I also intend to travel with my family from Karachi to Lahore on 21st July. I am also looking for very recent update on the condition of the N5 route, alternative routes to take, pros and cons of alternate routes etc.
What I came to know so far about road conditions 10 days ago is that there is work going on two patches in Sindh. There are diversions and sometimes single road is opened for both sides traffic. First patch effected is from Hyderabad to Daulatpur, it takes an extra 2 hrs traveling time due to traffic jams and slow driving speeds. The second bad patch is After Sukkur, starting approx. from Pano Aqil and ends near Ubauro. This bad road also takes an extra travel time of 2 hours. So in total 4 hours are taken additionally in Sindh. Rest of the route is fine. A person told me it took him 22 hours to reach Karachi from Lahore despite 18 hours which is his normal travel time for the same distance.
Now my questions are:
Are the alternate routes a better options if I am traveling through Sindh in day time?
For eg. If I take N55 from Jamshoro and travel all the way from here to Kashmore on N55 and then from Guddu take N5 again.
The route will be Jamshoro --> Sehwan --> Dadu --> Khairpur Nathan Shah --> Rato Dero --> Shikarpur --> Kandhkot --> Kashmore --> Guddu and then N5. The approx. distance from Jamshoro to Guddu is 500km. Does anybody know the present condition of this rote and pros and cons on traveling through it?
Please suggest an alternate route if the above route is not appropriate from security, family traveling point of view.
Regards.