NH 75
Mangaluru–Bengaluru–Vellore Highway
Also known as National Highway 48 (old numbering, Mangaluru–Bengaluru section)
502 km
Open
3 states
National Highway
Route
NH 75 runs 502 km from Bantwal Cross Road, Karnataka to Viruthampattu, Tamil Nadu.
Crosses Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Through Bantwal Cross Road, Puttur, Sakleshpur, Hassan, Channarayapattana, Kunigal, Bengaluru, Kolar, Mulabagilu, Vellore and Viruthampattu.
Why it matters
Bengaluru is an inland city and Mangaluru is its nearest major port. This is the road between them, so it matters to everything from fuel tankers to coffee exports.
History
National Highway 75 is the main road between Bengaluru and the port of Mangaluru, running west through Kunigal, Hassan and Sakleshpur and dropping down the Shiradi Ghat to the coast; east of Bengaluru it continues through Kolar to Vellore in Tamil Nadu. The Shiradi Ghat section is the notorious part — a steep, heavily used descent through rainforest that has been rebuilt in concrete more than once after monsoon damage closed it for months at a time.
Good to know
- Carries most road freight between Bengaluru and New Mangalore Port.
- Its Shiradi Ghat section is one of the wettest and most landslide-prone stretches of highway in India.
- Passes Kolar, whose gold mines were among the deepest in the world before they closed.
- Hassan, on the route, is the base for visits to the Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebidu.
- The ghat section has been rebuilt in concrete to survive the monsoon.
On the road
Allow seven to eight hours Bengaluru to Mangaluru. Shiradi Ghat is slow, wet and often under repair; check before travelling in the monsoon, and consider Charmadi as an alternative.
More details
- Lanes
- 4 lanes, ghat section 2–4 lanes