[Tempelhof]

Came from Madras to Bangalore yesterday (Monday) morning.

Paalavakkam (Madras) : 0610
Vellore : 0810 (Breakfast at HSB)
Chinar (AAB) : 1100
Whitefield : 1245

Minor traffic between Madras and Kancheepuram junction.

Watch out for "step-increase" in newly laid black tar patches between Vellore and Krishnagiri - my tyres crossed them with a loud thud, shocking everyone inside the car

[hyper-VTEC]

My travel plan got delayed and now i am traveling tomorrow to Chennai. I would be put up in Asiana Place hotel in Ascendas IT Park, CSIR road, Tharamani.

I would start from Banaswadi before 2PM and plan to take the NH7-NH48 route (Krishnagiri-Vellore-Chennai) since this is the first time i will travel to Chennai, thought this would be a safe bet. Google maps show 2 routes to reach Ascendas IT Park from Sriperumbudur. One through Tambaram-Intl Airport-Guindy and another through Ponnamallee-Porur. Assuming i would hit Chennai around 8-8:30PM which route would be less hectic?

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

Google maps show 2 routes to reach Ascendas IT Park from Sriperumbudur. One through Tambaram-Intl Airport-Guindy and another through Ponnamallee-Porur. Assuming i would hit Chennai around 8-8:30PM which route would be less hectic?

Tambaram - airport route is longer compared to porur route. However Ponnamallee- porur strech is bit too crowded always. For saving time and patience you can try tambaram route.

[hyper-VTEC]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Tambaram - airport route is longer compared to porur route. However Ponnamallee- porur strech is bit too crowded always. For saving time and patience you can try tambaram route.

Ok. I Will take Tambaram route then. How will i know where to turn for Tambaram from Sriperumbudur? Also there is an alternate route from Tambaram to Ascendas IT Park. Instead of going through Intl Airport there is a right after Rajaji Nagar (marked as State Road 109 in Google) which connects to Rajeev Gandhi IT Highway and then Ascendas IT Park. Or go straight to Intl Airport- Guindy - KasturiNagar - Ascendas IT Park?

This is the first time i will be visiting Chennai, so need help from regular visitors.

[binand]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

This is the first time i will be visiting Chennai, so need help from regular visitors.

My view is that you should take the straightforward route: Poonamalle-Porur-Kathipara-Guindy-SP Road-Madhya Kailas-OMR-Ascendas. If you can delay things a bit so that you hit the city after 9, you will avoid the worst of the evening rush hour too. Here is the route:

NH 4 to CSIR Rd - Google Maps

[hyper-VTEC]

Originally Posted by binand

My view is that you should take the straightforward route: Poonamalle-Porur-Kathipara-Guindy-SP Road-Madhya Kailas-OMR-Ascendas. If you can delay things a bit so that you hit the city after 9, you will avoid the worst of the evening rush hour too.

Any particular reason for that. Starting at 1:30-2:00PM, i feel i would reach these areas around 8-8:30PM. What are the cons of the route i mentioned. Sorry for asking.

[VW2010]

Since you are going to Asiana, my suggestion is to take the right just after Nokia.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=U...a=1,2&t=m&z=14

Use the above route to save a lot of time from Sriperumbudur.

[binand]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

Any particular reason for that. Starting at 1:30-2:00PM, i feel i would reach these areas around 8-8:30PM. What are the cons of the route i mentioned. Sorry for asking.

You said this is your first time to Chennai. I think for the first time you should take the tried and tested (and well-signposted, and well-illuminated, and well-maintained, and well-policed and so on) route. Since you expect to be visiting Chennai frequently, you can try the off-beat roads once you are familiar with the layout of the city - for example, there are several roads by which you can hit GST Road/Tambaram from Tharamani; you can try all of them in sequence (via Guindy, Velachery, Pallikaranai, Sholinganallur, Kelambakkam...). Then there are many options of hitting NH4 from GST Road. You could try each of them too.

[narayans80]

I agree with binand, if you can take an extended dinner break at some place, you can time to enter town like 9pm+ when it is lot more peaceful. Since you are a first-timer, it is better off taking the Porur-Kathipara-SP Road-OMR route to Ascendas. All turnoffs are well marked on the way.

