[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ampere

If its the last 3-4 months I dont know.

Yes, I happened to drive thrice in October when I noticed progress on each drive.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

It was via Sethupet, Varanavasi, Oddanthangal, Walajabad-Uthukadu Rd and joins the highway 30 Kms from Sriperumbudur(towards bangalore).

I happened to try SH 120, that is Tenneri-Sunguvachatram. It was a wider 2-lane with lane markings in very good condition. The only traffic was a few 2-wheelers. This might be slightly longer since SH 120 actually goes in a North easterly direction from SH48 till Sunguvachatram.

Two quirks:
- It goes through Sunguvachatram town.
- There is a 1/2 km stretch before entering Sunguvachatram town which is bad, it goes under the NH - as a result I would avoid it when it rains well.

The last 1 km takes about 5 min at most to complete.

[DigitalOne]

Travelled today from Bangalore to Chennai. As others have also said, the four lane road from Walajah toll to SriPerumbudur is much better than what it used to be. It looks to have been recently relaid. Though there are still some rough patches.

There are a lot of new barricades now in the entire route? Last year when I drove this route, I don't remember seeing so many. Initially I thought the localities have placed them, but then I noticed the sign boards warning about the barricades. So looks like it is an NHAI thing.

[hserus]

On this topic - residents of Poonamallee filed a police case against NHAI for poor maintenance of the road. God knows what IPC section they cute as the basis for this FIR

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...le20607320.ece

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

There are a lot of new barricades now in the entire route?

Not the entire route, when I last drove. It started 20 km after Madras turn at Krishnagiri (approximately 240 km from Madras) till Baluchettichatram (80 km from Madras).

They are more concentrated in around Vellore and Arcot. The ones near Vaniyambadi and Krishnagiri are farcical and seem to be a ploy by highway motel owners. You'll see at least 2-3 that are on completely useless points, where there is no necessity to slowdown. One such I remember is near Pallikonda toll with adverts for Aryas Hotel.

Originally Posted by hserus

On this topic - residents of Poonamallee filed a police case against NHAI for poor maintenance of the road.

Good job! That Poonamalee bypass turn off is horrendous. First time I did in a while, I thought I took the wrong turn.

[narayans80]

Significant progress has been made on the Madras bound direction. The entire Walajah-Kanchipuram 76 km milestone exit has been smoothened out. Some small sections around Baluchetti and Kaveripakkam aren't done. Rest are relaid.

The Bangalore bound direction remains the same since my last drive in October.

Took the Military Road-Walajabad route both ways, here's my writeup on it:

There are minimum 2 ways to catch this route:
1. Tambaram-Mudichur Road (SH110)-Mudichur Oragadam Road (SH 48) via Mannivakkam-Joins Walajabad Road ahead of Padapai

2. Tambaram-GST-Vandalur-Walajabad Road
Both approaches are filled with traffic. I felt Option 1 was better on a weekday than option 2 on a weekend. In option 1, you can't catch Chennai bypass or its atleast more distance if you have to.

Sectionwise updates:

Walajabad Road (SH48) until Walajabad - This is the fastest part. You can do 100 in some stretches. There is some construction work going in the initial 2-3 km out of Vandalur. There are short jams possible at Padappai and a bit at Oragadam, but these wont consume much time. You can breeze through Vandalur-Walajabad in 25-30 min flat. There are some plate holes to watch out. This is not a perfect tarmac. The biggest advantage is this stretch sees mild traffic.

Walajabad-Kanchipuram until Military Road - This 9-10 km stretch is the slowest. Its a 2-lane with buses, cars and all sort of miscellaneous traffic. You need some patience to cross this stretch. Tarmac is mostly good except for some odd potholes.

Military Road - Traffic eases out in this 5 km stretch. But there is still some 2-wheeler traffic in this stretch. Its definitely faster than the earlier section.

MDR 143 (Vellore Bangalore bypass road) - Super wide 2-lane. Minimal traffic. This is about 6 km or so and you can easily 80-100. Do keep your eyes open, as this section is just outside Kanchipuram and you can expect some odd miscellaenous traffic. This will merge into NH4 at the 76 km milestone (6 km ahead of Baluchetti).

