[hserus]

Originally Posted by letsgo2016

Yeah it was all over the news. If that's the case shall plan via Train. Just curious can we make it in time if we start by 12PM at Marathahalli ?

The chennai roads are empty and peaceful at this time. You shouldn't have issues.

[mpksuhas]

Did Bangalore Chennai yesterday morning.

Started from Bangalore - HSR layout at 4.50 AM, decided against taking BETL, with a bio break at Vaniyambadi toll reached Sriperumbdur at around 8.15 AM.

Drive was surprisingly fast till here. However, past this there was considerable traffic and it took another 1.5 hours for reaching Vadapalani.

No concerns about road conditions inspite of rains.

[tilt]

Guys, the last time I drove BLR-MAA via Vellore, I noticed that there was a new CCD opened up on the Left (en route to Chennai). However, I did not have the time to mark the location on my GPS for future reference.

Does anyone know this location, and if so, would you be able to give me a google maps point to this place please?

The store-locator section on CCD's web site is useless, it only talks about a site in Ambur, on the MAA-BLR side of the highway. I am looking for the one in the BLR-MAA side; and it has been opened quite recently while the Ambur one has been open for a long time.

Please note, I am not referring to the ones at Kanchipuram or near the MMSC track, I am referring to one way before Kanchipuram. Somewhere near Sai Sangeet if I remember correctly. Thanks.

Thank you and cheers

[binand]

Originally Posted by tilt

Guys, the last time I drove BLR-MAA via Vellore, I noticed that there was a new CCD opened up on the Left (en route to Chennai).

Between Ambur and Pallikonda there are CCDs on both sides of the road.

Carriageway towards Chennai: https://goo.gl/maps/rpMKCYA1ndS2
Carriageway towards Bangalore: https://goo.gl/maps/nguvSxbHEhT2

[prabhuferrari]

After a long time took the pallikonda - gudiyattam route since my destination was near thanisandra road.

Started at 4.40 AM from saligramam and reached Pallikonda by 6.35 AM. Took right towards Gudiyattam. 46 kms of roads in middle of villages, ghats (For 20 minutes no mobile network) with lots and lots of monkeys, odd bad patches. Reached Palamner by 7.40 AM and from then on encountered multiple diversions due to the road work till karnataka border. Reached hoskote toll by around 8.50 AM (after a 5 min fuel refill) and thanisandra road by 9.50 AM. Once the palamner work is complete can easily save another 15 to 20 minutes. The route from hoskote toll to thanisandra via hennur was partly via avalahalli road. Narrow roads with heavy but moving traffic. Given a choice I would take this route only if I reach Bangalore/Silk board between 8 to 10 AM. Else will stick to Hosur road.

[babu.sundaram]

Did a Chennai trip after long time (few months! ).
Both onward and return by Hosur road in wee hours, both about 6 hours run time (I am stickler to what I perceive as speed limit for my puny wagonr).
Walaja - Sriperumpudur stretch has improved by LOTS! Whatever happened there, hope it stays this way.
Colorful blue/red/white blinkers at intersections with barricades is irritating. I am okay with barricades but not these contraptions (and if these are must, should be put in ALL places!).
Noticed far more trucks with no stickers/lights at the back, lumbering slowly in the middle lane. Aren't truck LEDs cheaper OR the LEDs dont last truck like abuse? (I remember seeing those color ful medlee in many trucks sometime ago).

[arun_josie]

Last week I got stuck in a major traffic while exiting Chennai towards Bangalore. I started from Kilpauk and took the Koyambedu-Maduravoyal route. It was a weekday morning around 11:30AM, but still the traffic was crazy. First 18Kms took exactly 2 hours and 65Kms took 3+ hours. This is the second time I am getting stuck in such a traffic. So, would like to know if there is any good alternate route even if its longer(starting from Kilpauk area).

[ampere]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Last week I got stuck in a major traffic while exiting Chennai towards Bangalore.
..
So, would like to know if there is any good alternate route even if its longer(starting from Kilpauk area).

