[binand]

Originally Posted by narayans80

If you can really leave at 4am, drive the Vellore-Krishnagiri route regardless of your destination, you'll definitely cross Attibele by 8 beyond that can't say

I'm not too sure about this - this time of the year I have encountered heavy fog between Poonamallee and Kanjeepuram in the early mornings, slowing me down to a crawl and at times, even to a complete stop.

Originally Posted by narayans80

Am curious to know, how's the traffic patterns in Chitoor route especially Ranipet to Palamaner. What is the best and worst time to negotiate the section ?

I did this route a few days back (travelogue a few posts above). My observations are:

- Walajapet town, with no bypass, can be a penance depending on the time of day.
- Ranipet is not the problem; traffic builds up only after the road from Vellore merges with NH4. Between these two points the only unknown is a railway gate.
- The TN-AP border has a separate area earmarked for truckers awaiting ST/RTO clearance. No issue there either.
- The AP-KA border does not have similar facilities (at least, I didn't see any). Trucks are parked all over the place on the road side. This can lead to pile ups.
- A bunch of towns have proper bypasses (Ranipet, Chittoor etc.) but the road goes through CBD areas of several others. All these towns have built median walls, so you can be stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle with no option to overtake.
- Watch out for the APSRTC drivers - they seem to think the road is a one-way.
- Once you enter KA, the 4-laned dual carriageway starts I think within 20km.

I did this trip early in the morning. It was a pleasant drive for me. Others have reported heavy traffic late mornings and afternoons. I don't think it is a good idea to go through this route in the night.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by binand

I'm not too sure about this - this time of the year I have encountered heavy fog between Poonamallee and Kanjeepuram in the early mornings, slowing me down to a crawl and at times, even to a complete stop.

Not just Poondamalee to Kanchipuram, all the way to Pallikonda, Vaniyambadi infact. I went through the same, last Monday with visibility < 100m. Was able to maintain 60-80 without much issues even without a lead vehicle.
~~~~~
Pre-NH46 4-laning, the Chittoor route was an absolute beauty. Except for few trucks, there was barely any traffic on this route in the early mid-90s, sad its gone this bad :(

Walajah is a mess, experienced it at 830pm once last year.

I don't think I'd hit AP-KA border, I'd be heading towards Anantapur from Palamaner, not Bangalore.

[krish82]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

Where exactly do you want to go in Bangalore. Depending on that can suggest a route and food options

Originally Posted by aravind84

The best road would be to use the GQ stretch. Chennai - Kanchipuram - vellore - ambur- krishnagiri - hosur - Blr

Always the best stretch to do.

Originally Posted by abishek2222

Thats the best route. a bit longer but much better than the alternative via ranipet > Chittor > mulbagal > kolar > bangalore.its a two lane road vs the 4 lane via hosur.

Originally Posted by ThePunter

Add to that - the options to get out of Chennai City:
(Since it is 4 AM, it may not be of much concern though)

The fastest (yet the longest) will be taking Tambaram-Chennai Byepass- to join PH Road. The cons being the extra distance, and the 30 Rs toll you need to pay.
Though I don't know for sure the latest road surface condition, the other option, the shortest route is via Mudichur Road (from Tambaram) to join NH4 near Sriperumbudur.

Originally Posted by narayans80

If you can really leave at 4am, drive the Vellore-Krishnagiri route regardless of your destination, you'll definitely cross Attibele by 8 beyond that can't say
~~~~~
Am curious to know, how's the traffic patterns in Chitoor route especially Ranipet to Palamaner. What is the best and worst time to negotiate the section ?

Thanks every one,I have driven to munnar and ooty by car, but when comes to Bangalore i am still a Rookie! and seems like i have forgotten all the routes :(.

i want the best 4 lane route, looks like GQ route is the best, also i will be going to Whitefield, so should i have to enter Bangalore city to go to whitefield or from Hosur i can have a detour?

so according to Aravind this is the best GQ route right?
Chennai - Kanchipuram - vellore - ambur- krishnagiri - hosur - Blr

[binand]

Originally Posted by krish82

i want the best 4 lane route, looks like GQ route is the best, also i will be going to Whitefield, so should i have to enter Bangalore city to go to whitefield or from Hosur i can have a detour?

I will always recommend the GQ route to anyone who is not familiar with the road network around Bangalore. Which in this case is: Chennai-Sriperumbudur-Vaniyambadi-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Attibele-BETL.

To get to Whitefield, after BETL you take a right turn onto ORR at Silk Board, follow the road till Marathahalli and then somehow hit Varthur Road from there.

[ravib]

To reach whitefield, you are not required to come all the way upto Electronic city or BETL or SilkBoard junction.

There is other alternate where you can take right after Attibele toll both, which goes to varthur and then to whitefield. It is a 2 lane road which directly takes you to whitefield (may need to ask for direction in case if you can't find the route from google maps), but this will allow you to skip the bangalore traffic depending on the time you cross attilebele.

