[B103]

Originally Posted by NPV

If you took the Bannur-Malavalli Road, it will hit the Maddur-Malavall road and then merge onto Kanakpura-Chamarajnagar NH209 so at Malavalli you should have made a right turn and then in about less than a Kilometre you should turn left to go towards Kanakpura (Straight goes towards Chamarajanagar).
You must have turned left at Malavalli junction which led you back to Maddur!
Also, the condition of Maddur-Malavalli has been average (from very bad to good in stretches, etc) for sometime now and discussed often in the forum.
Alternatively, when coming from Wayanad, as soon as you get to Gundlupet make a right turn (if you see Coffee Day you've missed this turn) and at Chamarajanagar follow the signboards to Kanakpura and you will reach Malavalli junction where you turn right towards Kanakpura.

Thanks NPV. I came back from Tirunelli in Wayanad and so took the Mananthavadi-Mysore road (SH 33) via Nagerhole tiger reserve. Did not touch Gundulpet in the return journey.

It seems there was another way from Tirunelli via Hunsur which will avoid Mysore altogether. Needless to say, I missed it.

[shankar.balan]

Sunday driving along the Mysore-Bangalore highway, regardless of the time one is using that stretch, is absolutely unbearable.

One is brought to a complete standstill at regular intervals while passing through the towns which litter that route.

Mad lane changing, long lines of indisciplined traffic with half witted drivers at the wheel, irresponsible jokers and stray humans and animals end up giving one a rather hair raising time of it.

Im wondering if, when one goes to Ooty, it might actually be better to take the longer route through Salem and Avanashi to Mettupalayam rather than the Bandipur route. Same while returning.

Going to Coorg however, one has very little choice, unless one goes through the Nelamangala, Hassan, Arkalgud, Gorur to Somwarpet stretch. But for people going to South Coorg that is very long indeed.

Other than all this - just as an update, the roads inside Coorg which interconnect all the little towns within the district are all but unbearable right now. They are completely pitted, scarred and ruined. They have not been maintained for around three years and have almost completely deteriorated now.

I wonder why our dear Karnataka Government does not see fit to do some reasonable maintenance and upkeep of roads in such touristy areas!

[kala]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Sunday driving along the Mysore-Bangalore highway, regardless of the time one is using that stretch, is absolutely unbearable.
...
Im wondering if, when one goes to Ooty, it might actually be better to take the longer route through Salem and Avanashi to Mettupalayam rather than the Bandipur route. Same while returning.

No, a much better option is to go via NH-209 till Chamarajnagar and taking the SH from there to Gundlupet. Excellent roads almost all through and sparse traffic. I've been taking this road regularly for almost 2 years now on my trips to Wayanad, and notice that a lot of other Team BHPians too have switched to this route of late. (See discussions in the Bangalore-Ooty or Routes to Kerala thread).

Going to Coorg however, one has very little choice, unless one goes through the Nelamangala, Hassan, Arkalgud, Gorur to Somwarpet stretch. But for people going to South Coorg that is very long indeed.

I experimented recently with Bangalore-Kanakapura-Malavalli-Bannur-Baburayanakoppal-Srirangapatana route for getting on to the Coorg highway, and this was quite good except for the Malavalli-Bannur stretch and a couple of kms past Bannur which are a little bit patchy. I'd think this would be a good option for high traffic periods of SH17 (like Sunday evenings).

[rjstyles69]

And yesterday was peaceful, I was a little skeptical when I decided to drive at this time.My drive back to Bangalore from Mysore started at 11:00am and I was home by 2:00pm. If only they had bypassed Ramanagara, Channapatna and Mandya while constructing this highway.

On my return I witnessed long queue's of vehicles at the signals both at Channapatna and Mandya. Sunday's are usually crazy along this route.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

If only they had bypassed Ramanagara, Channapatna and Mandya while constructing this highway.

The current road in the towns of Ramanagara, Channapatna and Madduru are all bypass roads (atleast were bypass roads decades ago). The towns seem to have grown around the bypass roads defeating the whole purpose. The only feasible option perhaps is to build elevated roads or wait till NICE road whenever that happens.

Prasad

[ajay9252]

Yesterday was again a choc-o-bloc at various intervals, between 3PM and 5PM, either due to the long-haul overloaded trucks or due to an accident (interesting one in which an accent hit the rear of a captiva. the former was crushed half way into the engine compartment, while the captiva seemed to be dented just on the rear bumper guard ! No injuries.)
I also think the road is now home to folks on sedan with learner's permit. While they are comfortable driving on a long stretch, it is while overtaking that they tend to be on the middle of the road causing risk to all.

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Im wondering if, when one goes to Ooty, it might actually be better to take the longer route through Salem and Avanashi to Mettupalayam rather than the Bandipur route. Same while returning.

Bangalore - Kollegal - Chamarajanagar - Dimbum - Sathy - Mettpalayam - Ooty. No ?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Bangalore - Kollegal - Chamarajanagar - Dimbum - Sathy - Mettpalayam - Ooty. No ?

