Current Condition of Road To kerala

[vsbabu]

I went to Palakkad last weekend. Took Perundurai - Kangeyam - Palladam - Sulur - L&T to avoid Avinasi. While going, I got stuck in Perundurai for 20 minutes and then in Kangeyam for some 15m on Friday evening. While coming back, from L&T road to out of Perundurai only took 1.25 hours on Sunday morning. Great roads, hardly any traffic. 3 weeks ago when I drove via Avinasi, it took me some 2.5 hours to get to 4 lane road after getting out of L&T.

Directions:
- After Bhavani, watch out for the signboard that says "Nasiyanur Byepass"
- Immediately after that byepass ends, you will see a small board and an exit on to the left for Perundurai. Take that.
- Go through Perundurai town. You will hit two junctions - keep going straight. Boards to follow are Palani, Kangeyam or Dharapuram.
- Go past Kangeyam. Towards the end of the town, you will hit a junction/circle with big green direction boards towards both straight and right side roads.Take right - board says Coimbatore 68km.
- Just keep going. After few kilometers, you will hit a t-junction. Take left. And then a right after some 100m. That road looks very small with no board. But that is the right one. It becomes excellent after a short while.
- Straight on to Palladam. Sulur comes after Palladam. Follow boards to Coimbatore. It is all straight without any junctions.
- Some 3-4km after Sulur, you will hit L&T byepass. Turn left and proceed to Palakkad.

While coming back:
- Take right towards Trichy Road on L&T byepass (there is a signboard that says Trichy Road). I believe it is the second junction (first one being to Pollachi) after you get into L&T byepass
- Straight through Sulur - Palladam. Follow boards to Karur and Trichy. At t-junction, again left and then right.
- End of this road is Kangeyam junction. Left there. Straight will take you to Karur.
- Right within Kangeyam, there is a funny junction with two roads straight and a sharp right. Take a right at the junction around a mini circle and follow the right side straight road. Sharp right takes you to Erode. There is a board that say Perundurai at the junction.
- Cross Perundurai, go under 4 lane road (careful here - after you go under 4 lane road, you do not join a service road, but the highway to Bangalore - wait, look hard for on-coming vehicles - most doing 100+kmph). Take right.

All the boards I've mentioned above have English signs.

Most of this road have ample space and lane for mopeds - that I find to be very nice. Almost all two wheelers use that and it makes driving easier for cars. Another plus point is that this route hardly has any of those maniac buses that you see often on Avinasi road. For 15km more, you get lot more peace of mind.

Also, I usually take SH86 from Sankari to Omalur avoiding Salem. While it takes some 10m longer though it is short on distance, it is a decent scenic drive that breaks the monotony of highway driving.

Last Sunday, my timings were like 8:15am Palakkad junction; 9:00am fuel fill at Ettimadai; 9:15am exit from L&T byepass; 10:35am exit from Perundurai; 12:10pm stop at Thoppur A2B; 12:50pm start from A2B; 2:40pm home at Koramangala.

[ampere]

I saw in another thread that NH67 is in good shape from Karur to CBE. That also adds up to the fact that its good to join NH67 at Kangeyam and drive to CBE instead getting stuck Avinashi.

The detour is hardly 20 Km more, but worth every inch, as it would take one directly beyond the dreaded Avinashi-CBE route.

Great Update there.

[coolclouds]

I drove from Cochin to Bangalore yesterday. Angamaly-Trichur is far better than last month. Trichur-Palghat is patched up at most of the places and easily doable. Coimbatore-Avinashi was also fine as all the diversions are tarred.

I did Coimbatore-Avinashi by noon so there was not much traffic.
Started at 8am, reached home at 6pm with tea, breakfast and lunch breaks, 3 adults, 2 boys, 550.5 kms door to door (via Salem)

[prsnck]

Guys,

Have anyone traveled calicut-bangalore through nanjangud-gundelpet-sultanbattery route recently this week or before. Have plans to travel on 02nd Jan towards bnglr.

