[mpksuhas]

Did Bangalore - Chennai last Saturday.

Started late from Bangalore, crossed electronic city around 4.30PM.

As expected, there was traffic all way, however it was mostly moving traffic, no congestion at even toll booths too.

At both the L&T operated toll booths of Vaniyambadi and Pallikonda, there is relaying of surface at toll lanes happening. Due to which, few lanes are closed and traffic is diverted to other toll booths. There was no issue when I travelled, but may cause delay during peak time.

From Walajapet to Sriperumbudur, I was hoping compared to the last time I travelled in Aug, road widening work would have progressed. However, there was not improvement work mention and on top of that, the ever patchy surface here has gone worse from last time.

From Sriperumbudur to Poonamalle, there were multiple sections where widening was completed, though lane markings and shoulder work is pending.

Reached home near Vadapalani around 9.40 PM.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

crossed electronic city around 4.30PM.Reached home near Vadapalani around 9.40 PM.

5:10 hrs is very good. Have conditions improved so much? Or what is the secret

[ravib]

Originally Posted by narayans80

5:10 hrs is very good. Have conditions improved so much? Or what is the secret

Haha, AFAIK, mpksuhas drives non stop by and large and may be a very very short break That's his secret.
And if he starts at morning 4.30 a.m or so, he reaches in less than 5 hours.
His XUV500 is like a rocket

-Ravi

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Or what is the secret

Originally Posted by ravib

Haha, AFAIK, mpksuhas drives non stop by and large and may be a very very short break

As Ravib mentioned, its usually without break/ 5 min bio break.
Also, since I reached Chennai past peak time on a Saturday night, from Poonamalle till Vadapalani was relatively free.

[shankar.balan]

I used the Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Madras road today.
Left at 0515 hrs. Three of us and our luggage in my Thar.
Acceptable levels of traffic.
The usual idiotic chicane and barriers at Hosur entrance.
A couple more such idiocies after the Krishnagiri towards Ambur.
Reached Sai Sangeet near Ambur at 0715 hrs.
A good breakfast and stretch break of 45 mins or so.
Left Sai Sangeet at 0800.
Passed that Chennasamudram Toll Booth at 0907 as per the sms.
And then by God the whole road just vanished.
As we were in the Thar we just didn’t care and kept going.
But honestly the state of the roads is absolutely miserable and in my opinion this kind of apathy is criminal! Considering we are being asked to pay toll for such rubbish.
Anyway long story short we reached Chennai Outskirts and went straight through Porur etc, hit Kathipara Junction, filled petrol at BPCL SPIC at 1130 and got to the destination at Kotturpuram at 1140am.
All in all, if the roads had been better we probably would have saved another 30minutes.

[mrugu]

Folks

Headed to Chennai (Staying at Navalur) tomorrow. Planning to start by 530AM from Bellandur.

Based on recent reviews planning to go via Neeravalur -> Tambaram -> Navalur.

Pls advise on road condition. My ride is one with relatively low GC.

[vandemanw]

Originally Posted by mrugu

Pls advise on road condition. My ride is one with relatively low GC.

The route via neeravalur is in excellent shape. Passes through some villages and some stretches might be narrow, but surface is good enough for a low GC sedan all the way to tambaram. This way you can minimise time spent on the usual highway after chennasamudram toll.

[tud]

Hello members,

I have to drive to B'luru (MLA Layout, Bhoopasandra, R.M.V. 2nd Stage, Bengaluru) this week and Google Map is suggesting Ranipet - Chittor - Kolar route over Vellore - Krishnagiri - Hosur route.

Is Ranipet - Chittor - Kolar route advisable, considering the current road conditions in both these routes? My drive is going to be during the day.

[hserus]

The bad road conditions are Chennai to ranipet so common to both the Hosur and Chittoor routes, no alternative to them except taking side roads.

After that, the roads are good on the Chittoor route except for a small stretch of diversions near the Chittoor bypass.

