Chennai Bangalore - Old and New

[bglsrini]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Don't feel jealous man. Afterall she is your better half and she deserves this BULL.

Yaaa,I know that.
But,she is becoming more possesive about our safari and is taking it wherever she goes.

She knows driving and she never drives before even if iam tired and request her to do so. But,now she has started driving the safari and wants to drive it ofthen.

Thats making me jealous.

[bglsrini]

My wife was back on Sunday 29th night.The full journey was on Turbo jet and my BUll gave a FE of 12.5kmpl.

[Blue Thunder]

Glad that you are now re-united with family (the BULL + family) ...and also good mileage that you are getting.

[hrag]

Horrible accident on the Ambur bridge last night. Minibus rams into lorry from behind. NHAI was on the scene and held up traffic while they cleared the debris from the road. Saw the lorry parked on the right lane on the bridge and the minibus half into the bus' backside.

Those of you travelling from Hosur to Bangalore - please be very careful. Rain + roads under construction = treacherous conditions.

[csentil]

Yes, Pachakuppam bridge and Vaniyambadi bypass bridge are not that great. Both these bridges have a S curve with poor banking especially in the Vaniyambadi bridge. People are well advised to restrict their speeds on these bridges.

Bangalore - TN border on the GQ is pathetic. Work should have been completed by June. Looks like it would be December now !!

[dicorex4x4]

I drove to Chennai last evening starting from Whitefield. Planned to try NH207 after seeing akroy's good experience. NH207 is a lovely, winding 2 laned road - traffic was sparse yesterday. It does pass through Varthur and Sarjapura, where you can get slowed down but otherwise a great route. Watch out for the unmarked speedbreakers and rumbler strips.

To give you an idea of how fast this road is:
4:00 pm Tripmeter 0 km ITPL, Whitefield
5:00 pm Tripmeter 40.4 km NH7 Hosur bus stand

The junction of NH7 and NH207 at Attibele was exactly 30 km from ITPL. The TN border is exactly 1.3 km from this junction.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by dicorex4x4

I drove to Chennai last evening starting from Whitefield....

Lucky you !

Glad that you are not in Bangalore today.

.

[hrag]

Another accident on the Hosur bridge last night (towards Krishnagiri). Saw a mini truck perpendicular to the traffic flow. The good news is that some work has been done on the Hosur bridge. But there is still construction machinery on the bridge without any marking or warning signs.

It is amazing how the road surface deteriorates as soon as one enters Karnataka. Even more amazing when there is a drizzle and idiots with 90/100 etc. are blinding you from behind.

[hrag]

Hosur bridge still dangerous on the right lane. The more horrifying sight is at the Silk Board flyover in Bangalore. Coming from Hosur / Electronic City, at the Silk Board flyover, KEEP RIGHT. The 2 left lanes are as good as gone.

Also, if you're heading South on NH7 near the BP Ghar outlet (~ Krishnagiri), watch out for morons coming at you in your lane. Northbound traffic needs to cross the bridge and then turn around - why waste fuel when you can cut across to the other side?

[hrag]

Some patchwork has been done on the Hosur bridge but it is still advisable to keep to the left lane on either side. First flyover at Krishnagiri is starting to deteriorate in terms of road surface.

Divider work (putting up dividers on the median, is dividers the right term for those fence like things?) happening between Krishnagiri & Vaniyambadi. Keep left when you see work in progress on the median - you don't want to run into / over those dividers that have not been put up yet.

BP Ghar at Chinnar (between Hosur & Krishnagiri) is becoming a picnic spot in the mornings - one can no longer do a splash & dash. And / or grab a quick bite. The Adayar Ananda Bhavan outlet was overflowing yesterday.

[hrag]

Hosur Road is pathetic as ever - don't be fooled by the completed stretch near Kudlu Gate / Chikkabegur. Varthur - Sarjapura - Attibele is a better bet if affordable but this is also slowly becoming crowded.

BP Ghar at Chinnar is now truly a picnic spot - had to skip breakfast yesterday morning on the way to Madras - there was a mile long queue at the A2B outlet. Mile long queue for fuel as well.

One dangerous pothole has surfaced on the middle lane near the main turn off to Tirupattur / Elagiri (the 2nd one when going towards Madras). No rain yesterday so had a clear run all the way.

