[narayans80]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

NH 210 from Trichy to Karaikkudi, passing through Pudukottai, Thirumayam is terrible. Road widening work in progress. Avoid this stretch by all means.

NH210 is the highway I hate the most (Kumbakonam-Karaikal which was being patched up last October takes 2nd place) From the feedback of fellow member gopikb, its a better idea to do Trichy-Thanjavur-Adiramapattinam and ECR thereon.

[vivekkr_99]

Originally Posted by ampere

Condition not all that great around Mangalore/Udupu/Byndoor.
Condition improves beyond Honnavar.

Thanks Ampere. Is the condition pathetic throughout or only on small stretches? Google map says the distance between Mangalore - Honnavar is a good 188 kms. If the road is horrible throughout, it sure will be a nightmare.
Planning for a Trivandrum - Goa drive in January. We'll have to adjust the plan, depending on the road conditions. Appreciate your help.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by vivekkr_99

Thanks Ampere. Is the condition pathetic throughout or only on small stretches?
Google map says the distance between Mangalore - Honnavar is a good 188 kms. If the road is horrible throughout, it sure will be a nightmare.
Planning for a Trivandrum - Goa drive in January. We'll have to adjust the plan, depending on the road conditions. Appreciate your help.

I think the main problem areas are:

Mangalore-Udupi. Due to it being 4-laned.
Udupi-Baindur : (Around Baindur)

Apart from the traffic is typically high. So you also have to account for a slower average speed.
That is other main reason which pulls down the please of driving on NH17.

If its TVM-Goa, I would straight away suggest going via Bangalore/Hubli/Ankola.
But since you asked Calicut, I presume, you may have reasons to come to Calicut.

[vivekkr_99]

Originally Posted by ampere

I think the main problem areas are:

If its TVM-Goa, I would straight away suggest going via Bangalore/Hubli/Ankola.
But since you asked Calicut, I presume, you may have reasons to come to Calicut.

Hmm.. I chose the route via Calicut, only because of the distance - total distance is ~1000 kms via NH 17. The distance for Bangalore - Hubli - Ankola comes to 1290 kms. Is it really worth to drive the extra 600 kms (to and fro)? We are going as a group of 5 families, so will check with the others too about this option.

[anujmishra]

I would not advice anybody to drive between Kanyakumari and Kochi (Ernakulam) for holidays. I found that is the worst road in India. Traffic is very high and not a single place I can see open area. It is two lane road and traffic on that road is for 6 lane road.

Whole lot of 340 Kms (KK - Vypeen Island, Kochi) I felt I am driving in city. My average speed came down to 40 KM per hour. Horrible road to drive.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by vivekkr_99

Hmm.. I chose the route via Calicut, only because of the distance - total distance is ~1000 kms via NH 17. The distance for Bangalore - Hubli - Ankola comes to 1290 kms. Is it really worth to drive the extra 600 kms (to and fro)? We are going as a group of 5 families, so will check with the others too about this option.

Yes its definitely worth as per me. You get hassle free drive all the way.
On Nh17 if road is good traffic is high and even if not good, even then its high!

NH17 also has heavy traffic in Kerala also. (TVM-Calicut).

NH47/NH7/NH4 you get nice 4L a
ll the way till Hubli.
At the same time, you can also enjoy ghats and greenery from Hubli to Ankola on NH63 and finally
also the Konkan drive on NH17 from Ankola to Goa via Karwar.

Others can add to the viewpoints.

[kd5kvn]

Greetings everyone!

I plan on taking a trip this weekend (28-29) from Hyderabad to Guntur to Anantapur and back to Hyderabad. The routes between Hyderabad and Guntur and Anantapur to Hyderabad a pretty straight forward but I need assistance in planning a route between Guntur and Anantapur.

The plan is to travel to Guntur on the 28th, spend the night there, drive to Anantapur on the 29th and return to Hyderabad on the same day. It is imperative that we reach Anantapur by lunch time and reach Hyderabad by evening as I like to avoid driving during twilight and after sunset as much as possible.