Seems too citcuitous and too much of ghat driving (first to navigate the Dimbam ghats to Sathy and then again ghats on the Mettupalayam-Ooty stretch) and at least about 90-100Km more than the simpler route via Gundlupet-Gudalur or Gundlupet-Masinagudi. Also as @Kala has mentioned above, you can take NH209 from Bangalore to Chamarajanagar and then go to Gundlupet to avoid Bangalore-Mysore SH17 completely.
So it would be Bangalore - Kollegal - Chamarajanagar - Gundlupet - Gudalur/Masinagudi - Ooty

[shankar.balan]

We just got back to Bangalore from Ooty today along this route. Today's drive was just perfect. No problems at all. Very decent drive. No madmen in evidence.
Decent timing too, given that traffic has generally increased a lot on this route these last few years.
Ooty, Masinagudi, Gundlupet, Mysore - through the town route, Mandya, Maddur, Channapatna, Ramanagaram, Bangalore.
Left at 1015 am - reached home at sharp 430 pm. Total duration of stops en route was one hour for a pitstop and then lunch at Empire.
No worries today.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Bangalore - Kollegal - Chamarajanagar - Dimbum - Sathy - Mettpalayam - Ooty. No ?

Can also do Blr Kollegal Chamrajanagar Gudlupet Bandipur Gudalur Ooty. Very sane and comparatively silent as well.

[Fauji]

I need to caution anyone traveling on Bangalore - Mysore road. I drove today after long time - i normally take Kanakapura route - as i had to ferry few colleagues to show them Mysore.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE NUMEROUS ROAD HUMPS ON THE ROAD. MANY OF THEM ARE NOT SIGNAGED. EVEN IF IT IS SIGNAGED, IT IS VERY CLOSE TO THE HUMP NOT ENOUGH TO WARN YOU.


When you drive during day, you can atleast see these humps from a distance if you are alert. But this is very difficult at night. It is more dangerous if you are following another vehicle very closely.

So, here is what i would advise

a) Please be alert when you drive and look out for these humps.

b) Don't tail any vehicle very close and and keep safe distance. It is always poosible that the vehicle in front of you suddenly slow down and you don't have a chance to react. There was a near miss of collision between two vehicles in the morning today when the vehicle which was tailing had to brake hard and swerve to avoiding colliding with the vehicle in front.

c) Drive slow at night so that you have enough time to react if you suddenly encounter humps.

[nkrishnap]

Whoever approves and puts up the humps needs a royal whipping, the humps are creating more accidents than preventing it. All I can see humps on Mysore road is creating more nuisance than preventing it.

Firstly then need to put barricades to keep the humans and animals at bay from the road

[ampere]

I think the problem is Mysore road, in spite of being a 4-lane, is a SH. So these councils towns have a say in these matters as there are no bypasses available.

[KarthikK]

Completely agree with Fauji on the speedbreakers issue on this road. When I was going to Coonoor a couple of months back on Mysore road, I witnessed an accident first hand due to one of these speedbreakers.
A Swift was being followed by a Fiesta somewhere near Maddur (about to overtake). The Swift guy braked hard for a speedbreaker, and the Fiesta guy was tailgating too close. The inevitable happened - he rear-ended the Swift with a pretty high impact.

So in addition to what Fauji advised about watching the road, also keep your eyes on the rear-view mirror and make sure no one is following too close behind, since some maniac may rear-end your car on this stretch even if you brake in time for the humps. The maniac density has historically been very high on Mysore road anyway .

Another awkward issue is that of speed interceptors near Mandya. Most of the highway vehicles don't slow down when they cross the 'Welcome to sugar city' green boards (especially people doing this stretch for the first time), and the interceptors standing just after these boards, catch these vehicles unawares and argue with hapless commuters that they were speeding within town limits. There are no speed limit boards put up either, for people to notice.

Overall, looks like this road would classify as one of the worst highways around Bangalore nowadays.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Completely agree with Fauji on the speedbreakers issue on this road. When I was going to Coonoor a couple of months back on Mysore road, I witnessed an accident first hand due to one of these speedbreakers.
A Swift was being followed by a Fiesta somewhere near Maddur (about to overtake). The Swift guy braked hard for a speedbreaker, and the Fiesta guy was tailgating too close. The inevitable happened - he rear-ended the Swift with a pretty high impact.

So in addition to what Fauji advised about watching the road, also keep your eyes on the rear-view mirror and make sure no one is following too close behind, since some maniac may rear-end your car on this stretch even if you brake in time for the humps. The maniac density has historically been very high on Mysore road anyway .

Another awkward issue is that of speed interceptors near Mandya. Most of the highway vehicles don't slow down when they cross the 'Welcome to sugar city' green boards (especially people doing this stretch for the first time), and the interceptors standing just after these boards, catch these vehicles unawares and argue with hapless commuters that they were speeding within town limits. There are no speed limit boards put up either, for people to notice.

Overall, looks like this road would classify as one of the worst highways around Bangalore nowadays.

The rear ending is the most common accident on the Bangalore Mysore highway due to high traffic density, poor traffic manners and poor planning of humps with no proper signboards.

The villagers and two wheelers are no less pain here. Its a nightmare all the time