[skpprabhu]

I am skippping the toll as I am joining this road from Kumbalgodu near RR medical college and join the highway before Bidadi also while returning I take exit after Bidadi and skip the toll to avoid the bridge which directly takes you to the NICE junction. The only advantage of paying toll is to use the 4km long overbridge which avoids some junctions beneth but still it is not a deal breaker as the roads are mostly free except during peak hours. By default I dont want to use the overbridge and it is deisgned in such a way that if you dont use the bridge dont pay the toll..

[First God]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

In summary, the newly opened highway is a definite time saver and quite arguably an immensely stress-free experience compared to yesteryears. Politics aside but this road certainly must me made an access-controlled highway. The sad part however is that since this is not a completely greenfield expressway like almost all of the expressways in our country, it is going to be a tough challenge to address all these shortcomings.

Good Details and Analysis, I had once requested Pratap Simha on Twitter regarding how Poorly the Entry-Exit points are designed on this road, and can't afford another Cyrus Mistry incident especially on this route



But unfortunately he didn't reply nor there was any response from others.

Plus with this poor design at times there have been congestion at the entry-exit points, here is one video of the same [Timestamp 0:39] (The battered Nightmared Pune-Satara Highway has better & safer entry-exit points than Bengaluru-Mysuru)

https://youtu.be/CCPSkxlQGD0

In India, the Highways with 2+2 lanes have different types of entry-exit points. I had looked upon street view images, out of all I found one which is needed for most highways in India & which should have been done for Bengaluru-Mysuru 10 Lane Highway (dubbed as Expressway)

https://goo.gl/maps/p1MfFGGqep13CK6k9

https://www.google.com/maps/@16.2422...7i13312!8i6656

Taken from NH-16 Guntur-Vijayawada Stretch of Chennai-Kolkata highway, they have made the Service Road Bidirectional with U-Turn provision

Another better Alternative could have been the one from Noida-Greater Noida Expressway where the entry-exit points have better design.


The Parking on the highway & Mesh Breaking can be solved if they increased the number of entry-exit points followed by putting up signboards & advertisments about hotels coming up in few KMs (like Vittal Kamat does on NH-48 between Kagal-Kolhapur-Satara), that would have also helped in more seggregation of local traffic & reduce these frequent parking on the highway with wrong side riding by Bikers.

[RGK]

Thank you, Parag, for the thorough evaluation. The construction is a clear indication that the necessary land is not available for the entry and exit points. I find it somewhat astonishing how the plan got approved.

What about the message signs? Is it consistent and strategically placed ?.

PS: Between Karur and Namakkal, a signboard on the NH 7 directs drivers to take the Trichy exit after the service road separates . After a few years, this was eventually fixed.

[srikrishna717]

Very good summary. I have travelled on this road quite a lot as my hometown is in Mysore. The biggest advantage is the time reduction ( from Home to home it used to average 4 hrs earlier, and now it is at 2.5 hrs) and the comfort especially on weekdays. This is supposed to be a fully access controlled highway when it is complete. To my understanding this is NOT declared complete yet. The biggest problem is that of lane discipline and I have noticed some mad driving by people just because the roads is smooth and there for you! If they manage the entry exit points strictly and some lance discipline this will be a superb road.
Regarding Bikes etc, not sure what the recent government change can influence.
I also noticed some glitches at the Toll entry points, I guess the RFID reader positioning needs a relook.

[gauravdgr8]

Recently did a Ooty - Bangalore travel. Left Ooty at 2:40PM, reached Mysore ring road junction at 7PM. Was at the Columbia Asia signal at 7:24PM and was able to cross it in under 2-3 mins (due to red signal). The expressway was a breeze at night. The road was very well marked with reflectors, radium on the median and cat eyes. This made night driving very easy and comfortable with the allowed triple digit speed.

Reached Nice junction at 8:26PM. It took more time to reach Whitefield than reaching Bengaluru from Mysore.

[speedmiester]

Just returned from a drive to Mysore and back. The Manipal Hospital junction at the end of the expressway in Mysore is getting readied for expansion. There was massive jam of over 1.5Kms towards Mysore.
Traffic towards Bangalore was less and I was lucky to get out of the junction pretty soon.

Plan your travels well else this junction will be a nightmare until the expansion is in place.

[HTC]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Just returned from a drive to Mysore and back. The Manipal Hospital junction at the end of the expressway in Mysore is getting readied for expansion.

