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Old 22nd February 2012, 20:00   #1
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Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

I will be going to Mahabalipuram on Friday to attend a wedding and I have to drive to Palakkad after that. I figured it would be significantly simpler to drive directly from there to Palakkad rather than come back through Chennai. I would appreciate some suggestions on what route I can take, what is the quality of roads and any pitstop points for breaks in between.

Thanks in advance guys!
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Old 22nd February 2012, 20:33   #2
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil View Post
I will be going to Mahabalipuram on Friday to attend a wedding and I have to drive to Palakkad after that. I figured it would be significantly simpler to drive directly from there to Palakkad rather than come back through Chennai. I would appreciate some suggestions on what route I can take, what is the quality of roads and any pitstop points for breaks in between.

Thanks in advance guys!
I think the best option would be Mahabalipuram->Chengalpattu(join NH45)->Ulundurpet(leave NH45 and join NH68)->Salem(leave NH68 and join NH47)->Palakkad. Mostly 4L roads and enough eating options like Tindivanam Arya's, Ulundurpet A2B, SaravanaBhavan just after Salem, Aaryas & Annalaxmi on Perundurai bye-pass, more on either side of Coimbatore bye-pass.Totally would be around 525 kms( the break-up is roughly like Mahabalipuram@0kms -> Chengalpattu@25kms -> Ulundurpet@175kms -> Salem@300kms -> Palakkad@525kms ) and takes less than 10 hours including food breaks.

Last edited by ajithbr : 22nd February 2012 at 20:34.
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Old 22nd February 2012, 20:35   #3
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

Thanks Ajith.. Will explore the option. I have always taken Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore - Palakkad. This time that is a little cumbersome.
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Old 22nd February 2012, 20:39   #4
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil View Post
Thanks Ajith.. Will explore the option. I have always taken Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore - Palakkad. This time that is a little cumbersome.
To join back GQ to latch onto your usual route, there are 2 deterrants:
1) The Chengalpattu->Kanchipuram SH is not in good condition
2) Crossing the Kanchipuram town

Beyond that, it will add about 50 kms (total distance about 575kms with this option) of no utility value !
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Old 22nd February 2012, 21:18   #5
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

If you are travelling by day, go with the Ulundurpet-Salem road, recent reports are pretty encouraging. Apart from the above things that Ajith mentioned, NH4/46 6-laning is in progress, so you might not be able to maintain same speeds you did a few months back.
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Old 22nd February 2012, 21:32   #6
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by narayans80 View Post
Apart from the above things that Ajith mentioned, NH4/46 6-laning is in progress, so you might not be able to maintain same speeds you did a few months back.
I have seen lots of work/diversions for this 6-laning work on my way back from Pondy last weekend. Between Vellore and Krishnagiri,there is the issue with shouldering if you are doing great speeds or driving at night. So not much of an issue on a drive to Salem->Palakkad now.

But, the more troublesome part is the Krishnagiri->Hosur stretch where there are lots of rocks being blasted away on either side of NH-7 for the additional lanes. You will encounter heavy machineries and cranes places alongside the road which will reduce the effective width of the road on many places and leading to some blind spots/curves as well.

After all my experiences on Krishnagiri->Hosur stretch where the evening/night return drive to Bangalore is usually a pain because of heavy lorries competing with each other on slow-driving race going at some teen-speeds (between 13 and 19 kmph) and leaving you no space to overtake them, either through right or left, I sincerely believe that the additional lane that they are creating on either direction should be exclusively given to such lorries. Or if the authorities need to appreciate their obsession with the center lanes, give them the right-most lane exclusively. I seriously think I lose about 15-20 minutes on every evening/night return drive to Bangalore just because of the forced slow driving on some stretches by the parallel driving of lorry convoys.
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Old 22nd February 2012, 21:39   #7
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

Is the Salem by-pass completed ?
NH68 to NH7 to NH47 was under progress quite some time back.

Of course if 4L is nearing completion NHAI would have also completed Salem by-pass earlier.
But I am not sure.

Ref to last update:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...m-route-8.html

But as Narayan said, if you are driving during day time, you can try.

Alternatively the another interesting option is:

Mahabalipuram-Chengalpet-Tindivanam-Harur-Morappur-Dharmapuri-Salem-CBE-Palakkad.

Route : link


Definitely Uludurpet option is better. But just if one wants to a other roads, the above is definitely a good option.
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Old 23rd February 2012, 08:32   #8
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

Ampere Sir,

What do you think of Mahabs - Pondy - Cuddalore - Viridhachalam - Attur - Salem - Palakkad. Just curious to know about the stretch between Viridhachalam - Attur. We know that till Viridhachalam the roads are okay to good.