One is to try regular Tambaram-Manimangalam-Sriperumbudur.

One big advantage is it avoids that huge toll booth queue for you. Plus traffic is steady but flows. So if you can find a reasonably easy way to hit GST, you should be good in my opinion.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ravib

In return journey on Saturday 4th Aug, left Vadapalani at 3.30 pm sharp and got stuck in inch-by-inch city traffic again near Poonamalle due to some truck/car minor collision and I was cursing my luck. Adding to that, rains were also causing delays all the way till Chennasamudram Toll, so reached Sai Sangeet after the toll plaza at 6 pm.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Last week I got stuck in a major traffic while exiting Chennai towards Bangalore. I started from Kilpauk and took the Koyambedu-Maduravoyal route. It was a weekday morning around 11:30AM, but still the traffic was crazy. First 18Kms took exactly 2 hours and 65Kms took 3+ hours. This is the second time I am getting stuck in such a traffic. So, would like to know if there is any good alternate route even if its longer(starting from Kilpauk area).

Seems this is more and more common these days unless we leave both cities (Bangalore or Madras) in early morning hours. If you refer my post #2990, i was mentioning its becoming more and more painful as it takes easily 2 hours to exit city in day time

I Just drove from Bangalore to Madras last Friday 31-Aug-2018. Left C.V.Raman Nagar at 6.15 pm. Had to leave late evening unfortunately (which is not my usual time to leave city, but had to due to school timings). Checked google maps (luckily Tin Factory/KR Puram bridge junction was not jammed) so took ORR and drove via Marathalli, Kadubeesanahalli, Sarjapur, Bagalur route and reached Hosur at 8.15 pm. Felt two hours to reach hosur on a friday evening peak hours seemed reasonable and good that i didn't took Ejipuraa/Koramangala/Silk Board route as it would have been a nightmare.

-Ravi

[narayans80]

In general if you were to leave in daytime, avoid Poonamalee-Sriperumbudur like plague. The best time to negotiate it is with 4-5am starts. Otherwise it is one of the below 2 routes:

a. Tambaram-Mudichur-Manimangalam-Sriperumbudur - Traffic moves slowly till it branches off to Manimangalam crossing ORR. Another bottleneck is the merge point at Sriperumbudur bypass (48th km on NH4), where it takes anywhere between 10-20 mins to merge.

b. Tambaram/Vandalur-Padappai-Walajabad-Military Road-NH48 - This is 10 km longer. The 4-lane branches off at Vandalur, but you can also a road that connects Mudichur (from route a) and Mannivakkam (on Vandalur-Walajabad road). Gives a 4-lane until Walajabad. Walajabad-Military Road is slow, pain to overtake, this is about 10 km. Once you are on Military Road, it eases off a little, you still have to be wary of share autos and 2-wheelers in the initial stretch on Military Road. Google Maps will take you through a narrow stretch on the final stretch of Military Road. Skip that and you'll directly meet the wide 2-lane you have to merge into half km ahead. Merges on NH4 at 76th km.

Both skip Nemmeli toll, but not Chennasamudram. My timings have varied between 1:45 to 2:15 hrs to Murugan Idli Shop.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

So, would like to know if there is any good alternate route even if its longer(starting from Kilpauk area).

Your best shot is taking Poonamalee High Road till Maduravoyal, take Bypass till Tambaram. Turn towards town and then take Tambaram-Mudichur road.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by narayans80

In general if you were to leave in daytime, avoid Poonamalee-Sriperumbudur like plague. The best time to negotiate it is with 4-5am starts. Otherwise it is one of the below 2 routes:

.....
Your best shot is taking Poonamalee High Road till Maduravoyal, take Bypass till Tambaram. Turn towards town and then take Tambaram-Mudichur road.

For people like me and mpksuhas, leaving from Vadapalani area, we almost have no choice but to take Poonamalle-Sriperumbudur when we exit Madras city

-Ravi

[mpksuhas]

Yes, as Ravi mentioned above there is no other choice compared to Sriperumbdur route from Vadapalani.