If planners had common sense, they should have built a underpass or flyover by now at that junction. Like always, they will wait for the city to develop and then start flyover and metro work everywhere. Typical politicians approach.

[shankar.balan]

Back from Ooty today. The Whole Expressway is open and working nicely. All exits nicely marked. People arent driving like idiots. All good.
Bottlenecks are only at Columbia Asia Mysore Manipal Hospital which is a ticking hand grenade.
And the exit piece at Kengeri.
And thats when the big dark clouds came and there was such a heavy downpour today that every road here in Bangalore was absolutely like a river.
(Nothing like the Mahindra Thar to take one peacefully through!)

[Latheesh]

Took expressway again yesterday (Bangalore>Mysore). NICE road exit to toll booth had traffic jam and took ~ 20 min to enter the expressway. There was also traffic jam at Manipal hospital signal for 15-20 min. Entered expressway at 12.30 p.m. and exited at 2 p.m. and was less stressful than my onward drive last Sunday. Around 40 minutes was wasted before and after expressway though.

[100Kmphormore]

Absolutely agree, especially the middle-right lane hogging by slow vehicles. A Himalayan speeding at 120 kmph in the right lane (unsafe, i know!) exited the bend near Channapatna and crashed into a Dzire taxi moving at 60 kmph, caught unawares by the cars presence. The rider got away with a sprain thanks to his riding gear. This haphazard declaration of an expressway in view of elections was not supposed to be done.

The biggest danger is in the left lane though. Activas and Splendors at 40 kmph, farmers carrying long sticks tipped with sharp sickles on their cycles that can take your head off if you arent careful. At the time of the above mentioned accident I was at 60 kmph on the left most lane, waiting to come to the middle lane to overtake a similar long stick cycle, when my eagle eyed friend caught a glimpse of a sickle from 200m away and loudly exclaimed to overtake, even though risky, had to ,to save our necks quite literally. (I could only see the long stick)These arent even visible at first glance. The clamour for better access control on this expressway has to grow louder. Banning bikes isnt the solution. Enforcement is. They will cut a barrier and come in, like many have described. Criminal cases should be registered against the villagers doing this. GPS based violations captured and addressed like we see in Caught in Providence has to be the norm.

[Bhodrolok]

Drove to and from on the "expressway" over the weekend.

I would recommend it from Bangalore towards Mysore although the connection from NICE road to the expressway seems to have been given zero thoughts. The lack of any proper exit & outgoing and incoming traffic directly onto the lanes means, one should skip the left most lane. I was able to reach Mysore in 80 mins flat which is a huge improvement over what it used to be.

However the drive back from Mysore is what really got my goat, the first thing is the lack of toll collection all the way from Mysore to just before the entry into Bangalore. What this basically means is the "expressway" is full of scooters, motorcycles with multiple occupants zigzagging through lanes, tempos, autos and even tractors making an absolute mess of it. Add to this the general lack of basic driving etiquettes among a lot of cars, the drive is fraught with danger.

The toll collection needs to be started at the earliest, the gaps in mesh need to be fixed and the cameras already present in some areas need to be extended throughout the road and drivers should be fined heavily for not following rules.

[Bhodrolok]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The Whole Expressway is open and working nicely. All exits nicely marked. People arent driving like idiots.

Are you sure we were driving on the same road? It was an absolute mess trying to drive back yesterday.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Bhodrolok

Are you sure we were driving on the same road? It was an absolute mess trying to drive back yesterday.

It was absolutely fine with a 1 pm start from Mysore. Did it became bad later in the evening. I read there was waterlogging during Saturday rains

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by Bhodrolok

Are you sure we were driving on the same road? It was an absolute mess trying to drive back yesterday.

I think what he meant is that there are sign boards up in the sky point towards where the exits are.

The entry and exit to and from the expressway is very short, there is not enough of a ramp to get up to speed to match with expressway from the service road. It is short enough that someone who switches from middle lane to left lane to avoid a slow moving vehicle can miss it and crash into someone else.

Consider this as any other toll road and drive with all the usual safeguards of our highway.

During night time both lanes are used by two way traffic, including big trucks, how about that?! There is also a puncture shop where the barricade is broken with old tyres displayed in the broken barricade to let everyone know that he is around to help

[balenoed_]

On peak hours/days, if going to Coorg side (Hunsur road), it is better to take the KRS road by exiting at Srirangapatana exit and avoid the Manipal signal. The KRS road is in good condition. A few speed breakers around but a more peaceful drive.