Average accidents on this stretch : >10 a Day.
>100 People have lost their lives in 2008.

Distance : 160 kms
Road : 120 Kms
No Road : 40 Kms (Nanjangud to Bandipur stretch is the worst possible road u can ever imagine)
Once you reach bandipur, Roads are silky smooth until Ooty.

Route 1 : Via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Vellore.
Golden Quad Stretch
Good one
Dist : 356 Km
Travel Time : 5 - 7 Hrs depending on the vehicle(not the road).

Route 2 : Via Kolar, Chittoor.
There are a lot of Road work being done on the stretch between bangalore and Kolar(4- laning works).
Mostly 2 laned road.
Some bad stretches from Chittoor.
Comparitively bad from Route 1.
Dist : 342 Km
Travel time : 7 Hrs.

Route 1 : via Hassan, Shiradi Ghats
Bad roads until Kunigal(Due to road contruction works)
Smooth 2 laned roads until Hassan and Sakaleshpura.
Now starts the Bone Rattling Surface in the Shiradi Ghats...
Really bad 80 Kms followed by not so good roads until Mangalore.
Distance : 365 Kms

Route 2 : Via Mysore, Kodagu , Sullia
Distance : 376 Kms
Expect some patches of Bad roads from Mysore to Kodagu.
Then comes the pot hole ridden road in the Kodagu - Sullia Stretch follwed by below average road until Mangalore.

Shiradi Ghat closed for traffic from Sep 3-12.

MANGALORE: Traffic on the Shiradi Ghat stretch of Bangalore-Mangalore National Highway 48 has been banned from September 3-12. This follows a request from executive engineer, NH division, Mangalore, to the district administrations of Hassan and Dakshina Kannada to facilitate the removal of boulders perilously placed on the stretch.

On June 26, the boulders on the right side of NH 48 (when proceeding towards Mangalore), came loose from the cliff and tumbled onto the road blockingtraffic for nearly three hours. The boulders were removed to facilitate movement of vehicles. '

Now boulders atop the cliff have developed cracks and could tumble onto the road as the base of the cliff has weakened after the recent incident. The cliff on the above mentioned stretch of road sticks out onto the road posing a threat to vehicles.

The NH division could not take up the work of removing these dangerous boulders due to the monsoon.

All vehicles proceeding towards Bangalore will now be diverted via Puttur-Madikeri-Mysore, and those proceedings towards Hassan will have to traverse via Mudigere-Charmadi.

@ Mohan & all

I have had been to mysore very recently & I found that most of the humps has been removed & now it is safe to drive.. the only hump which I took is the Mandya one which is very much essential as mandya being a big town & lot of pedestrian & vehicle crosssings.

When was the last time you went on that???

The roads from Nanjungud to Gundlupet has been relaid and it's awesome. The road from Gundlupet to Hangal (GS betta deviation) is being worked upon currently and will be good to go in a month probably.

Road from Mysore to Nanjungud is mediocre, with few patches here and there.