That said, last time I drove to Chennai, the weekend before independence day, morning traffic from Sriperumbdur to Vadapalani was horrible. One of the major reason was the extremely bad condition of roads once you cross Poonamalee towards Chennai.

[tilt]

Originally Posted by ravib

For people like me and mpksuhas, leaving from Vadapalani area, we almost have no choice but to take Poonamalle-Sriperumbudur when we exit Madras city

-Ravi

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Yes, as Ravi mentioned above there is no other choice compared to Sriperumbdur route from Vadapalani.*SNIP*

Count me in too - T. Nagar! The only "choices" I can make is whether to go Porur/DLF or Poonamallee High Road/Nelson Manickam Mudaliar Road. Some choice!

Cheers

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by tilt

Count me in too - T. Nagar! The only "choices" I can make is whether to go Porur/DLF or Poonamallee High Road/Nelson Manickam Mudaliar Road. Some choice!

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Yes, as Ravi mentioned above there is no other choice compared to Sriperumbdur route from Vadapalani.

Originally Posted by ravib

For people like me and mpksuhas, leaving from Vadapalani area, we almost have no choice but to take Poonamalle-Sriperumbudur when we exit Madras city

I wrote a reply yesterday and closed the browser I am from T. Nagar and take a 10 km detour to take the Manimangalam route, Walajabad route is another 10 km extra.

I used to be a proponent of the straightforward Mount Road-Mount Poonamalee-Poonamalee bypass-Sriperumbudur road before. This all went off the window sitting in useless traffic jams in 2 attempts. Crossing Nemili toll alone used to cost 2-2.5 hours. That's when I started experimenting these routes.

Since there is a bridge construction going on at Pallavaram, I sometimes take Cenotaph Road-OMR-Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram-Tambaram-Mudichur-Manimangalam-Sriperumbudur.

Tilt, don't take Nelson Manickam Road especially at peak hours. I try to avoid it as much as possible. It once took me 2 hours for T. Nagar to Koyambedu, I targeted to reach for a birthday party and reached there when dinner was over

Don't worry about the detour, I do it in a fuel inefficient petrol car you guys with diesels shouldn't think twice.

[ravib]

Did a return journey from Madras to Bangalore over the weekend.

Started at 6.30 am from Vadapalani and hoping there will be less traffic in the morning hours, took the regular Poonamalle / Sriperumbudur route (Sorry @Narayans80, i may have to try your option other time ).
Though there was no traffic jam, there were huge number of college buses (particularly Panimalar college) and Hyundai buses, so speed was low.

Reached Vedal BP COCO Bunk at 7.45 am (not a bad timing to say the least) and filled full tank Diesel @ 77.25 per litre Even after buying a Diesel car, My EcoSport drinks more costly fuel now than what i used to pay for Petrol i20 !!! And i feel BP Diesel is "not as good as" HP Diesel despite buying from COCO Bunk. Anyway, that is OT to discuss in fuel prices thread.

After a quick refuelling break, reached Hotel Saravana Bhavan at 8 am for breakfast, which is just a kilometre away from Vedal BP COCO Bunk. Took 1 hour break as my daughter was playing in the play area. Left at 9 am post breakfast and reached Pallikonda toll at 10.30 am.

Decided to do a quick darshan at Pallikondan Perumal temple. Thanks to ampere for letting me know about this temple long back, but got a chance only in this trip to see the lord. (Note the additional "n" at the end of town name - PallikondaN which is the actual name, but somehow it is missed over time). Lord Uthra Ranganathar swamy temple is a very old temple and is just 5 minutes detour from NH. Location Link: https://goo.gl/maps/ZvM5Nbu7eCw

Finished darshan at 11.30 am and drove sedately and reached Silkboard at 1.30 pm. Post which is usual Bangalore city bumper to bumper traffic.

So overall effective driving time (excluding breaks) is little over 5 hours!
So a morning start did help to reduce the overall driving time, but let me see what is in store for my next month trip!

-Ravi