[Mnjdnght]

How is the Sriperumbudur - Kodambakkam road? I've been thinking of taking this road to get onto the Chennai bypass road at Gurukkambakkam and exit on NH4 towards Koyambedu. Would this work as an alternative to the crowded Sriperumbudur - Koyambedu section through NH4 via Poonamallee bypass? How much difference in time would this make?

[csateesh]

Dear BHPians

Planning a drive to chennai and back. Planning to take NH7 , NH46 and NH4,

I see updates but would be great if someone can report the sections that we should watch out for.

Thanks

[ampere]

Originally Posted by csateesh

I see updates but would be great if someone can report the sections that we should watch out for.

If you are starting on a weekend, plan to start by 4AM. Thats the best time to beat the Hosur-Krishnagiri traffic and chaos.

Krishnagiri-Vellore has lots of diversions. But still its quite peaceful. Post Kanchipuram its quite a chaos the road and the condition is also patchy. If you are heading for South Chennai, suggest you exit at Sriperumbudur and take the SH to Tambaram via Mudichur.

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

How is the Sriperumbudur - Kodambakkam road? I've been thinking of taking this road to get onto the Chennai bypass road at Gurukkambakkam and exit on NH4 towards Koyambedu. Would this work as an alternative to the crowded Sriperumbudur - Koyambedu section through NH4 via Poonamallee bypass? How much difference in time would this make?

I think you are referring to sriperumbudur-kundrathur-gurukkambakkam-porur-200ft bypass
In addition to extra km, the route is patchy and narrow. Moreover, porur signal is actually a pain and time consuming due to bridge work at porur. Better to stick to poondamallee bypass.

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by ampere

start by 4AM. Thats the best time to beat the Hosur-Krishnagiri traffic and chaos.

Krishnagiri-Vellore has lots of diversions. Post Kanchipuram its quite a chaos the road and the condition is also patchy.

Thanks a bunch Ampere.

Planning to start early but not that early may be 5am. Looks like the toll road is also similar to the bangalore city roads post Kanchipuram. And we pay tolls too

Shall post an update once I am done with travel

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Gokrish

I think you are referring to sriperumbudur-kundrathur-gurukkambakkam-porur-200ft bypass
In addition to extra km, the route is patchy and narrow. Moreover, porur signal is actually a pain and time consuming due to bridge work at porur. Better to stick to poondamallee bypass.

Meanwhile I also realise while talking to my folks that if one is coming via GST from Tambaram side, there is no way one can take right to get into Velachery/Taramani side. One has to drive till Kathipara to take a U-turn. Is there no other way? If one wants to take this SH via Mudichur to avail this SH detour from Sri Perumbudur, he then has to squander the advantage by driving all the way to Kathipara. Any options there to avoid this?

My query is in general how to get OMR/Velachery side when taking the Sriperumudur-Tambaram SH. Looks like one cant take right at the Nanganallur under pass near St Thomas mount.

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by ampere

Meanwhile I also realise while talking to my folks that if one is coming via GST from Tambaram side, there is no way one can take right to get into Velachery/Taramani side. One has to drive till Kathipara to take a U-turn. Is there no other way? If one wants to take this SH via Mudichur to avail this SH detour from Sri Perumbudur, he then has to squander the advantage by driving all the way to Kathipara. Any options there to avoid this? My query is in general how to get OMR/Velachery side when taking the Sriperumudur-Tambaram SH. Looks like one cant take right at the Nanganallur under pass near St Thomas mount.

You just get on the flyover after chrompet and take a right towards pallikaranai. Go straight and you will join the tambaram-velachery road. No need to go till nanganallur.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

You just get on the flyover after chrompet and take a right towards pallikaranai. Go straight and you will join the tambaram-velachery road. No need to go till nanganallur.

How is the Tambaram-Velachery road to Medavakam instead of the parallel after Chromepet? Does the road via Pallavaram has lower traffic ?

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by ampere

How is the Tambaram-Velachery road to Medavakam instead of the parallel after Chromepet? Does the road via Pallavaram has lower traffic ?

That's a very long route, and the quality of road varies across seasons. And the traffic is very high as well.

[pisthpeeps]

Originally Posted by ampere

My query is in general how to get OMR/Velachery side when taking the Sriperumudur-Tambaram SH. Looks like one cant take right at the Nanganallur under pass near St Thomas mount.

When coming from Mudichur side you have three good options to reach Velachery/OMR side.
1. Take Tambaram-Velachery road - Has three connections to OMR. One at Medavakkam connecting Sholinganallur, one at Kamakshi hospital connecting Thoraipakkam and one from Velachery vijayanagar bus stop connecting SRP tools. The traffic is high on Tbm-Velachery road during peak hours and has multiple pain points like Camp road jn, Medavakkam jn and Vijayanagar signal. Roads are average with some good stretches.
2. Take GST and after Chrompet take the flyover and turn right to take the pallavaram - thoraipakkam radial road. Straight road to OMR with an option at Kamakshi hospital to join Velachery as well. I would suggest this route personally as the roads are good and traffic very less in the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam road during non-peak hours.
3. Take GST and before kathipara jn just after Thillaiganga nagar subway signal take a U turn and take the left near the Court and its a straight road connecting Tbm-Velachery road near Velachery MRTS station and runs parallel to Mount-Velachery MRTS track.

