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-   -   Bangalore - Pondicherry : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/19838-bangalore-pondicherry-route-queries-5.html)

Read in the papers today about the 178km being 2-laned. 610 crores / 2 years of NH66. Definitely help people from Bangalore and north reach the South-East coast quicker. If get something going on the NH67 and NH68 it would be great. More so the NH67. Some stuff is already happening on it. Does anyone know the ETA?

I want to be positive, but a 5.5 km stretch from Tidel Park to Vijay Nagar (Velachery) is under shambles for the past 1.5 yrs. ETA was this December, but no signs of it getting completed :( and with the monsoon its gotten worse.

NH66 I thought was already 2 Laned. But yes it is in sad state of affairs. It really needs a lift.

Folks would require help to churn out a route that can be done at night mainly after sunset. After reading all the posts i have come to know that NH66 is bad, but in order to save time and drive during night what will be the best route.

Planning on Pondicherry on the 24th Dec weekend.

Pondy is going to choking with people during this time of the year . Take a deviation from kancheepuram on the chennai route , road is good. Its a little more distance but better roads .

Yeah i know it would be choc a block but our place is already booked :)

What would be the exact route from Kancheepuram?

I also thought of another alternate route though a tad longer, take the expressway to chennai from blore and then the ECR to Pondi from chennai. Since the roads are good drive time should be more or less as the nh66 route.

Route : Kancheepuram > Dusi > Vandavasi > Tindivanam > Pondy
SH 116 > SH 5 > NH 66 .
Safe trip .In fact i shall do this trip during Jan 1st week :).

Hows the NH66 section from Tindivanam - Pondy? i read in this forum that NH66 is at its worst now.

Yes Tindivanam to Pondy road work is on since ages now :Frustrati. Or the Only Option is Chennai and then ECR .

Yes NH66 is very bad between krishnagiri and tindivanam via samalpatti , gingee , Thiruvanamalai . But the one i suggested is different , its from kancheepuram to Tindivanam .

Tindivanam to Pondy , road work in progress ( double lane ) , hence lot of deviations .

Good trip :thumbs up.

Google showed 401 kms for Blore - Kancheepuram - Pondy and 495 for Blore - Chennai - Pondy

So saving some 90 odds kms via Tindivanam is worth the effort on NH66 i think.

Tindivanam to Pondy is 41kms. How slow would be the driving in this section considering the road work in progress. are the diversions well marked at night to see?

I guess the bangalore to kancheepuram section of 280kms on the expressway is the best bet to reduce time by driving non-stop.

@motomaverick: I have done Bangalore-Pondy 4 months ago and trust me the roads between Krishnagiri and Pondi are not in a good shape. There are numerous potholes and its a pain to drive on this road. So on our return , we took Pondi-Kancheepuram-Bangalore road. Its an additional 90Kms, but a fast 4 lane drive. So dont think twice and take the Kancheepuram highway

A better option is to take Tiruvannamalai-Vellore-Krishnagiri, which adds around 90 kms to the distance but is doable in the same time, because the roads are much better (although there are some minor stretches between Vellore and Kannamangalam. The route via Kanchipuram is also a viable option although the Chengalpattu-Kanchi road is quite narrow and navigating Kanchi town by day can also be a pain.

Yeah definitely I am taking the NH46 to kanchipuram & then onto to pondy. NH66 is out of question after reading too much in this forum.

Another option i see is Tindivanam to Marakanam which is 37kms to hit the ECR, from there its another 30kms to Pondicherry. But not sure of the rural Tindivanam - Marakanam route.


Thanks for the info HVK. I would driving at night so basically would reaching Kanchi at around 9.30pm, have some coffee there (dinner would be packed from Bangalore to save time) and then via SH116 head to Vandavasi and then onto Tindivanam vi SH5. Trying to avoid all of NH66 as much as possible.

Tindivanam-Pondy NH66 is done up almost 80% and is in perfect condition when i went last month. I dont remember more than 1 diversion due to work in progress half-way through. But you need to be mindful of 2 wheelers and other vehicles crossing at intersections, coming on the wrong side - that too the inner most lane.

If you are booked in a place off ECR, you can bypass Pondy town while going from Tindivanam. You'll see a toll booth (being built) close to Pondy and you need to take a left approx 100 meters before this toll booth. This road is a bit narrow and goes through Auroville and connects to ECR completely bypassing the congested town.

Krishnagiri-Thirvannamalai is in pathetic condition and is best avoided at nights.

Thanks for the info there. I know how the locales are on these highways. Since they do not have much dividers these people just lamely come on the fast lane.

Btw NH-66 between Tindivanam - Pondy is 4 lane or 2 lane?

I have booked near the botanical gardens so i would have to go through the town. Anyways I would be reaching pondy around 12am so traffic no issues :)