[BenjiRoss]

Finished my trip. Drive into the Reliance pump but it was empty. Waited for a while and honked. There were a couple of people who just looked at me from their office. So I drove on.
Had a good stop at the HP bunk at the McD.
There were plenty of gas stations open on the highway.

[subbaraomr]

Driving to Bangalore from Chennai this morning. Is there a list of COCO pumps on this route? Would be grateful for an early reply as I am driving out this morning and want to head out of the city before traffic gets heavy, so don’t want to spend time taking petrol in the city.

[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by subbaraomr

Driving to Bangalore from Chennai this morning. Is there a list of COCO pumps on this route? Would be grateful for an early reply as I am driving out this morning and want to head out of the city before traffic gets heavy, so don't want to spend time taking petrol in the city.

Just after Vellore, around maybe 10km mark from Vellore, there is a HP coco and a coffee day on the same premises.You will see the board from a distance and will have to get onto the sevice road.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Just after Vellore, around maybe 10km mark from Vellore, there is a HP coco and a coffee day on the same premises.You will see the board from a distance and will have to get onto the sevice road.

Well before that there's a reliance near Kanchipuram and an Essar just before the Chennai bypass turnoff.

[mpksuhas]

This is the HP COCO which Arjun is mentioning about.

Location

[narayans80]

For a change, took the conventional Porur-Poonamalee bypass-Sriperumbudur route both ways after quite sometime.

Bangalore bound stretch is in much better shape till Nemili toll and there are minesweeper potholes till Chennasamudram. Overall the Bangalore bound stretch is manageable and not as bad as what it used to be 2 years back.

On the Madras bound direction, you have to play minesweeper all the way till Poonamalee bypass. Madras bound Poonamalee bypass is just bad

[kdadi]

Friends, did my Bangalore-Mahabalipuram-Chennai-Bangalore trip with family. Giving a brief account of the route and experience.

We left mid-day from Bangalore, and were able to reach Kanchipuram fairly ahead of plan. Drive till Chennasamudram toll plaza was absolute bliss.

Then took the Kanchipuram-Chengalpattu-Mahabalipuram route after the Temple run, infested by the local RTC buses, and that leg was a bit of a bore, though the road condition was pretty good, except for a 300 meter stretch close to Mahabalipuram.

Mahabalipuram-Chennai on ECR was straightforward, though was as expected heavy traffic due to holiday period.

Chennai-Sriperumbudur was really a pain, even though we left again mid-day to avoid the evening traffic. It was almost like our Marathalli ring road. Beyond that it was smooth, fast ride all the way to BLR.

thanks for all the route suggestions. The Superb, was really superb on the highways and the way we were able to cover long distances was amazing. Should do more such long drives - next year will probably be down south - Madurai-Rameshwaram-Kanyakumari trip.

[mpksuhas]

I remember someone mentioning about the annoying warning alights at median breaks. For those who are still wondering what it is -

https://youtu.be/gLXdHFMgND0

[hserus]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

I remember someone mentioning about the annoying warning alights at median breaks. [/url]

They should have picked a different colour and stopped flashing it but other than that I will trade the annoyance of these to the annoyance of slamming into a badly pointed and rusty barrier, or an oncoming car or bike, at some considerable speed while.drivinf at night.

[tharian]

Is the elevated flyover work finished? I'll be heading back from Madras tomorrow and was wondering if it will be delaying to take the flyover.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by hserus

They should have picked a different colour and stopped flashing it but other than that I will trade the annoyance of these to the annoyance of slamming into a badly pointed and rusty barrier, or an oncoming car or bike, at some considerable speed while.drivinf at night.

Sorry for these typos. My phone keyboard hung midway while typing that last post.

[couswheels]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

I remember someone mentioning about the annoying warning alights at median breaks. For those who are still wondering what it is -

You can see these lights even on NH45 with barricades on both sides - onwards to Trichy and in the return direction too.

Some of the barricades on NH4 have been kept while the road curves and if this is missed due to high speed driving the consequences would be severe. Request folks to be extra cautious when the road curves.

