[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by rnidumolu

The toll rates are gone up in the BLR-HOSUR-KRISHNAGIRI-CHENNAI route from 1st of April. I have noticed an increase 5 rupees per single trip at some places.

Thanks

In krishnagiri toll plaza, the toll fare has been hiked from Rs 55 to Rs 60 for cars (single trip) and from Rs 85 to Rs 90 for cars (return trip).

[DWind]

Originally Posted by binand

I have done this route; it is indeed a good drive with hardly any traffic (once you are outside the Gudiyattam town limits). You will miss the AP-TN border if you are not watchful. The only traffic is the occasional bus or truck - near-zero cars and other private vehicles.

Also, expect the time taken to be more. You are doing roads which are not necessarily NH quality with some stretches on single carriageway and having to get down on sharp road shoulders to give way to unruly oncoming traffic.

[Sridhar K]

Last week did a round trip on my car from Chennai to Bangalore. The tipper lorry mess between Ranipet and Sriperumbudur was horrible. Came back to office to hear the bad news of my colleague who was shifting to Bangalore from Chennai on his Wagon R meeting with a major accident due a tipper lorry shifting lanes without indicator. The driver died on the spot, his wife suffered multiple fractures while he was the least affected.

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

Last week did a round trip on my car from Chennai to Bangalore. The tipper lorry mess between Ranipet and Sriperumbudur was horrible. Came back to office to hear the bad news of my colleague who was shifting to Bangalore from Chennai on his Wagon R meeting with a major accident due a tipper lorry shifting lanes without indicator. The driver died on the spot, his wife suffered multiple fractures while he was the least affected.

I started noticing this tipper menace for the last 6 months or so. These tippers are driven by guys who are used to driving in suburbs and really don't know how to drive on highways. Most of the times, they occupy both lanes driving parallel to each other and thus causing chaos. And worst of all, they keep splashing the sand all around the place causing damage to other vehicles. I used to see these sand laden tippers on Chengalpattu-Kanchipuram Road earlier and now having exhausted Palar river sand, they are venturing into other areas.

[ramanak]

Originally Posted by Gokrish

I started noticing this tipper menace for the last 6 months or so. These tippers are driven by guys who are used to driving in suburbs and really don't know how to drive on highways. Most of the times, they occupy both lanes driving parallel to each other and thus causing chaos. And worst of all, they keep splashing the sand all around the place causing damage to other vehicles.

Yeah.Drove on this stretch yesterday.The Tipper menace stretched all the way from Chennasamudram Toll gate till Poonamalee ! Very strenous and dangerous to drive amidst this chaos even though this is a 4 lane stretch.

[ampere]

Is the flyover on GST at Tambaram railway station complete which would allow a direct route from Oragadam side towards Medavakkam over the GST? Also how is the Tambaram-Medavakkam road? Because if that road is good then the 4-laned Oragadam road may be worth taking. One can directly cut through GST.

[DWind]

Yes there is direct flyover over GST but expect congestion on Tambaram-Medavakkam Road between Selaiyur and MCC College Junction and between West Tambaram and Old Perungulathur on Mudichur Road.

[kumards]

I completed a 1-day B'lore-Chennai (Tambaram)-B'lore trip earlier this week.

For the Sriperumbudur-Tambaram stretch (both ways), I tried the Manimangalaram route and found it to be pretty good... At Sriperumbudur, I went past the Nokia factory on the right and took the u-turn at the Rajiv Gandhi memorial (no cops stopping the u-turns at that point). A few 100 metres later, I took the service road and turned left at the junction right there (there's a board marked Tambaram). A couple of km later, I took the right toward the JK tyre factory. After that the milestones clearly show the distance to Tambaram. ~20km from the Sriperumbudur turn-off to Tambaram. Good roads (surface wise), but 2-lane only... so you cannot rip. Near Manimangalam, there are a couple of blind turns. Watch out for them. On the return trip, just after Manimangalam, one lane was blocked by an election procession and I lost ~20 minutes.

Travel time
- onward: left HSR at 7.15am and reached Tambaram at 1pm with two 20-minute breaks
- return: left T'baram at 10.15am and reached HSR at 4.15pm with two short breaks.

PS: On the return trip, I tried the food at Murugan Idly Shop - Pongal was good, but the idli was nothing special.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by kumards

At Sriperumbudur, I went past the Nokia factory on the right and took the u-turn at the Rajiv Gandhi memorial (no cops stopping the u-turns at that point). A few 100 metres later, I took the service road and turned left at the junction right there (there's a board marked Tambaram).

This is exactly what I have trying to find out. Does one need to go ahead and then take a U and come back to join the Tambaram road? Cant one take a right turn right at the junction? Is that service road between the Oragadam road and Tambaram road deviation points, a one way ?

[Sridhar K]

^^^Yes it is indeed one way and there is usually a cop who will stop any attempt at right turn even onto the oragadam road. U turn is the only option and gives you peace of mind.

[mpksuhas]

Did a Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore drive over last weekend.
Onward journey -17 April- Solo drive- Started from Bellandur at 3.45 AM, thanks to an empty Attibelle toll booth was able to reach Krishnagiri by 05.15 AM even after not taking BETL. Traffic was sparse through out and apart and stopped only for few minutes to check the Tyre temperature, hence was able to reach near Sriperumbedur in 3.45 hours.
Thanks to office traffic took another one hour to reach Vadapalani.

Return was on Monday, 21 April. Started from home in Vadapalani at 1.45 PM and reached home in Bangalore by 7.45 PM. Thanks to it being a working day most stressful route was from electronics city to Belandur.