[ampere]

Thanks for summarising it nicely. Thats exactly what I was asking.

Originally Posted by pisthpeeps

When coming from Mudichur side you have three good options to reach Velachery/OMR side.
1. Take Tambaram-Velachery road - Has three connections to OMR. One at Medavakkam connecting Sholinganallur, one at Kamakshi hospital connecting Thoraipakkam and one from Velachery vijayanagar bus stop connecting SRP tools. The traffic is high on Tbm-Velachery road during peak hours and has multiple pain points like Camp road jn, Medavakkam jn and Vijayanagar signal. Roads are average with some good stretches.

This is the one I was asking Prabhu. Does taking Velachery road from Tambaram make sense till Medavakkam junction? How is the traffic from Medavakkam junction to Velachery in the morning times? If one starts at say 4/5 Am from Bangalore he would be here at about 9AM or so. Weekdays I gather its quite heavy on traffic.

2. Take GST and after Chrompet take the flyover and turn right to take the pallavaram - thoraipakkam radial road. Straight road to OMR with an option at Kamakshi hospital to join Velachery as well. I would suggest this route personally as the roads are good and traffic very less in the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam road during non-peak hours.

Same as above. Given above two options, which one is better on a weekday and on a weekend?

3. Take GST and before kathipara jn just after Thillaiganga nagar subway signal take a U turn and take the left near the Court and its a straight road connecting Tbm-Velachery road near Velachery MRTS station and runs parallel to Mount-Velachery MRTS track.

Thats the best in my opinion. (I hope you are referring to the ring road subway ) Thats what I was asking if there is any way to take that subway. Because as per what I understand thanks to Metro, one cannot take anywhere U turn on GST.

[Sridhar K]

Originally Posted by ampere

Does taking Velachery road from Tambaram make sense till Medavakkam junction? How is the traffic from Medavakkam junction to Velachery in the morning times? If one starts at say 4/5 Am from Bangalore he would be here at about 9AM or so. Weekdays I gather its quite heavy on traffic.



Same as above. Given above two options, which one is better on a weekday and on a weekend?



Thats the best in my opinion. (I hope you are referring to the ring road subway ) Thats what I was asking if there is any way to take that subway. Because as per what I understand thanks to Metro, one cannot take anywhere U turn on GST.

Ampere, as Prabhu suggested, Chromepet, Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam road, Kamatchi hospital is the better option though Tambaram Medavakkam is not bad on a weekend mornings. Medavakkam-Velachery is also ok but with patchy roads, 1.5 lanes for most parts is not better than Chrompet, Kamatchi hospital route. The ring road along MRTS is ok if you are coming via porur but not from Tambaram as you have to take a u turn near the OTA end.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

The ring road along MRTS is ok if you are coming via porur but not from Tambaram as you have to take a u turn near the OTA end.

If thats the only hitch compared to traffic, is it not worth it then ? Because GST would be free flowing ? (Or is it not thanks to constructions). And ring road also is relatively free flowing.

[Sridhar K]

Nope. From old airport to OTA is a gamble due to metro construction. Some times it is ok but sometimes it is bad plus it is longer as well.

[Bangalorean]

I just did Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore in my Mahindra Quanto, and here's the latest update w.r.t. route conditions and traffic:

Started from Bangalore (HSR layout) at 2:30 PM after lunch. Did not encounter any significant traffic at Attibele or Hosur town. Progress was not really "fast" through Hosur town, but it was tolerable. Road widening work is underway throughout Hosur town and in places all the way till Krishnagiri.

The road from Krishnagiri to Vellore (and a little beyond Vellore) is six-laned throughout, though there are diversions at a few places where they are building flyovers/bridges, or expanding existing ones. It is much easier and faster to drive on this stretch now, compared to the days when it was two lanes each side. Six-laning has made a massive difference.

Post-Vellore, it is the same old 4-lane road, and the road condition is not great either - lot of holes on the road surface. Not exactly "potholes", but enough to jolt around the car a bit.

The real problems start near Sriperambadur. Too many trucks, buses, cars, minivans, tempos etc. on that four-lane road. Lot of waiting and slow-moving traffic.

Reached T.Nagar in Chennai at 8:40. It took me just 6 hours in spite of all the traffic on Poonamale high road and Sriperambadur, which is not bad at all.

On the return journey, I started from Chennai (T.Nagar) at 3 PM. Again, very slow-moving traffic in Sriperambadur. The road simply does not have the capacity to cater to the number of vehicles that ply there, thanks to all the industries and factories around.

Reached Silkboard junction at 9 PM. Again it took just 6 hours in spite of the Sriperambadur traffic. Not bad at all.

Note: during both journeys - onward and return - I took just one small 5-minute tea break, apart from a couple of 30-second toilet breaks.

Note2: There is no doubt that Sriperambadur is a major bottleneck. This stretch needs to be widened to four lanes each way. Once this is done, and when the six-laning work on the entire stretch completes, the distance can be covered in 5 1/2 hours.