The mistakes are being compounded:

- first with ill design of roads having too many curves
- allow 4 way traffic on a highway by placing barricades

The toll is being paid as penalty for using these ‘slow ways’.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Bangalore bound stretch is in much better shape till Nemili toll and there are minesweeper potholes till Chennasamudram. Overall the Bangalore bound stretch is manageable and not as bad as what it used to be 2 years back.

On the Madras bound direction, you have to play minesweeper all the way till Poonamalee bypass. Madras bound Poonamalee bypass is just bad

+1. Very true and will second what Narayan mentioned.
Drove from Bangalore to Madras on 18th Dec 2018 and the road conditions seriously deteriorates as we get closer to city.

On 23rd Dec Sunday I had to do a quick trip to Thiruvalangadu and in my return trip to Madras from Tiruvallur, around 9 pm my EcoSport T+ R17 low profile tyres got seriously damaged and ended up with flat tyre within seconds due to one of the huge potholes in Poonamalle bypass. I was driving around 50 kmph. Alloys too got slightly damaged. Got stranded in highways between the small medians on a sunday night just before right turn towards Porur in Poonamalle bypass.
Had to call up Ford Road Side Assistance to fix things and next day went to Chennai Ford service centre and got the tyre replaced.

Long story short and to sum up for those who are driving from Bangalore towards Madras, after the excellent 6L road drive, change the mindset and please reduce speed when you enter 4L, drive carefully (especially after dark) after you cross Chennasamudram toll, all the way till Koyambedu. Road conditions are not good and you have to be super careful and not face same difficulty i faced, particularly for those who have low profile tyres and low GC sedans.

Drove back from Madras to Bangalore yesterday on Jan 1st, 2019. Started at 11 am from Vadapalani and due to holiday, the traffic was very less in Madras city, so was able to Reach Kanchipuram around 12.15 pm and Silk board by 3.30 pm after a short 10 minute tea break in Krishnagiri. Only at Attibelle toll, the traffic was high and waiting time was more. It was peaceful drive overall as there was negligible traffic throughout. I was really hoping to do a door-to-door in about 5 hours, but bangalore traffic spoiled my plans

-Ravi

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ravib

9 pm my EcoSport T+ R17 low profile tyres got seriously damaged and ended up with flat tyre within seconds due to one of the huge potholes in Poonamalle bypassi

I was lucky to do the return around noon. At the first couple of signals on the bypass, there were no roads at all

11 am Vadapalani and Silk Board 330pm is impressive. The closest I've got to that is starting at 1230 am T. Nagar and reaching NICE Tumkur exit at 6am.

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

I remember someone mentioning about the annoying warning alights at median breaks

Way better than no warnings at all. One of the barricades in Vaniyambadi-Pallikonda stretch was reinforced with a huge boulder

[procrj]

Originally Posted by ravib

+1. Very true and will second what Narayan mentioned.
Drove from Bangalore to Madras on 18th Dec 2018 and the road conditions seriously deteriorates as we get closer to city.

+1 to that. Bangalore - Madras is worse than Madras - Bangalore. Sorry to hear about your ordeal and as you rightly suggested, it would make sense for everyone to slow down a bit once the 6L stretch is done & dusted. More so for cars with low profile tires. I was on that stretch of road at about noon and it was painful to negotiate thanks to the road as well as the trucks and buses.

Originally Posted by narayans80

11 am Vadapalani and Silk Board 330pm is impressive.

I left 5.30 am on 31st Dec from Anna Nagar and was able to do some serious speed and get to Vaniyambadi for a breakfast stop at 7.30 am. After the Dell factory, I hardly encountered any truck traffic and it was a breeze till the tolls. I managed to get to Taj Vivanta, YPR via NICE road by 11 am after a 40 min breakfast stop, which makes it my fastest BLR- CHN drive.

Way better than no warnings at all. One of the barricades in Vaniyambadi-Pallikonda stretch was reinforced with a huge boulder

There are a lot of combinations - No Barricades, Fallen barricades, Fallen barricades + debri, Stones + Barricades and so on. Hence it just makes sense to really slow down and cross the "Flashers".