-Ravi

[rajshenoy]

Hi all

I am driving down to Chennai(Tambaram east to be very precise) from my home in KR Puram Bangalore. This is my first trip towards Chennai. After going through the thread i feel below route is best

BLR-hosur-krishnagiri-Vellore-kanchipuram-sriperumbudur(diversion) towards tambaram

Since i have never traveled in this direction, i need some feedback on things to watch out. Especially sriperumbudur-tambaram stretch since i did not find much information about it.

[binand]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Especially sriperumbudur-tambaram stretch since i did not find much information about it.

For my last two trips, I have been taking the Poonamallee Bypass - Maduravoyal interchange - Chennai Bypass - Tambaram route. Good roads all through, just an extra Rs. 30 toll on the bypass. Maybe you should consider that?

[gajadonga]

@ rajshenoy
There are two routes from Sriperambadur to Tambaram.
First route via Manimangalam that is a single road no shoulder and lot of potholes.
Second route via Oragadam-Padappai-Vandalur.
The second route is better,There is a flyover construction at Oragadam where you have to turn left to Tambaram.
About 2-3 kms is bad otherwise this is a better route than through Manimangalam.
Do not enter into Tambaram as the roads are narrow and lot of road works going on.
Better to reach Vandalur and go towards Tambaram. The distance is more but the roads are better.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by binand

For my last two trips, I have been taking the Poonamallee Bypass - Maduravoyal interchange - Chennai Bypass - Tambaram route. Good roads all through, just an extra Rs. 30 toll on the bypass. Maybe you should consider that?

Thanks.

I checked in Google maps and your suggestion is only additional 6 kms over the default route showed by google(the sriperumbudur-tambaram road SH110?) i really dont mind paying extra money if roads are good and less confusion/traffic

Originally Posted by gajadonga

@ rajshenoy
There are two routes from Sriperambadur to Tambaram.
First route via Manimangalam that is a single road no shoulder and lot of potholes.
Second route via Oragadam-Padappai-Vandalur.
The second route is better,There is a flyover construction at Oragadam where you have to turn left to Tambaram.
About 2-3 kms is bad otherwise this is a better route than through Manimangalam.
Do not enter into Tambaram as the roads are narrow and lot of road works going on.
Better to reach Vandalur and go towards Tambaram. The distance is more but the roads are better.

My final destination is on Velacheri main road, so i wont be entering inside tambaram

[binand]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

My final destination is on Velacheri main road, so i wont be entering inside tambaram

Cool. Then surely you should take the bypass. At the end of Chennai Bypass, take the exit to your left that takes you towards the city (not the one marked Madurai etc.). You will hit the GST Road towards Tambaram. Look out for the elevated roundabout, and climb up. At the top, take a right turn for Tambaram-Velacheri Road. It is rather painless (I take it to go to my home on the ECR).

[SR-71]

I did 2 Chennai - Bangalore - Chennai trips over the past week. 3 of the 4 one way trip were in night (between 8pm to 4am) and I had the opportunity to exercise 3 different routes.

The first time around I took the regular "Chennai - Wallajabad - Vellore - Ambur - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore" GQ road. Ideally its the best road to drive at night. But the road is not all smooth. You cant keep doing 100+ always without a bumpy ride. The Sriperumbudur - Kanci stretch is very average with a lot of patches and undulations. The Kanchi - Vellore stretch is average again. The Ambur - Krishnagiri again has problems in terms of 6 lane extension The existing shoulders have been excavated and you cannot safely overtake like what we did earlier. The krishnagiri - hosur stretch is again riddled with small potholes.

For the second trip (Onward) I used the "Chennai - Vellore - Gudiyatham - Ventakgirikota - Mulbagal - Kolar - Bangalore" based on some feedback in this forum that the roads are good and no traffic. Well its true that its no traffic but that's because the roads are disastrous. The stretch between venkatagirikota and mulbagal just has no roads. My 30 days old car probably is still angry with me for going through that road. There are stretches of road where only one car can go and if there is a vehicle coming the opposite side you need to get on to the shoulder which is dangerous as the shoulder is nonexistent. You have sharp road edges leading to mud pavement that is at-least 30cms bellow the road layer. You definitely will scratch your alloys, damage your tires and depending on the car might scrape the bottom. Unless desperate and you have a SUV do not bother about this route. My car which gives 22+ kmpl on the highway dropped down to 16 !!!

The final option (which i used for the return trip) is "Bangalore - Kolar - Mulbagal - Palmenar - Chittor - Walajabad - Chennai". The Bangalore - Mulbagal section is a newly laid 4 lane (no tolls yet) and you can coast safely at 120+ as the traffic is less. But do watch out for people coming on the opposite direction from the nearby villages. The Mulbagal - Chittor - Wallajabad is decent 2 lanes with no divider. Unless you are comfortable this route might become difficult in the night as you have vehicles coming up your face with 4 - 6 lights in high beam, all lit up to kingdom come. You will easily be blinded. But the roads as such is OK except for some short bad stretches and unexpected speed breakers.

Overall the roads are not what they used to be. They are badly maintained. I dont understand what we are paying the tolls for !

