[shyamk]

Tried the following route --

Chennai (Velachery) - Pallavaram - Thiruneermalai Road - Kundrathur - Sriperumbudur - Ranipet - Vellore - Katpadi - Gudiyatham - Pernambut - Venkatagiri Kota - Mulbagal - Bangalore route

Excellent roads (GQ) till vellore. Good roads till Venkatagirikota. Horrible 14km stretch from Venkatagirikota till Mulbagal. Four laned from Mulbagal till Bangalore, and it looks like 3 toll gates may come up here.

Nice tree lined roads. Did not cross 80kmph on my Bolero on roads without medians.

Total toll paid - 25rs (It seems we cannot escape the ranipet toll gate !!).

Started from Velachery at 6.30am and reached K.R.Puram at 12.00pm. 45 more minutes to reach Koramangala.

One break for breakfast at Arya Bhavan, Vellore, and one general tea break.

Nice peaceful and relaxed drive, and above all, no money paid at any of the toll gates

Shyam

[binand]

Originally Posted by shyamk

Four laned from Mulbagal till Bangalore, and it looks like 3 toll gates may come up here.

Those three toll booths have been sitting there for years, I believe. Not sure why they are not activated yet (not that I'm complaining).

Originally Posted by shyamk

Nice peaceful and relaxed drive, and above all, no money paid at any of the toll gates

Good for you :-), but don't you hit the Sriperumbudur and Chennasamudram toll booths in this route?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by shyamk

Started from Velachery at 6.30am and reached K.R.Puram at 12.00pm. 45 more minutes to reach Koramangala.

If its Koramangala, I can suggest one more, but purely from an experiment point of view.
I am suggesting since you said, you had a Bolero!

Venkatagirikota-Bangarpet-Malur-Baglur-Sarjpaur-Koramanagala !

Route Link

Just that I am not sure about Venkatagirikota-Malur. Malur to Bangalore very decent.
(Except for 2 rough patches one between Baglur-Malur and the other at getting around Sarjapur)

[DWind]

Originally Posted by binand

Those three toll booths have been sitting there for years, I believe. Not sure why they are not activated yet (not that I'm complaining).



Good for you :-), but don't you hit the Sriperumbudur and Chennasamudram toll booths in this route?

Binand! He would meet NH4 after Sriperumbudur so that toll would be byepassed. But ChennaSamdudram toll (after Sumaithangi village before the right to Ranipet) toll should have been paid. no?

[shyamk]

One toll gate is Mandatory on the route that I mentioned. This occurs just before the right turn towards the old Chitoor route. I am not sure about the name of that toll !

The Kaptpadi diversion and further on has no tolls.

Shyam

[shyamk]

Originally Posted by ampere

If its Koramangala, I can suggest one more, but purely from an experiment point of view.
I am suggesting since you said, you had a Bolero!

Venkatagirikota-Bangarpet-Malur-Baglur-Sarjpaur-Koramanagala !

Route Link

Just that I am not sure about Venkatagirikota-Malur. Malur to Bangalore very decent.
(Except for 2 rough patches one between Baglur-Malur and the other at getting around Sarjapur)

Thank you for that route link. I shall try that route the next time around and post an update. In general, since the in-laws live in Bangalore, a monthly trip is always on the cards !

Shyam

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by shyamk

Tried the following route --

Chennai (Velachery) - Pallavaram - Thiruneermalai Road - Kundrathur - Sriperumbudur - Ranipet - Vellore - Katpadi - Gudiyatham - Pernambut - Venkatagiri Kota - Mulbagal - Bangalore route

Excellent roads (GQ) till vellore. Good roads till Venkatagirikota. Horrible 14km stretch from Venkatagirikota till Mulbagal. Four laned from Mulbagal till Bangalore, and it looks like 3 toll gates may come up here.

Nice tree lined roads. Did not cross 80kmph on my Bolero on roads without medians.

Total toll paid - 25rs (It seems we cannot escape the ranipet toll gate !!).

Started from Velachery at 6.30am and reached K.R.Puram at 12.00pm. 45 more minutes to reach Koramangala.

One break for breakfast at Arya Bhavan, Vellore, and one general tea break.