Thanks.
Venkatesh

Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu to Palakkad, Kerala - Google Maps


Quote:
Originally Posted by ampere View Post
Is the Salem by-pass completed ?
NH68 to NH7 to NH47 was under progress quite some time back.

Of course if 4L is nearing completion NHAI would have also completed Salem by-pass earlier.
But I am not sure.

Ref to last update:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...m-route-8.html

But as Narayan said, if you are driving during day time, you can try.

Alternatively the another interesting option is:

Mahabalipuram-Chengalpet-Tindivanam-Harur-Morappur-Dharmapuri-Salem-CBE-Palakkad.

Route : link


Definitely Uludurpet option is better. But just if one wants to a other roads, the above is definitely a good option.
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Old 23rd February 2012, 09:05   #9
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by venki.bala View Post
Ampere Sir,

What do you think of Mahabs - Pondy - Cuddalore - Viridhachalam - Attur - Salem - Palakkad. Just curious to know about the stretch between Viridhachalam - Attur. We know that till Viridhachalam the roads are okay to good.
Venki,

If any way you plan to go via Attur (which is the Ulundurpet-Salem 4L), then why go through the crowded areas of Pondy/Cuddalore. You can catch beautiful NH45 much earlier at Chengalpattu itself. That would give about 150 km of 4L!
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Old 23rd February 2012, 09:15   #10
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

Ampere sir,

True. It doesnot make sense to go through crowded Pondy-cuddalore stretch but I was curious to know about the Viridachalam - Attur stretch. I have never heard about it and was surprised to see a SH in the google maps and wanted to get an idea about it.

Thanks.
Venkatesh.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ampere View Post
Venki,

If any way you plan to go via Attur (which is the Ulundurpet-Salem 4L), then why go through the crowded areas of Pondy/Cuddalore. You can catch beautiful NH45 much earlier at Chengalpattu itself. That would give about 150 km of 4L!
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Old 23rd February 2012, 15:07   #11
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by venki.bala View Post
Ampere sir,

True. It doesnot make sense to go through crowded Pondy-cuddalore stretch but I was curious to know about the Viridachalam - Attur stretch. I have never heard about it and was surprised to see a SH in the google maps and wanted to get an idea about it.
If you really want to explore that SH,

- Take NH45 at Chengalpet.
- Drive till Veppur where you can get on to this SH and drive to Attur.

(I was aware of this SH only by detail. I have not driven)
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Old 23rd February 2012, 18:00   #12
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by venki.bala View Post
What do you think of Mahabs - Pondy - Cuddalore - Viridhachalam - Attur - Salem - Palakkad.
ECR to Pondy, you have hold onto your dear lives and drive.

Pondy-Cuddalore: traffic one, the road condition has deteriorated after the year end cyclone.

Also guess it would be a longer route than the Ulundurpet one.
~~~~~
Amp, Isnt the Harur route almost on par with going via Vellore ?
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Old 23rd February 2012, 18:51   #13
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

I have made up my mind to take the Mahabs - Chengalpet - Ulundurpet - Salem - Coimbatore - Palakkad route. Will post an update tomorrow night or Saturday morning!
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Old 23rd February 2012, 19:31   #14
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

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Originally Posted by narayans80 View Post
Amp, Isnt the Harur route almost on par with going via Vellore ?
Narayan,

Harur option would be about 50km lower (If we go to Salem directly from Harur, instead of going via Dharmapuri).

Yes, from a timing point of view and road condition, it should be same as the Vellore option. As you would be on 4L from Kanchi.
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Old 24th February 2012, 13:47   #15
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Re: Route from Mahabalipuram to Palakkad

You could actually think of doing Mahabs - ECR - Pondy - Villupuram - Ulundurpet - Attur - Salem on your way to Palakkad. This would allow you to enjoy the beauty of ECR if you are going to do the trip during day time. The byepass connectivity between ECR & NH45A is also reasonably done now in Pondy so you would not spend too much time crossing Pondy town.

Incidentally Salem always had a byepass when you were coming from NH66 side, so latching onto NH47 is not so much of an issue as you would take the same byepass which connects NH47 and NH7 from the side of Dharmapuri except you would approach the byepass from the other side.

@Narayan & Amp. I had done Coimbatore - Mahindra World City a couple of months back. The route taken was Coimbatore - Salem - Dharmapuri - Karimangalam - Harur - Thirthamalai - Thiruvannamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam - Chengalpattu. It is extremely long and not worth the trouble as you would lose a lot of time in the bad stretches between Tindivanam - Harur.

Last edited by pypkmsrikanth : 24th February 2012 at 13:49. Reason: Additional Information
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