Since there are multiple routes to get from Guntur to Anantapur, I would like your suggestions on the quickest route to take which will enable me to reach Anantapur by lunch time (1 or 2 pm). Also let me know what time you'd suggest we leave Guntur in order for us to reach Anantapur by said time.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

[ampere]

Check this:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2625803

[ramanan.skr]

In India, almost all road users get updates about various road widening projects through NHAI website when it pertains to National Highways. It has been a tremendous job by NHAI, no doubt in that. Since it is the sole govt agency responsible for all NH road projects, people expect its site to be updating properly. Lack of information can be apologized to an extent but exaggeration of data is not pardonable.
Recently, I happened to travel to Pollachi from Chennai, luckily all in a public transport. While going, I took train+bus to reach Pollachi in 11 hours which I felt was boring. So decided to come by bus while return.

Browsed through the NHAI website to know the status of Karur - Trichy road since if it is mentioned okay then its good to go as I knew about the good conditions of Pollachi to Karur. Nhai site mentioned that 66 kms are 4 laned out of 79 km between Karur & Trichy and is destined to be completed in another 1 month(March 2012). Thought it is safe to go and can reach Chennai in time.

But later felt it was the worst decision I could take in my life. Took a bus to Karur at 9 AM, reached there at 1:30 PM.
4:30 hrs to cover 120 kms . Super speed.

Then took a Trichy bus at Karur looking out to travel on the newly laid 4 laned road. Some 10-12 kms is 4 laned, but allowed to travel only on one side and was also happy to see a toll plaza which is almost completed.

Then the see saw ride started. No 4 lane after that toll plaza. I was anxious of seeing the 4 lane again. But the sorry factor was there is no road after that toll plaza. This is the reality. After 2:30 hrs of bumpy ride (4 PM), the bus reached Trichy.

I am wondering how come NHAI give us wrong "exaggerated" information of 4 laning completed for 66 kms. It can be termed as 66 kms of zero laned.

If you are in the mood of throwing your car, you can take this road.

Finally reached Chennai at 9:30 PM. Thanks to Volvo AC Bus from Trichy.

[hvkumar]

Well, widening of NH67 has been going on for quite some time without any significant progress. And in the meantime, road conditions on the existing road are also terrible.

In any case, everyone has been taking alternative roads from Namakkal via Thuraiyur to Trichy, avoiding Musiri.

[ravib]

I thhink there is a thread owned by GTO about road updates (something like mega road update thread or something).

You can definitely put this useful information in that thread and probably close this one.

-Ravi

[aravinrd]

Hi,

I am planning to drive down to Velakanni this weekend, can some one suggest me the route from Chennai? I am worried about the road conditions after Thane.

Also please suggest a good hotel to stay at for a night.

Thanks

[Harshavarthan]

The road is through Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Chidambaram bypass, Sirkali bypass, Karaikal, Nagapattinam Bypass and Velankanni. ECR till pondy is not in very good shape. I suggest you take Tindivanam route unless you stay close to OMR or Thiruvanmiyur. Rest of the roads are ok, not too good and not bad either except the roads inside Cuddalore which is very bad. It roughly takes around 3 to 3 1/2 hrs from Pondy to Velakanni.

[ampere]

The other option is :

Chennai-Tindivanam-Ulundutpet-Vridhachalam-Chidambaram-Sirgazhi-Nagapattanam-Velankanni


This would give drive on 4L all the way up to Ulundurpet.
Speed about Pondicherry/Cuddalore are reduced due to many town an villages on ECR.

[Harshavarthan]

But the distance between Chidambaram and Ulundurpet via Virudhachalam is 70 kms which is the same as Chidambaram - Cuddalore - Pondicherry till where there is 4 lane roads. So makes no difference. The total distance and travel time is also less.