After more than 6 years, I drove in my Linea from Bangalore to Chennai via Kolar, reaching Chennai just a few hours ago. Details are here.

[Yamahead]

Sir

Am planning to drive to Goa via Bangalore for the New years. Tentative plan
is to leave Chennai on 28th Afternoon around 5.30 PM from Adyar, drive to Bangalore.Rest for the night at friends place who will join us. Judging by your post it seems GQ is the best option but slightly bumpy. How time do you reckon it will take to reach Jayamahal Extension beside Palace Grounds from Adyar, door to door. Car is Alto k10 driven my office driver who is ex-army and is an expert in high-speed night drives though he never croses 110KMPH even in an Innova. He has driven my wife around in her car quite often and is familiar with the car. I know the entire timing depends on a lot of parameters ,but still do spare sometime to answer my query.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Yamahead

Tentative plan is to leave Chennai on 28th Afternoon around 5.30 PM from Adyar, drive to Bangalore.Rest for the night at friends place who will join us. Judging by your post it seems GQ is the best option but slightly bumpy. How time do you reckon it will take to reach Jayamahal Extension beside Palace Grounds from Adyar, door to door.

If you leave at 5:30 PM on a weekday from Adyar, it will take you much heartache to get out of Chennai city. :-) I doubt you can make it to Sriperumbudur before 7:30 PM.

There is no question that GQ is the best option between Chennai and Bangalore. This "slightly bumpy" part is only for the discerning driver; the gourmet. For everyone else, the GQ route is absolutely fantastic.

You look set to hit Bangalore between 11PM and midnight; at that time just keep going through the city to your destination. For example, take the Hosur Road all the way in, hit either Richmond Circle or Trinity Circle and approach Jayamahal from whichever side of Cantonment railway station convenient for you.

[Yamahead]

So IF I manage to get out of Adyar by 4.30, I can reach Sriperumbudur by 6.45 and thence to Silk Board by 10.30 hopefully ?
Driver is confident that he can reach Ulsoor Lake( being ex-MEG,everything in Bangalore centres around his regimental centre for him) by 10.30 max.
Anyway, taking your suggestion and leaving early. maybe by 4.00 if possible.

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by Yamahead

So IF I manage to get out of Adyar by 4.30, I can reach Sriperumbudur by 6.45 and thence to Silk Board by 10.30 hopefully ?
Driver is confident that he can reach Ulsoor Lake( being ex-MEG,everything in Bangalore centres around his regimental centre for him) by 10.30 max.
Anyway, taking your suggestion and leaving early. maybe by 4.00 if possible.

You can do it easily. Main thing is to cross porur junction before 5.15. Post that it should not be a problem. You can stop for a break at the HP petrol pump some 15 kms after vellore and 3 kms before pallikonda tollgate on the left side. There is a hotel aryaas there in addition to coffee day.

[SR-71]

Agree with Prabhu, Its better to cross Porur junction (even better Sriperumbudur if possible) before 5pm. Anything past that might spell trouble in terms of bad traffic. I stay in Adyar and typically I start by 3:30 in the afternoon else safety differ it post 8:00 PM. Post Sriperumbudur you might want to assume a safe speed of 80 kmph till you hit kanchipuram bypass (a 40KM stretch) as its pretty bad roads with a lot of undulations. Post that till you hit Pallikonda toll post the roads are fine and you should be able to do a 100 easily. Some time after Pallikonda toll post and until you cross ambur the roads are a bit tricky. The rain has had its toll on the condition of the road and the 6 laning work has reduced the shoulder length. Then comes the best part. A 80km stretch till Krishnagiri which is awesome. After Krishnagiri you will be safe off with 80 on you speedo unless you want to put yourself and your car through some unwanted strains. Btw I doubt the 10:30 PM for just for one single reason. Last 2 times I drove to bangalore (in the last week) the truck traffic was very high until the between Krishnagiri and Hosur RTO check post. So the strech was a bit of crawl (with huge snail paced trucks occupying both lanes and fighting the gradients). You may have to account an additional 30 mins or maybe more if you end up behind a convoy of trucks.