Note for those entering Madras via Poonamalee bypass / Porur / Nandambakkam:
The stretch from the left turn off from Butt Road until Kathipara is pathetic - expect to spend at least 20 minutes to cover this short stretch until the road gets better.

[headers]

Originally Posted by hrag

The stretch from the left turn off from Butt Road until Kathipara is pathetic - expect to spend at least 20 minutes to cover this short stretch until the road gets better.

I spent 1 hour yesterday on this stretch thanks to rains, and the human chain issue!

Went to vellore - Morning tried the Koyambedu to poonamalle and did it in 2 hours 30 mins. Hence evening tried the porur route and spent 3 hours 45 minutes from poonamallee to chennai [mylapore] Was one of my longest days in the car!

[hrag]

Originally Posted by hrag

One dangerous pothole has surfaced on the middle lane near the main turn off to Tirupattur / Elagiri (the 2nd one when going towards Madras). No rain yesterday so had a clear run all the way.

Those travelling towards Chennai from Krishnagiri on NH46:
The pothole is on the left side of the middle lane and is bang under the sign that points towards Tirupattur / Elagiri. This is very dangerous as one does not expect it (the entire stretch is pothole-free otherwise) and can seriously damage your rims.

Since I barely missed this on my way to Chennai on Saturday morning, I took the opportunity to examine it on my way back to Bangalore yesterday afternoon.

Edit: The newly inaugurated grade separator / interchange at Kathipara Junction, Chennai is cool. Only wish the signs were in a larger font.

[hrag]

Since this IS the travelogue section, let me put up a brief timeline on my travel from Chennai to Bangalore last afternoon:

13:58 Call mjothi to find out where he is. I knew he was also starting from Chennai yesterday and thought I'd sync up if he were leaving in the afternoon. He's just leaving Hotel Deepam (just before the Pallikonda toll plaza)
14:15 Start from home (Thiruvanmiyur)
14:35 Top up the tank at Shell at Porur
17:07 Call mjothi again to check where he is. He's reached his home. I tell him I'll be pulling into A2B at Chinnar in 5 minutes or so.
17:15 Stop for a coffee at A2B Chinnar
17:30 Get out of A2B
19:15 Pull into my apartment's parking lot at Hebbal

Had a cracker of a drive, thanks to near empty roads reinforcing my belief that after an early morning start, an early afternoon start is the next best thing.

The car: a colleague's Ford Fiesta 1.4 P EXI done ~20,000 km (almost brand new) shod with MRF ZV2K tyres (OEM). I was alone on this trip.

Route taken:
Thiruvanmiyur - Rajiv Gandhi Salai - Sardar Patel Road - GST Road - Kathipara Junction - Mount Poonamalee Road - join NH4 - Sriperumbudur - Channasamudram - onto NH46 - Vellore - Ambur - Vaniyambadi - Krishnagiri - onto NH7 - Sulagiri - Hosur - Attibele - Sarjapura - Varthur - Marathahalli - ORR - Krishnarajapuram - ORR - Hebbal

[hrag]

Did another very quick trip to and fro. I think the pothole mentioned above has been patched up. Couldn't be absolutely sure since it was dark.

Hosur Road from TN into Bangalore is much better than the other way around. Watch out for trucks parked ridiculously at Attibele checkpost though.

Trip Log for Sunday:
18:45 start from Bagmane Tech Park, C V Raman Nagar, Bangalore
20:15 Coffee at A2B Chinnar + some fuel for the vehicle (route via Varthur, Sarjapura, Attibele)
20:30 Out of A2B
23:45 Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai

Trip Log for Monday
19:00 start from Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai
19:47 refuel at Shell Porur (note extra time taken compared to Tuesday PM due to rush hour traffic in the city)
23:00 Dinner at A2B Chinnar
23:15 out of A2B
00:30 Hebbal via Hosur Road, Bellary Road (through the city)

Note on NH207 (Varthur - Sarjapura - Attibele stretch): this is slowly but surely becoming like the road to Hosakote. The truck population on this road has increased multifold in the last few months.

Hosur flyover is finally OK compared to the recent past. The road in front of Hosur bus stand is becoming worse. Krishnagiri flyover is also becoming increasingly patchy.