Road condition update: Ranipet - Chennai roads are as usual in bad condition, the same with Hosur - Krishnagiri also. Krishnagiri - Ranipet is a bliss, 6 laning is completed apart from one deviation, which by the look of it will be done in another 2 months or so.
Hope they start Ranipet - Chennai section work soon.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Did a Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore drive over last weekend.
Onward journey -17 April- Solo drive- Started from Bellandur at 3.45 AM, thanks to an empty Attibelle toll booth was able to reach Krishnagiri by 05.15 AM even after not taking BETL. Traffic was sparse through out and apart and stopped only for few minutes to check the Tyre temperature, hence was able to reach near Sriperumbedur in 3.45 hours.
Thanks to office traffic took another one hour to reach Vadapalani.

Return was on Monday, 21 April. Started from home in Vadapalani at 1.45 PM and reached home in Bangalore by 7.45 PM. Thanks to it being a working day most stressful route was from electronics city to Belandur.

Road condition update: Ranipet - Chennai roads are as usual in bad condition, the same with Hosur - Krishnagiri also. Krishnagiri - Ranipet is a bliss, 6 laning is completed apart from one deviation, which by the look of it will be done in another 2 months or so.
Hope they start Ranipet - Chennai section work soon.

+1.
I too did almost same, but in chittoor route both ways

Started on 17th morning 8:30 am (after voting) from C.V.Raman Nagar and reached Vadapalani by 2 pm including 45 minutes break for breakfast at Vasudev Adigas.
In return journey, left Vadapalani on Monday morning 5:45 am & reached C.V.Raman Nagar at 11 am including 1 hour break for fuel refill at Vedal BP COCO Bunk & breakfast at Nandi Plaza, Bangarupalayam.

The road conditions are very good all throughout till you hit GQ toll. Beyond that, its a sin to pay toll for such pathetic road.

-Ravi

[kaushibeta]

Originally Posted by kumards

For the Sriperumbudur-Tambaram stretch (both ways), I tried the Manimangalaram route and found it to be pretty good... At Sriperumbudur, I went past the Nokia factory on the right and took the u-turn at the Rajiv Gandhi memorial (no cops stopping the u-turns at that point). A few 100 metres later, I took the service road and turned left at the junction right there (there's a board marked Tambaram). A couple of km later, I took the right toward the JK tyre factory. After that the milestones clearly show the distance to Tambaram. ~20km from the Sriperumbudur turn-off to Tambaram. Good roads (surface wise), but 2-lane only... so you cannot rip.

I keep missing the road to Tambaram while coming from Bengaluru. The last time I remember I was driving slowly to ensure I take that turn, but still ended up in missing it.

Thank you for the info I ll keep an eye on Nokia & Sriperumbudur Junction Roundtana as landmarks.

[Cooltronics]

Originally Posted by binand

After much trial and error, I now prefer leaving Bangalore very early in the morning (clearing Hosur not later than 4:30 AM - hat tip to Ampere) or late in the afternoon (starting from Bangalore around 3 PM). In the former case I reach Chennai just as the morning rush hour is subsiding and in the latter case, when the evening rush hour is waning. I find these times peaceful and suitable for my BP :-) Now with the 6-laning of this GQ arm, I find that I can do door-to-door in no longer than 5.5 hours.



You cannot approach Gemini flyover from Guindy side and just "go under it" to turn into Radhakrishnan Salai. You need to turn left into one of the lanes a bit beyond Courtyard by Marriott and turn right into GN Chetty Road at the next junction. Then you need to go under the GN Chetty arm of the Gemini Flyover to emerge at the roundabout under the flyover and turn into RK Salai. If you are not used to this then you will definitely get confused; so I don't usually suggest this junction to newbies to Chennai.

If you just "go under it", then you will still emerge on GN Chetty Road but going the other way with no U-turn in sight.

I am a little delayed in thanking you for your advice and road guide. let me tell you it was a breeze reaching the destination with your help.
Actually, we started a little late in the day as we had no work in Chennai and reaching early would not have helped.
Left from my apartment at Hoodi- Whitefield @ 9:15 AM
Reached EC elevated highway tool both @ 9:45 AM- took 10 mins to cross it and we started on Hosur road @ 9:55 AM
Took a break at Sri Kirshna INN at 10:25 AM and started the journey back at 11:15 AM
Took the Krishnagiri left turn at 11:35 AM
We reached Pallikonde toll both at 12:25 PM, Valajpet at 12:55 PM , Kanchipuram at 1:25 PM and Sriperambedur at 1:55 PM
Traffic post Sriperambedur was little heavy with all deviations and city traffic, finally reached the hotel at 2:45 PM
Basically it took us 5 hours 30 minutes to reach the hotel and we didn't face any traffic jam. I had found similar traffic conditions on the same road (till Vellore) about a month before I took Chennai trip so I feel Saturday late morning's could also be a good time to travel instead of early morning's.
I was driving at an average speed of 100-110 Km/hr and it was not rash.
While coming back, it took us 6 hours 30 minutes and we saw huge pile up of trucks on the opposite carriageway towards Chennai as many have noted.

One lesson learnt hard way : While coming back when we sat in the car and started navigation, it refused to start in either of our mobiles for whatsoever reason . Somehow managed to find the way out to Sreperambedur and reach back home. Decided to keep an offline map handy henceforth anywhere we travel.

[hyper-VTEC]

i had been a regular in this route (9 months - 18000 Kms), but didn't travel in last 1 year. I have plans to travel to Bangalore on 1st May and return on 4th. I will be traveling with wife. I stay in ECR and destination would be near K R Puram in Bangalore. Would ECR - Tambaram - Manimangala - Sri'dur - Pallikonda - Gudiyattam - Palmaner - Kolar - KR Puram the best and safest route even now? I will travel during broad daylight and no night driving. I plan to take the same route while coming back to Chennai as well.

Please advice