I had horrbile time while I did a calicut trip from bangalore during Nov 13th.
Because of the incessant rains most of the roads nanjangud-gundelpet and s. battery - calicut was in pretty bad condition too, with not even the patch work done. Encountered big big potholes enough to swallow a M800 kind of and cant' escape at all any of those. Even the ghats was in pretty bad condition except for the interlock ones. Took more than 9 hours to complete and it was tad tiring even with a super fast Swift.

rgrds
prsn

[ajithbr]

Any specific reason to take NH-212 only? Some of us have taken the Nilambur route to Calicut and found it much more comfortable alongwith time-savings.

[kala]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Any specific reason to take NH-212 only? Some of us have taken the Nilambur route to Calicut and found it much more comfortable alongwith time-savings.

Actually even I'd like to know if they have done some repairs to the Kalpetta-Calicut road. I'm travelling to Calicut on Friday morning and would like to go through Kalpetta if the road is decent. (If it was in the same shape what it was a month ago, I think I'll skip Kalpetta and go via Nilambur)

[prsnck]

Originally Posted by kala

Actually even I'd like to know if they have done some repairs to the Kalpetta-Calicut road. I'm travelling to Calicut on Friday morning and would like to go through Kalpetta if the road is decent. (If it was in the same shape what it was a month ago, I think I'll skip Kalpetta and go via Nilambur)

If its nilambur, where should we take deviation. But will it be extra kilometers to reach calicut right.

Yesterday heard from some friends that nanjangud repair is going on, not sure how far completed. Me will either leave by car if train ticket not confirmed, but return plans to take car from home.

Hey btw, you too from calicut. We had plans to make a tbhp meet, another guy was srijesh which often used to contact, the bhpian from calicut.

In case plans to meet, reach me on +91 9880 44665

rgrds
prsn

[kala]

Originally Posted by prsnck

If its nilambur, where should we take deviation. But will it be extra kilometers to reach calicut right.

Yesterday heard from some friends that nanjangud repair is going on, not sure how far completed. Me will either leave by car if train ticket not confirmed, but return plans to take car from home.

Hey btw, you too from calicut. We had plans to make a tbhp meet, another guy was srijesh which often used to contact, the bhpian from calicut.

In case plans to meet, reach me on +91 9880 44665

rgrds
prsn

To go via Nilambur, you have to go straight from Gundlupet (instead of the right turn to Bathery). You go past Bandipur / Mudumalai and reach Gudalur where you need to take a right turn (The straight road goes to Ooty) for Calicut/Nilambur. Go about 12 kms on this road and you reach a place called Nadugani where you need to take a left turn to go to Nilambur. (Straight will take you to Calicut via Meppadi / Chundale). For directions from Nilambur to Calicut, you can follow my last trip log in reverse (Check my post http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2186086 (Bangalore - Nilambur - Malappuram - Kottakkal - Edapal - Guruvayur) ).

The Nilambur route isn't longer by too much - The route I took last time (via Areekode) is longer by about 3 kms only, and if you go via Manjeri / Malappuram instead (the more straightforward road) it would be about 10 to 15 kms more.

And no - I'm not from Calicut, I live in Bangalore and my visits to Calicut (which is my wife's place) is probably 1 or 2 times a year. But I do travel to Wayanad quite often (at least once or twice a month), and if the Calicut meet happens to be sometime when I'm around there, may be I can make it too..

[Chopper]

Back from another trip to Calicut via Mysore-Sultanbathery. Road condition improved from last trip. Thamarassery ghat section seems to be okay. Mysore-Nanjangud section is getting repaired. Forest section under Karnataka got some potholes, but once you cross Karnataka potholes are repaired. Overall journey was okay this time.
Met Bhpian AstonMartin on the way to Bangalore.