Reference Timings
Perungudi Toll- NH4 : 2:10 hrs on weekday starting Perungudi at 3:00 pm
NH4 - T.Nagar : 2:05 hrs on Sunday evening, exiting NH4 at 5:00 pm

[ravib]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Significant progress has been made on the Madras bound direction. The entire Walajah-Kanchipuram 76 km milestone exit has been smoothened out. Some small sections around Baluchetti and Kaveripakkam aren't done. Rest are relaid.

The Bangalore bound direction remains the same since my last drive in October.

This is great to hear. Thanks Narayan. . Hopefully now the frustration levels will come down post Chennasamudram toll due to bad roads towards Madras, but still i guess we have to bear with sand lorry traffic sprinking sand in windshield. And they should lay the road with good quality considering the traffic volume especially trucks and buses.

I hope they will relay the road side towards Bangalore as well. Any signs of work happening in other side of the road?

-Ravi

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ravib

Any signs of work happening in other side of the road?

There were 1 or 2 small sections that were getting relaid in October on the Bangalore bound direction. This time I didn't see any in the 40 km section I drove on.

There was this funny board ahead of Chennasamudram toll in Madras bound direction

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by narayans80

There was this funny board ahead of Chennasamudram toll in Madras bound direction

Attachment 1703092

This was put up just after the 2015 floods. Some part of the highway around sriperumbudur was submerged and got damaged then.

[finneyp]

I will be driving to Vellore & then to Chennai next week, how is the situation at the FasTag lanes?
Are they allowing only FasTag vehicles or all and sundry?

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by finneyp

I will be driving to Vellore & then to Chennai next week, how is the situation at the FasTag lanes?
Are they allowing only FasTag vehicles or all and sundry?

The Chennasamudram and Sriperumbudur tolls accept Fastag through manual scanners. There are designated lanes but doesn't matter since they let in all the vehicles. The fastag scanner is only located on the designated lane. I really hope they keep a security manning the Fastag lane soon. Will definitely save some time.

From Krishnagiri, the rest of the tolls have dedicated Fastag lanes with security guards.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

The Chennasamudram and Sriperumbudur tolls accept Fastag through manual scanners. There are designated lanes but doesn't matter since they let in all the vehicles. The fastag scanner is only located on the designated lane.

Thanks, does that mean I can enter any of the lanes at the above 2 tolls and they will scan the FasTag using manual scanner?

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Thanks, does that mean I can enter any of the lanes at the above 2 tolls and they will scan the FasTag using manual scanner?

No, this isn't a manual handheld scanner. It's fixed at a side of the fastag lane so you have to mandatorily go through this lane.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by finneyp

I will be driving to Vellore & then to Chennai next week, how is the situation at the FasTag lanes?
Are they allowing only FasTag vehicles or all and sundry?

It all depends on the crowd. If you are driving during peak hours/weekend then don't keep too much expectations on Fastag :-), consider this as a cashless option only. Attibele/Krishnagiri, when crowded it is difficult to enter the fastag lane, but they do have more than one lane with Fastag enabled.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

It all depends on the crowd. If you are driving during peak hours/weekend then don't keep too much expectations on Fastag :-)

Agree, but I am driving on Friday morning, so it should be fine I guess.
I am worried about Chennasamudram and Sriperumbudur tolls, where the FastTag lane is crowded with trucks (assume they also have FastTag) & takes a long time to pass through, so I was wondering if other lanes scan FasTag using manual scanner?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by finneyp

so I was wondering if other lanes scan FasTag using manual scanner?

If not exclusive and dedicated, expect things to be better now. Post Nov 1, a lot of booths that have FASTag got Hybrid scanners in place (not hand held) that you can take risk of entering a non tagged booth and still have it scanned thought the fixed scanner there near the booth window.

Also, I do recall from my last drive to Chennai on a weekday evening where rush hour to return back home ensured I could never get onto the FT lane and manual scan was done.

These days, apart from the manual scanners, booths have the fixed scanners and as per claims (mandates and news reports)they will extend to all the booths.

Last Saturday I drove to Pune and at few booths after Belgaum I took the other lanes next to FASTag lanes as I was instructed and the scanner there worked perfectly as I only had to tell the attendant that I was having FASTag and he punched something on his keyboard. On fact, even before I reached the window I noticed the digital display there mention my class of vehicle "Car/Jeep/Van" which meant things were already in place and automated.