[gajadonga]

I had driven the road from Gudiyatham - Venkatagirikote - Mulbagal in September.
The road update with pictures are there in this link http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...hittoor-9.html
I think you might have missed tha road after V.Kote and reached Kolar directly without
touching Mulbagal.
In fact I started around 3.45pm from Gudiyatham And touched Devanahalli via V.Kote- Mulbagal-Kolar-Vijayapura-Devanahalli by 7.15pm.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by binand

Cool. Then surely you should take the bypass. At the end of Chennai Bypass, take the exit to your left that takes you towards the city (not the one marked Madurai etc.). You will hit the GST Road towards Tambaram. Look out for the elevated roundabout, and climb up. At the top, take a right turn for Tambaram-Velacheri Road. It is rather painless (I take it to go to my home on the ECR).

Thanks for the tips. I am all set now.
The plan is to start on 24th(sat) morning and reach tambaram by noon. all local sightseeing on sat and sunday. and return back to bangalore on monday

I am just wondering if is it a good idea to cover puducherry(pondi) on my way back from chennai ? i came know that ECR is pretty near from tambaram. however i saw that its about 150kms to puducherry. so might require 2 hrs atleast

Only plus point is i can directly return to bangalore(another 300+ kms) So i am pretty tempted. Is this doable ?

Since i am driving by car, i wont be having any dependency on transportation.

so my questions
1. how much time does it take from tambaram east to reach pondicherry(via ECR i guess) ?
2. If i reach pondicherry by 8ish will i be able to cover major attractions by the evening and leave for bangalore by 5 or so ?
3. Suggestions on what to see(my kid would love to see beaches), and a nice place to have breakfast,lunch.
4. What should be my return route ? (thiruvanamalai-krishnagiri-hosur-blr) looks short, are the road conditions favorable for an evening-night drive ?
5. I prefer to avoid peak bangalore traffic. my earlier plan was to start on monday and reach bangalore in the afternoon to avoid busy traffic. if i go to pondi, and start in the evening what would be ideal time to reach electronic city ? night 8-9 ok ?
6. Will tambaram-pondicherry-bangalore be hectic ? i know its last minute but i have driven 400-500 kms in the past as well. unless the road/traffic conditions are bad i want to cover pondi as well.

So guys please suggest

Edit:

Did some search in and found that best route from pondi-blr is Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Tindivanam->Pondy Now the problem is this is around 380+ kms plus adding 150kms(close to 550kms) from chennai-pondi via ECR, does it make sense to travel from chennai to pondi and then blr all in same day ?

[binand]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

1. how much time does it take from tambaram east to reach pondicherry(via ECR i guess) ?
2. If i reach pondicherry by 8ish will i be able to cover major attractions by the evening and leave for bangalore by 5 or so ?
3. Suggestions on what to see(my kid would love to see beaches), and a nice place to have breakfast,lunch.
4. What should be my return route ? (thiruvanamalai-krishnagiri-hosur-blr) looks short, are the road conditions favorable for an evening-night drive ?
5. I prefer to avoid peak bangalore traffic. my earlier plan was to start on monday and reach bangalore in the afternoon to avoid busy traffic. if i go to pondi, and start in the evening what would be ideal time to reach electronic city ? night 8-9 ok ?
6. Will tambaram-pondicherry-bangalore be hectic ? i know its last minute but i have driven 400-500 kms in the past as well. unless the road/traffic conditions are bad i want to cover pondi as well.

1. From Tambaram it might make more sense to go to Pondicherry via Tindivanam (NH45/GST Road till Tindivanam, NH66 from there to Pondicherry). This route is only about 25km more, but is 4-lane dual carriageway for a major part (entire?) of the route. Plus, on Sunday evenings, you will find ECR infested with drivers who have spent the entire weekend in Pondicherry drinking.

2. If you plan to reach Pondicherry at 8PM, you will miss Auroville which closes for visitors at 5PM.

3. Boy oh boy, the ECR is a "scenic beach road". :-) Stop at Mahabalipuram too, if you can. This assumes you take the ECR to Pondicherry.

5. This Monday's the day after Christmas. I guess Bangalore'd be a bit quieter than a usual Monday. If I were you, I'd plan to be at Krishnagiri between 7 and 8 PM and Bangalore a couple of hours later.

4 & 6. I'm not sure what the recommended route between Bangalore and Pondicherry is - is it NH66 till Krishnagiri and NH7 from there?

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by binand

1. From Tambaram it might make more sense to go to Pondicherry via Tindivanam (NH45/GST Road till Tindivanam, NH66 from there to Pondicherry). This route is only about 25km more, but is 4-lane dual carriageway for a major part (entire?) of the route. Plus, on Sunday evenings, you will find ECR infested with drivers who have spent the entire weekend in Pondicherry drinking.

2. If you plan to reach Pondicherry at 8PM, you will miss Auroville which closes for visitors at 5PM.

Sorry for the confusion, but i meant leaving chennai early in the morning and reaching pondi by 8AM. so that i can leave pondi at 4-5 PM and reach bangalore by night.