[Soccerfan]

How is the Ponnani-Kozhikkode stretch through Edappal now? In November Ponnani to Kuttipuram was in very bad condition with lot of potholes and work going on

[nims]

Originally Posted by kavu75

I am planning to take the following route while traveling to Pandalam next week.
I used to take usual NH7 - NH47 route via Palaghat.
This time i am planning to try
Bangalore - Salem - Namakkal - Dindigul - Periyakulam - Theni - Cumbum - Kumily - Munakayam - Ponkunnam - Manimala - Ranni - Pathanamthitta - Pandalam

Got this from google map.
from:Bangalore, Karnataka to:Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu to:salem, Tamilnadu toindigul, Tamilnadu to:Pandalam, Kerala - Google Maps

Got to see the comments from benbsb29, ssriram75, saying good experience.

What's the current update about this road and how much time it may take, compare to regular NH47 route?
I am planning to start at 5am from Marthahalli, Outer ring road.

Any other suggestions?

don't know if you already made the trip. i did so here:

Bangalore - Salem(excellent road) - Namakkal - Dindigul(excellent road) - Periyakulam - Theni - Cumbum - Kumily(very bad roads with a lot of bumps) - Munakayam - Ponkunnam(very good roads) - Manimala - Ranni - Pathanamthitta - Pandalam(average with some potholes)
My advice is if you want the scenic route take the kumily road via mundakayam or else stick to the NH-47 road if you want to get there faster. you loose a lot of time from theni till pathanamthitta due to the curves and if you have kids they will get car sick very easily. carry barf bags if you have kids and you drive a bit fast

Originally Posted by jacs

Thanks Pramod, very useful since I am driving from Kottayam this weekend. But wanted to include some scenic route and was thinking of Satyamangalam or Munnar but without compromising much on road condition.

I have to disagree with pramod on the kuthiran road. there are some huge missed out potholes. i drove there on the 23rd. i know because i damaged my magnum's tie rod that way. but still better than what it was before.

[govigov]

Originally Posted by Soccerfan

How is the Ponnani-Kozhikkode stretch through Edappal now? In November Ponnani to Kuttipuram was in very bad condition with lot of potholes and work going on

Traveled on this road yesterday. Took the kozhikode - edapal-ponani-chavakkad-ekm route. There is some work going on at edapal. edapal-ponani is not that great, nothing major to look out for. Smooth sailing.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by nims

I have to disagree with pramod on the kuthiran road. there are some huge missed out potholes. i drove there on the 23rd. i know because i damaged my magnum's tie rod that way. but still better than what it was before.

Yes, there are few missed potholes at Kuthiran, but can be managed easily if you drive day time.

I just reached Kochi and find lot of improvement in Trichur-Palghat route. I tried Omallur-Shankari route which was a wrong decision this time due to some potholes and slow traffic compared to Salem route (Peak time travel)

Better, stick on to Salem route itself.

[jeevmenon]

Happy New Year to all,

Just back this afternoon starting Coimbatore at 7:30 am and reaching home in Chennai at 3:15 pm. 45 min lunch break at Milestone hotel 50 km before Chennai. 5 min break at A2B Dharmapuri for filling up the tank, 5 min at Chola - however it was too early for lunch there.

It was straight through Avinashi this time as was the last time and as some one noted all diversions are tarred so did not feel the discomfort much but when we see Chengapalli what a relief. Sad that soon Chengapalli would again become a non-descript village - rose to fame - atleast for me - due to the 4L at Avinashi.

[vasoo]

CAme back from Kottayam through Thrissur, NH47 Palakkad, Salem to Bangalore. Roads between TSR and PKD are not so bad. Heavy traffic though. PKD to CBE Bye-pass was decent enough. Road between bye-pass end and toll roads has many small diversions where they are constructing over bridges. Most these are in decent shape. 4-lane toll road after that is good as always. Some bad patches appearing in Krishnagiri hills though.Took breakfast from Rajabhojanam near Avinashi at about 9AM and lunch from Sri Krishna Inn at Soolagiri at about 2PM. Tried for lunch at A2B but was too crowded and had to get refund of lunch coupons. The meals delivery section was a complete chaos with everybody bossing over each other. Not sure why they dont have proper system for this, either a token system or queue system.