Ideally taking Oragadam route to Tambaram and 100ft road from Pallavaram to Sholinganallur and OMR thereon would be the fastest, which is what VW2010 suggested.

[hyper-VTEC]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I agree with binand, if you can take an extended dinner break at some place, you can time to enter town like 9pm+ when it is lot more peaceful. Since you are a first-timer, it is better off taking the Porur-Kathipara-SP Road-OMR route to Ascendas. All turnoffs are well marked on the way.

Ideally taking Oragadam route to Tambaram and 100ft road from Pallavaram to Sholinganallur and OMR thereon would be the fastest, which is what VW2010 suggested.

Thanks to all. What i'll do is check the time when i reach Nokia. Since i plan to start around 1PM from Banaswadi, to reach Hosur it would be around 2:30PM. If i reach Nokia before 7PM, i'll take the route VW2010 suggested, since i'll have some time to experiment. If I reach Nokia beyond 7:30PM then i'll wait and have extended early dinner somewhere and start around 8:30PM towards Porur.

Any good food places in and around Nokia?

[binand]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Ideally taking Oragadam route to Tambaram and 100ft road from Pallavaram to Sholinganallur and OMR thereon would be the fastest, which is what VW2010 suggested.

Small correction - the road from Pallavaram via Pallikaranai connects OMR at Thoraipakkam. The road that connects at Sholinganallur comes from Tambaram via Medavakkam.

I am told that ever since Vilasrao Deshmukh's hospitalization and subsequent death at the Global Hospital, the crowd on the Medavakkam-Sholinganallur road (on which the hospital stands) has gone up a notch. Is this true?

[pedalpoint]

Did a Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai trip this weekend on GQ. Traveled with my wife and a year old kid.

Departure: Chrompet, Chennai - 6.45 AM, Saturday
Arraival: Madivala, Bangalore - 12:30 PM, 45 Min break at Arya Bhavan

Return:
Departure: Madivala, Bangalore - 7.15 AM, Tuesday
Arraival: Guinday, Chennai - 12.30 PM, 30 Min break at Arya Bhavan.

Route Update: Took Tambram - Kishkinta - Somangalam to reach Sriperumbudur.
Tambaram - Kishkinta: Very bad roads
Kishkinta - Somangalam - Good
Somangalam - SH113 - Very Very Bad, Non-Existent roads . Can use only 1st and 2nd gears in this stretch.
SH113 - Sriperumbudur - Good.
Took 50 - 55 mins to cover this stretch from chrompet.

So again, its worth to travel that extra 20 odd kilometers and take the bypass road to reach sriperumbudur. It will take the same time, esp during early morning hours when the traffic is sparse.

And there are diversions because of the 6 laning. Some of them are 2 laned, was able to travel in decent speed. Some of them are single laned, had to queue behind the trucks. Ghat section had the usual hand-shaking trucks on both the lanes on way to bangalore. But the return trip was good with minimal truck traffic.

DDiS Mileage Rocks!! @ 20 Kmpl

[VW2010]

@Pedal Point.

Never take "Took Tambram - Kishkinta - Somangalam to reach Sriperumbudur." this route to reach Sriperumbudur.

From Tambaram, take the below route.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...sz=13&t=m&z=13

It may hardly take 30 minutes to reach Nokia.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by VW2010

From Tambaram, take the below route.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...sz=13&t=m&z=13

It may hardly take 30 minutes to reach Nokia.

Have you taken this route (manimangalam) recently? When I took this route a year back, I was totally shattered with the non existance of road. I don't know if they have laid the roads now.

I always do Tambaram-Oragadam-Sirperumbudhur.

[binand]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

Since i plan to start around 1PM from Banaswadi, to reach Hosur it would be around 2:30PM. If i reach Nokia before 7PM, i'll take the route VW2010 suggested, since i'll have some time to experiment. If I reach Nokia beyond 7:30PM then i'll wait and have extended early dinner somewhere and start around 8:30PM towards Porur.

You can be at Krishnagiri at around 3PM. Krishnagiri-Sriperumbudur is about 3 hours max in my experience (about 230 km), so you should be at Sriperumbudur by 6PM.