[BlackMambaXX]

I did Anna Nagar to Whitefield yesterday via the ranipet chittoor route. Officially, the Bomma Samundram railway crossing is closed and the traffic is routed through vellore. I asked a local and he asked me to proceed to the railway crossing. There is a small detour via an adjacent underpass after the railway station. There is about 10 mins of off-roading involved but saves the hassle of coming through vellore. The road is narrow but doable. I was driving my harrier which is a wide car. Attaching photos below for reference. Cannot wait for the expressway to complete. This journey is consistently taking more than 6.5 hours every-time. Makes more sense to take a flight considering the really low cost airlines are offering. Vande bharat on the return leg makes more sense as its cut the journey to 3hours 45 mins to kr puram.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by BlackMambaXX

..... Officially, the Bomma Samundram railway crossing is closed and the traffic is routed through vellore. I asked a local and he asked me to proceed to the railway crossing. There is a small detour via an adjacent underpass after the railway station. There is about 10 mins of off-roading involved but saves the hassle of coming through vellore. The road is narrow but doable. I was driving my harrier which is a wide car. Attaching photos below for reference......

I had done this detour earlier this year (when the barricade was a surprise to me) around 10pm. A local person on a 2-wheeler was kind enough to lead the way all along the detour. I was very tense for 10 minutes until I hit the highway again towards Ranipet (near Zion hill church).

My general observation is: this detour should be avoided before dawn / after dusk. Also it is quite narrow. Did you not face any car/ minitruck coming in the opposite direction? It is quite hard to give way on this small stretch. Even the road inside the village is quite narrow.

[RapidSqueeze]

It appears the scaffolding of the under-construction flyover at Ambur collapsed on NH48 on Saturday night, injuring the workers employed at the site.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/sta...ind-out-reason

[BlackMambaXX]

Originally Posted by srvm

Did you not face any car/ minitruck coming in the opposite direction? It is quite hard to give way on this small stretch.

I did face a mini-truck, but we both calmly figured it out and we were able to pass each other. Two cars can pass without an issue. There are some corners where you need honk and make sure people make way.
I agree, this road should be avoided night. I personally have stopped driving on our highways at night, especially when with family.

[ptezhil]

I did a trip from Maduravoyal to Vaniyambadi on 22Sept2024. I am driving in the route after 5 odd months. Found some changes have happened in this period, so wanted to update, maybe useful for some. It took 2 hours 40 minutes, which was an upgrade, previously took nearly 4 odd hours.

Sriperumbudur to Kancheepuram section no big change, very little bridge work happening, previously was in a standstill, but looks like it will take lot of time for completion. Looks like no change in number of diversions.

Kancheepuram to Walajah section, felt like new bridges have been opened to traffic. More sections of new roads have come up and diversions have been reduced. Work is going on for bridge and looks like they will finish within few weeks.

Walajah to Vellore sections some new bridge work has been started from my previous visit. Still not bad, hope they complete them soon.

Ambur bridge has come to some shape and looks like they will finish it soon. Traffic was much better in this section.

Overall things are looking better and hope we get some good roads without diversions soon.

[RapidSqueeze]

Today I travelled from CHN->BLR. I took the Thiruvanamalai Route of NH 77. This road has been quite good and generally used by people to go to Pondicherry from Bangalore. Since I reside on OMR_South Chennai, I sometimes prefer this route as I can drive steadily without road-work interruptions. This is a two lane carriage way with bike lanes on either side, so you may be blocked by slow moving traffic in your lane at times. Also the continuous torrential rains in Chennai the past two days made me averse to travel the usual route via SriPerumbadur->Vellore->BLR.

Started at 6 am from Navalur on OMR. Connected to GST road through Thiruporur at Chengalpattu. Had breakfast at Manoj Bhavan at Arappedu before Tindivanam. There is a right before Tindivanam marked for Tiruvanamalai. Starting from this right turn, it is Krishnagiri-Thindivanam route of NH 77. Now they started collecting tolls (3 booths) on this route as well since this month as I did not pay anything just 1 month ago. The ride was smooth and traffic was mostly people on bikes and school buses (since it was morning). Joining at Krishnagiri at ~ 10.40 am, I was met with a traffic pile up with many trucks joining from the usual Chennai-BLR route. The bridge coming down at Krishnagiri was closed that way perhaps and they directed the entire crowd through the below road joining from Tiruvanamalai. The Krishnagiri-Hosur stretch, was as usual slow at many stretches due to flyover constructions. Eventually reached Attibele Toll both at 12.00 pm.

So on the whole, the journey took about 6 hours (till Attibele) with the breakfast break for about 30 min. The roads were very good on this route except for the work on the Krishnagiri-Hosur stretch. After driving through Bangalore traffic, stopped for Lunch at MTR St.Marks Road before heading home to Malleshwaram by around 2.30 pm.

