[narayans80]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Accidental discovery, but realized it was better than plunging into the huge potholes under the Sungavarchatram flyover on the return journey.

How far is the U-turn?

That bad section under the bridge has been there for more than 4 years.

For return, you can take a right on the 'service lane' of the Bangalore bound traffic It is a 2-way, that serves as both exit/entry lane to Bangalore bound traffic as well as connect to Sriperumbudur Sipcot. I didn't realize this until few trucks took them.

[mah45]

Dear all
Can you please suggest any good eateries near Kanchipuram or so.
Planning to start by 5am from Medavakkam, usually I take the Oragadam -> Sriperumbudur road, but this time will go until Sunguvarchatram as recommended here.

Any other options other than HSB and Murugan Idli ?

Thanks.

[hserus]

Ramanas is quite good.

Originally Posted by mah45

Dear all
Can you please suggest any good eateries near Kanchipuram or so.
Planning to start by 5am from Medavakkam, usually I take the Oragadam -> Sriperumbudur road, but this time will go until Sunguvarchatram as recommended here.

Any other options other than HSB and Murugan Idli ?

Thanks.

[mah45]

Originally Posted by hserus

Ramanas is quite good.

Is this the one you are referring to. Thanks.

https://g.co/kgs/aKzHZQ

[hserus]

Originally Posted by mah45

Is this the one you are referring to. Thanks.

https://g.co/kgs/aKzHZQ

Yes. Only one restaurant by that name on the route.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by mah45

Dear all
Can you please suggest any good eateries near Kanchipuram or so.
Planning to start by 5am from Medavakkam, usually I take the Oragadam -> Sriperumbudur road, but this time will go until Sunguvarchatram as recommended here.

Any other options other than HSB and Murugan Idli ?

Thanks.

If you are planning to start at 5 am from Medavakkam, you can actually take Pallavaram, Kundrathur, Sriperumbudur road itself, but anyway you can try Sunguvarchatram for a change

If you are okay to cross the road on the other side, Upaashana is excellent choice. Even Ramanaas is on the other side , but could be easy to cut across and park the car, compared to Upaashana.

Even for Murugan Idly, it is now in the road below the bridge , so closed for traffic. They broke open the compound wall to enter inside Murugan idly shop car parking area.

-Ravi

[mah45]

Originally Posted by ravib

If you are planning to start at 5 am from Medavakkam, you can actually take Pallavaram, Kundrathur, Sriperumbudur road itself, but anyway you can try Sunguvarchatram for a change


-Ravi

Thanks, have never taken the Kundrathur route and since this will be a short trip to Hosur and back, will stick to my known route

I usually take the Tambaram - Mudichur road and join the Oragadam road near Manivakkam, but this time will go until Vandalur and take the SH.

Thanks for the suggestions for food as well.

[venki.bala]

Originally Posted by ravib

If you are planning to start at 5 am from Medavakkam, you can actually take Pallavaram, Kundrathur, Sriperumbudur road itself, but anyway you can try Sunguvarchatram for a change

-Ravi

Kundrathur Junction is a big messy one depending on the time of the day. Better to avoid it if its core office hours 7 -11 am and 5-8 PM.

[ravib]

Did a very quick 24 hours Bangalore-Madras-Bangalore trip.

Left C.V.Raman Nagar on 31st Aug at 4.45 pm and reached Kanchipuram new Hotel Saravana Bhavan at 8.45 pm via usual Chittoor route. Wanted to try out the new restaurant, but was not very impressed, although food was good as usual. Main reason was there is not many dining seats (and they are yet to open 1st floor) and too much waiting time outside. The car parking is full of mud/slush due to heavy rains. And after 45 mts dinner break, left at 9.30 pm and reached Pallavaram at 10.45 pm.

Important changes that drastically changed in last 15 days was - beyond Chennasamudram toll plaza towards Madras bound direction, majority of service roads where diversions are present had gone bad to worse , with too many potholes and rain water stagnation. Particularly, there is one before Saint Gobain, where roads are really non-existent and its like huge craters, so huge pile up of traffic jams as all vehicles , trucks can't move fast and crawl at less than 10 kmph speed.