Regarding the Bangalore - Goa route, here is what I did recently. I took the NICE road all the way to haserghatta in the Bangalore - Mumbai Highway - useful if you stay in south Bangalore, else go via yeshwantpur. Proceed on the highway till Hubli. Just before Hubli the highway bypasses the town towards Belgaum. You have to take the bypass and not enter Hubli town. Proceed for about 5 - 6 Kms until you get to the exit to Yellapur - take that (Note there is a turn towards yellapur much before you reach Hubli, avoid that. Ensure you touch Hubli ouskirts). Proceed all the way till Ankola outskirts where you should hit the Mangalore Goa Highway. Take right towards Karwar and go to Goa via Karwar. It took me about 13+ hours. This was the best route suggested by various bhpians and I found their suggestions valid to a large extent. There is an alternative route from Hubli via Dharward but there has been quiet a few suggestions to avoid it. So I did not bother about that route.

My Linea did Chennai - Bangalore last evening. Crossing Porur junction at 5 pm was a breeze. Chennai city roads' potholes were patched up. Even Arcot Road from Vadapalani to Porur junction, which was a mess due to some underground drainage works and monsoon fury, was manageable last evening. I found more buildings being demolished for road-widening at Porur junction. Details are here.

[DWind]

I would need to reach Rajaji Nagar (near NPS) in Bangalore from Chennai in mid jan. What exit do I need to take in NICE road to reach there. Should I take the Mysore road exit and enter via West of chord road or should I continue and take the Magadi road? Google maps shows some part of Bangalore - Mysore NICE road complete which joins ORR just before the Mysore road junction. Is it really complete?

[mohan41]

Can anyone from Chennai update about the current weather conditions please. I was planning to go to Chennai on Saturday morning. I heard the cyclone Thane has hit the coast closer to Pondicherry and Chennai is not expected to be badly affected. Is this true?

[narayans80]

Its raining here, apart from that nothing serious. Might rain all the way as you drive towards Madras as well. Check with your destination if there is waterlogging near their place, other than that it should be fine.

Originally Posted by DWind

I would need to reach Rajaji Nagar (near NPS) in Bangalore from Chennai in mid jan. What exit do I need to take in NICE road to reach there.

NICE road is fully complete. But, Metro works are in progress on the Chord Road. Magadi Road has some congested stretches to cross to reach Rajajinagar. Compared to these congested options, it is better to drive through the city via Bangalore City Railway Station and Rajajinagar Entrance.

[DWind]

What I meant is the Expressway part of NICE from Ring Road (marked as B in Google maps) to Veerabhadra Nagar (A in map) complete ? If so, I can take the exit and join Mysore Road from there and then lug it out either through Chord Road or go via Binny Mills road to reach Rajaji Nagar.

[mohan41]

Originally Posted by DWind

What I meant is the Expressway part of NICE from Ring Road (marked as B in Google maps) to Veerabhadra Nagar (A in map) complete ? If so, I can take the exit and join Mysore Road from there and then lug it out either through Chord Road or go via Binny Mills road to reach Rajaji Nagar.

That part of NICE road is complete. At the NICE road toll booth where you enter ask for Link Road exit. And when you drive along NICE road, after the Kanakapura road exit has passed, look for sign boards that say Outer ring road that is where you have to turn towards Link road exit.

[tj123]

Guys I am planning to do a round trip to Bangalore -Chennai- this weekend, please suggest me the best route.

Any clue on the Old Madras Road (Kolar-Vellore- Chennai) highway road condition ?

[csentil]

Originally Posted by tj123

Guys I am planning to do a round trip to Bangalore -Chennai- this weekend, please suggest me the best route.

Any clue on the Old Madras Road (Kolar-Vellore- Chennai) highway road condition ?

GQ is still the best though there is six lane work going on between Hosur to Vellore.

Check out this thread for the Chittoor route. This does not go to Vellore (unless you want to do a round about) but connects back to the GQ at Ranipet. Its 30 kms shorter and lesser traffic.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...hittoor-9.html