[mah45]

Originally Posted by RapidSqueeze

Today I travelled from CHN->BLR. I took the Thiruvanamalai Route of NH 77. This road has been quite good and generally used by people to go to Pondicherry from Bangalore. Since I reside on OMR_South Chennai, I sometimes prefer this route as I can drive steadily without road-work interruptions. This is a two lane carriage way with bike lanes on either side, so you may be blocked by slow moving traffic in your lane at times. Also the continuous torrential rains in Chennai the past two days made me averse to travel the usual route via SriPerumbadur->Vellore->BLR.

Thanks for sharing
Sounds like a promising alternative to the Sriperumbudur -Vellore route

In terms of distance how does it compare to the other route
Also, I find traffic until Tindivanam to be very heavy whenever I drive south, not sure if that slows down the overall ride
Is the NH 77 stretch a 4-way lane all through ?

[RapidSqueeze]

Originally Posted by mah45

Thanks for sharing
Sounds like a promising alternative to the Sriperumbudur -Vellore route

In terms of distance how does it compare to the other route
Also, I find traffic until Tindivanam to be very heavy whenever I drive south, not sure if that slows down the overall ride
Is the NH 77 stretch a 4-way lane all through ?

For me it was 30 km extra according to Google maps. Since I was driving morning (6 am onwards) and on a weekday, the traffic was not much. Also, I joined the GST after Chengalpattu, so may be that's why.

NH 77 is a two lane road, with bike shoulders. The traffic on this route is mostly inter-village or inter-town and generally not many trucks or buses and even not much car traffic. It has well laid-out bypasses for most big towns on its way, like Gingee, Chengam, Thiruvanamalai, Uthangarai etc, so you don't lose time and speed going through these towns.

[mah45]

Originally Posted by RapidSqueeze

For me it was 30 km extra according to Google maps. Since I was driving morning (6 am onwards) and on a weekday, the traffic was not much. Also, I joined the GST after Chengalpattu, so may be that's why.

.

Thanks, I reside somewhere nearby to Navalur and take the Tiruporur - Chengalpattu road most of the time to travel South.
But even then I used to find the traffic bad as I merge into GST.
Nevertheless thanks for the info, will try this Tmalai route next time.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by RapidSqueeze

It has well laid-out bypasses for most big towns on its way, like Gingee, Chengam, Thiruvanamalai, Uthangarai etc, so you don't lose time and speed going through these towns.

Is Gingee bypass complete? It was one bypass which had no progress at all. I've seen Chengam, Samalpatti and Uthangarai complete from the Pondy thread.

I used to take the Tiruvannamalai route entire of 2023, when the prime Krishnagiri-Vellore-Sriperumbudur route was in tatters. But with progress on Kanchipuram-Walajah stretch, its not making sense.

Also there is STRR. For bypassing Bangalore I'd prefer going via STRR than NICE. Not because of the road itself, but the traffic that leads into it.

[RapidSqueeze]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Is Gingee bypass complete? It was one bypass which had no progress at all. I've seen Chengam, Samalpatti and Uthangarai complete from the Pondy thread.

Yes, Gingee bypass had been completed.

[sudiptaadhya]

Any news on the condition of the roads after the recent rains? My family is travelling from South Chennai (Tambaram) to South Bangalore (Sarjapur Rd) tomorrow, so wondering which road to take - NH77 or Vellore.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by sudiptaadhya

Any news on the condition of the roads after the recent rains? My family is travelling from South Chennai (Tambaram) to South Bangalore (Sarjapur Rd) tomorrow, so wondering which road to take - NH77 or Vellore.

Which recent rains? We got 2 20-minute blinders on Saturday and yesterday. Otherwise 2024 has been the hottest August, September on record.

Vellore route was at its worst in late 2022 and early 2023. The diversion at Arcot, Ambur are still there. Kanchipuram-Walaja has largely improved with many sections done. If you take Oragadam-SH120 and join Sunguvarchatram, you'll largely bypass the WIP section before it.

Tiruvannamalai route was largely good. Going by recent updates of bypass completions makes it even better. End of day, it is still a wide 2-lane road and it depends on individual comfort to drive it. Tindivanam-Gingee will be busy and things will ease up beyond that. Currently it should be about 40 minutes slower than the Vellore route.

The infamous Krishnagiri-Hosur speed breakers are common to both routes. And going around Dharmapuri and taking Palacode-Rayakottai is a bit too circutous under normal cases.

[adetour]

Originally Posted by narayans80

The infamous Krishnagiri-Hosur speed breakers are common to both routes.

The infamous speed breakers are replaced by rumbler strips now, a bit better than couple of months back, yet irritating and still causes jams

[Innysta]

Originally Posted by adetour

The infamous speed breakers are replaced by rumbler strips now, a bit better than couple of months back, yet irritating and still causes jams

I did ride on last week and didn't see any discomfort/annoyance due to the rumbler strips. During my onward journey, went through Ranipet-Chitoor-Mulbagal and in return, came by Hosur-Vellore and found the latter is better than Chitoor road (A detour thro narrow muddy village road to cross a railway track, noisy cement road). Stretch between Krishnagiri-Vellore is butter-smooth and the white lines are glowing at night especially.