Return journey started today at 11 am in Koyambedu flyover and Reached Murugan Idli shop for lunch break at 1 pm. After 30 mts lunch break, reached C.V.Raman Nagar at 4.45 pm.

Even in west direction/Bangalore bound service roads, there are many potholes in service roads, but not as bad as east direction/Madras bound.

So plan for more times, due to these traffic pile up and very bad roads due to heavy rains.

-Ravi

[raju2512]

Originally Posted by mah45

Dear all
Can you please suggest any good eateries near Kanchipuram or so.
Planning to start by 5am from Medavakkam, usually I take the Oragadam -> Sriperumbudur road, but this time will go until Sunguvarchatram as recommended here.

Any other options other than HSB and Murugan Idli ?

Thanks.

If you can push it a bit try Alankar just opposite to Ratnagiri temple.

[raju2512]

I usually take the Tambaram - Mudichur road and join the Oragadam road near Manimangalam, but this time will go until Vandalur and take the SH.

Instead of coming back to Oragadam road, you take the Manimangalam - Sriperumpudur road. In fact it the shortest route and good one too. But Sunguvarchatram SH120 is a better option.

With the kind of roads till Chennasamudram toll, will it be better to take Oragdam-Wallajabad-Kanchipuram route. The bottle necks will be the narrow road from Wallajabad to Kanchipuram and driving through Kanchipuram. If it is early morning or late evening, this may be better

[Secretariat]

Originally Posted by ravib

Did a very quick 24 hours Bangalore-Madras-Bangalore trip.

Important changes that drastically changed in last 15 days was - beyond Chennasamudram toll plaza towards Madras bound direction, majority of service roads where diversions are present had gone bad to worse , with too many potholes and rain water stagnation. Particularly, there is one before Saint Gobain, where roads are really non-existent and its like huge craters, so huge pile up of traffic jams as all vehicles, trucks can't move fast and crawl at less than 10 kmph speed.

So plan for more times, due to these traffic pile up and very bad roads due to heavy rains.

Very true. My trip became 7 hours precisely because of this problem. On four consecutive days, I knew of people whose journey times were more than 8 hours because of bottlenecks in this sector. Deterioration of roads has made turning into service lanes very tight for 14 wheelers and consequently there are huge tailbacks. I was stationary for 15 minutes thrice on my trip. This leads to macho squeezing into gaps by cabs, buses, LMVs, etc and I also sport a huge dent as a momento.

Unless things improve significantly (not much hope), driving to Chennai isn't an attractive proposition and a train or flight have become better options. If we must drive, we maybe forced to explore previously ridiculous options such as passing through Kanchipuram to Wallajabad or the Thiruttani route. Keeping Google maps on, to check on extent of congestion ahead is now highly recommended.

[Innysta]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

Very true. My trip became 7 hours precisely because of this problem. On four consecutive days, I knew of people whose journey times were more than 8 hours because of bottlenecks in this sector.

Taking Mudichur -Manimangalam-Sriperumpudur is an option to avoid ChennaSamudram toll?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

Unless things improve significantly (not much hope), driving to Chennai isn't an attractive proposition and a train or flight have become better options. If we must drive, we maybe forced to explore previously ridiculous options such as passing through Kanchipuram to Wallajabad or the Thiruttani route. Keeping Google maps on, to check on extent of congestion ahead is now highly recommended.

This actually may not be a bad idea! Take the Kanchi bypass via Military road. Go past Walajabad and get on to the Vandalur 4-lane.


Regulars should try this and report! I am sure this may be more peaceful an option.

[mah45]

Originally Posted by raju2512

With the kind of roads till Chennasamudram toll, will it be better to take Oragdam-Wallajabad-Kanchipuram route. The bottle necks will be the narrow road from Wallajabad to Kanchipuram and driving through Kanchipuram. If it is early morning or late evening, this may be better

In fact while looking up at GMaps yesterday, it was actually suggesting to go all the way to Kanchipuram and then join the Bangalore highway.

With my current car, GC is much lower than my previous Nexon, so reading the updates from Ravib probably need to explore this.
But not sure how safe is it to use this road ( Kanchi - Walaja) after 6 or 7pm in the evening.