Nice peaceful and relaxed drive, and above all, no money paid at any of the toll gates

Shyam

Is this route better than Ranipet-Chittoor route? We can skip Vellore-Katpadi stretch if we take the Ranipet-Thiruvalam-Chitoor route. But is there any advantage in taking the Katpadi - Gudiyatham - Pernambut - Venkatagiri Kota - Mulbagal route over Ranipet-Chittoor-Palamaner-Mulbagal route?

[shyamk]

Practically zero traffic when compared to the Chittoor route, made the drive through this road a breeze !

Shyam

[VW2010]

Originally Posted by shyamk

Practically zero traffic when compared to the Chittoor route, made the drive through this road a breeze !

Shyam

How bad is this road stretch between venkatagirikota and Mullagal. Is it advisable for Sedan or should i look at taking the Chittor rooute.
I am travelling in the next couple of hours and want to reach Manyata directly avoiding electronic city route.

[shyamk]

A sedan should be able to cross that bad stretch easily. Once you reach VenkatagiriKota, ask for Mulbagal. The locals will point you towards the right turn that you need to take. Shyam

[ampere]

Originally Posted by VW2010

How bad is this road stretch between venkatagirikota and Mullagal.

Originally Posted by shyamk

A sedan should be able to cross that bad stretch easily. Once you reach
VenkatagiriKota, ask for Mulbagal. The locals will point you towards the right turn that you need to take.
Shyam

This stretch is a part of the newly crowned NH. Prior it was numbered as NH234.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...way_234_(India)


But with nomenclature change, we see all kinds of numbering systems on Google maps.
All the roads forming this NH were prior SH. So dont expect great roads (thinking its a NH). But I guess overall the roads
beyond Mulbagal are decent to say the least.

[VW2010]

Made few mistakes where i took the Chittoor route even before reaching vellore. Wallajapet, ranipet local traffic is high here.

But once you hit tat OMR its just fun. Its far more fun driving this winding roads than taking the GQ.

Once i reached Mulbagal it was smooth sailing reaching my destination in less than an hour...Was cruising all through this stretch at 100KMPH from Mulbagal...

Not the best route to take during nights.

I reached Nokia at 4 and reached HBR by 9:15. Pretty good considering the 1 way traffic

[NPV]

Need some help for a possible weekend trip
1. Given current conditions of Krishnagiri-Vellore widening work, which route would you suggest for an early morning 5am start (I stay close to old madras road) ?
i) Old Madras Road route - how to locate the turn off after Chittoor ?
ii) GQ route via Hosur - Krishnagiri

2. Destination in chennai is R A Puram (Raja Annamalai Puram) so what would be the best route to get there ?

Appreciate your valuable inputs/suggestions.

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by NPV

Need some help for a possible weekend trip
1. Given current conditions of Krishnagiri-Vellore widening work, which route would you suggest for an early morning 5am start (I stay close to old madras road) ?
i) Old Madras Road route - how to locate the turn off after Chittoor ?
ii) GQ route via Hosur - Krishnagiri

2. Destination in chennai is R A Puram (Raja Annamalai Puram) so what would be the best route to get there ?

Appreciate your valuable inputs/suggestions.

You should take the chitoor route. You don't need to go inside chitoor at all. Before chitoor you will have a bypass where you need to take a slight right. One landmark to note will be a coffee day on the right side whilst going from Bangalore. From then on it is straight. Also once you reach Ranipet, you can ask anyone how to go to Arcot. That road will take yo to golden quadrilateral much faster than the wallajah route. You can skip wallajah this way. Best route for RA Puram is porur guindy raj Bhavan Adyar in current situation of metro work.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by NPV

Need some help for a possible weekend trip
1. Given current conditions of Krishnagiri-Vellore widening work, which route would you suggest for an early morning 5am start (I stay close to old madras road) ?
i) Old Madras Road route - how to locate the turn off after Chittoor ?
ii) GQ route via Hosur - Krishnagiri
2. Destination in chennai is R A Puram (Raja Annamalai Puram) so what would be the best route to get there ?

- I think OMR is better.
- Chitoor bypass directly lets you on to Madras road. So no issues.
- For a RA Puram, I think Poonamallee/Porur Road/Kathipara/Guindy is the best option.
- If you start by 5, you should cross the DLF area on Poonamalle high road by about 10/10:30.