Originally Posted by tud

Hello members,
I have to drive to B'luru (MLA Layout, Bhoopasandra, R.M.V. 2nd Stage, Bengaluru) this week and Google Map is suggesting Ranipet - Chittor - Kolar route over Vellore - Krishnagiri - Hosur route.

Is Ranipet - Chittor - Kolar route advisable, considering the current road conditions in both these routes? My drive is going to be during the day.

[tud]

Originally Posted by hserus

The bad road conditions are chennai to ranipet so common to both the hosur and chittoor routes, no alternative to them except taking side roads.

Thank you Suresh. Since I’m starting from South Chennai, maps is suggesting to take the Vandaluru -> Neeravalur route to reach the Chennai Benagaluru highway. I’m guessing it will help avoid most of the Chennai - Ranipet stretch except for the last hour.

Originally Posted by vandemanw

The route via neeravalur is in excellent shape. Passes through some villages and some stretches might be narrow.

Thanks mate. You are referring to the Neeravalur -> Vandalur route right?

[vandemanw]

Originally Posted by tud

Thanks mate. You are referring to the Neeravalur -> Vandalur route right?

I took the route via vandalur-turn off before Walajabad- uthukadu- neeravalur. Travelled after 7 pm, and this was shown to be the shortest on gmaps.

[venkyhere]

Update on the Chennasamudram to Chennai stretch, refer to attached pic.

- Between 2 and 8, latest reports are that it's terrible, the 'main' and 'service road' stretches are all potholed severely by the recent rains from the cyclone(s). I haven't driven this stretch for ages now. So all I know about this, is from second hand accounts.

- Between 1 and 2, there are 'layer off' holes everywhere on the road, but I learn that this stretch is one of the "liveable, not nightmare" stretches of the entire 1 <-> 8 stretch

- Between 2 and 3, it's lunar. Cannot find a position for the car where atleast one of the wheels doesn't fall into a hole.

- Between 3 and 4, where we skirt Kanchipuram town, it's largely good, except a few holes/bumps near the town. This route involves two railway crossings

- Between 4 and 5, it's bad (repair work happening, mud-moundy portions and 'layer off' holes are present, need to be careful.

- Between 5 and 6, it's very good, of course there are 'layer off' holes, but there is enough space around them to avoid after spotting them. One small 'heavily potholed' stretch of 20 meters is there.

- Between 6 (vandalur) and 7 (entry into chennai city) the GST road is not good at all, but it's for a small stretch anyway

- Beyond 8 there is metro work and terrible traffic bottlenecks, beyond 7 there is nothing such, free flowing traffic that gets stuck only at signals.

[tud]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

Update on the Chennasamudram to Chennai stretch, refer to attached pic.

Thank you Venky. A route description cannot get better than this. I'm hoping to help another brother another day just like how you did.

[narayans80]

This 6-laning is worser than the Chitradurga-Hubli expansion. At least there the main carriageway was good and the diversions were in bad shape. Here the main carriageway itself is unbearable.

There were few diversions where the number of vehicles were a km or 2 long negotiating the stretch. And this is on Thursday evening. I don't want to be anywhere near this stretch on New Year Sunday.

Scarred by my own experience and a not very encouraging update from Venky on Kanchipuram-Walajabad.

Its time to divorce the main route and marry either take Uthiramerur-Cheyyar-Arcot or Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai-Chengam route, till this 6-laning nonsense completes.

[Yieldway17]

NHAI Chennai Division is one of the worst operated major NHAI divisions in South India to my knowledge. The way they are handling this important highway speaks volumes about their planning and operations capacity and expertise.

They are doing a similar botch job with their unscientific and impractical 8-lane widening of GST Road till Chengalpattu too. I see several suburban neighborhoods along the road suffering because of this widening and crossing this road is a nightmare for even younger people let alone people on the older side. Either build an elevated expressway or segregate local and express traffic, this open for all widening projects aren't very effective and just exaceberates the problems down the line.