[narayans80]

Originally Posted by binand

Sriperumbudur-Poonamallee-Porur-Guindy is going to be quicker.

No man, it is highly unpredictable. Traffic jams keep happening for no reason. Couple of days back an acquiantance got stuck for 1.5 hrs between Thiruvallur turnoff and Poonamalee bypass. I've had this experience couple of times where I was stuck for 20-30 min at the same place. You'll see similar experiences in this very thread itself (recent I remember was Arun Josie - who even posted pictures).

Unless you enter late nights or early mornings, the straight in route is not worth it. Otherwise it takes same/more time with more hassles to negotiate enroute.

[tomchacks]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Last one year, my regular route has been Sriperumbudur-Manimangalam-Mudichur (SH110)-Tambaram-GST-Mount Road Route is peaceful barring 2 major bottlenecks:

1. Turnoff from NH at Sriperumbudur (this is common with SH 113 and SH110). This will take 10 min
2. Pallavaram bridge construction (5-10 min).

Rest is free flowing.

Budget 2-2.5 hrs from Chennasamudram toll to destination.

Thanks, I shall keep the above option in mind if there is heavy traffic on NH 48.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by tomchacks

Thanks, I shall keep the above option in mind if there is heavy traffic on NH 48.

If you drive with Google Maps on. Pullover after Kanchipuram and check for red spots on the main highway. If there are, you can use the Manimangalam route. Here too Google Maps is perfect to navigate you through this route.

[tomchacks]

Originally Posted by narayans80

If you drive with Google Maps on. Pullover after Kanchipuram and check for red spots on the main highway. If there are, you can use the Manimangalam route. Here too Google Maps is perfect to navigate you through this route.

Thanks. The appearance of red spots in the Sriperumbudur-Poonamallee-Porur-Guindy route in Google maps prompted me to raise this query.

Originally Posted by binand

I'm not too sure you gain anything by taking that SH 113. Surely Sriperumbudur-Poonamallee-Porur-Guindy is going to be quicker.

Thanks to binand, NPV and aravind.anand for throwing clarity in taking the Porur route. If the traffic is not too thick, I will go as per this route.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by tomchacks

Thanks. The appearance of red spots in the Sriperumbudur-Poonamallee-Porur-Guindy route in Google maps prompted me to raise this query.

Thanks to binand, NPV and aravind.anand for throwing clarity in taking the Porur route. If the traffic is not too thick, I will go as per this route.

There’s a Saravana Stores right by the Porur flyover so it is a frequent contributor to red patches on google maps. Plenty of offices on that stretch too so don’t try it during office peak hours morning and evening.

[vipinendran]

A new facility on The Chennai Bangalore highway, friends did any one get to use it? It is actually a world class toilet facility on the Bengaluru- Krishnagiri highway. A pay and use facility, which is a part of the Swach Bharat campaign. It's called LAVATO.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by vipinendran

A new facility on The Chennai Bangalore highway, friends did any one get to use it? It is actually a world class toilet facility on the Bengaluru- Krishnagiri highway. A pay and use facility, which is a part of the Swach Bharat campaign. It's called LAVATO.

I’ve seen ksrtc night buses stop at such a place occasionally. Did the RY on the name board of this place fall off?

[binand]

Originally Posted by vipinendran

A pay and use facility, which is a part of the Swach Bharat campaign. It's called LAVATO.

Originally Posted by hserus

Did the RY on the name board of this place fall off?

No, it is indeed called Lavato. They have a website here: https://www.lavato.in/

At present they seem to have only this one location, just outside Krishnagiri town towards Bangalore. The photos are impressive, but I'm skeptical of their ability to maintain quality over a long period.

[ravib]

Due to US Thanksgiving holidays and less work, completed a Bangalore-Madras-Bangalore trip. Started from Bangalore on 22nd Nov around 7 am (planned late start intentionally considering fog and heavy rains in east coast). Decided to try out and experiment how Palamaner-Guidiyattam-Pallikonda route is, in this trip. So After a quick breakfast stop at Maiyas in Highways Star Food court before Mulbagal toll, was wondering how the road condition will be due to ongoing road construction from AP border towards Chittoor in NH4.

After crossing Nangili toll, the current status of new road up to Palamaner is almost 70% complete. With the completed portion of the road, now the route looks significantly different especially while crossing the forest area before Palamaner checkpost and would say quite scenic too. I was totally surprised to see they are laying concrete roads completely instead of tar roads! I hope this will last long even in heavy rains and also due to heavy truck traffic.

There are still 3 to 4 diversions and also bridges constructions are in quite basic stages. What is worse, is not clear diversion boards well ahead and mixed mode traffic where you end up driving in opposite direction or vice versa is confusing. So, is it advisable to take this route now towards Palamaner, Tirupati or Madras - Absolutely NO and highly NOT recommended, particulary after dark.
Once the road construction is complete, this will be a super breeze to drive to Madras in this newly laid concrete roads. I saw that the new roads are not touching Palamaner town and was bypassed much ahead after checkpost which is a good thing.

Once i touched Palamaner town, took right towards Gudiyattam road, and after a kilometer or so, there was not much traffic and roads are deserted. Post which all the way till Gudiyattam, had a fantastic good roads that is super scenic with forests, valley view and a slight detour (9 kms) to Mordana dam. Attached few pictures. Watch out for monkeys crossing forest areas, so drive slowly and please don't honk. On a rainy day with wet roads, rolling down the windows to enjoy pollution free air in scenic route is simply awesome.

After reaching Gudiyattam, its a pain to cross the town (but would say still worth the scenic drive) and drove further towards Pallikonda town to touch NH75. It was raining heavily all the way from Pallikonda till Sriperumbudur and slowed down my speed, but was enjoying a rainy drive

For Return journey on 25th Nov, i had some work at Urapakkam & Guduvanchery, so after finishing that took Vandalur-Padappai-Walajabad-Kanchipuram route to experiment. Here too was pleasantly surprised to see fantastic 6 Lane roads for most of the part crossing many major companies (like Renault Nissan etc) and then decent 4 Lane roads. As we head closer to Walajabad, the road narrows to 2L and traffic increases towards as we get closer to Kanchipuram.

-Ravi

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by ravib

Post which all the way till Gudiyattam, had a fantastic good roads that is super scenic with forests, valley view and a slight detour (9 kms) to Mordana dam. Attached few pictures. Watch out for monkeys crossing forest areas, so drive slowly and please don't honk. On a rainy day with wet roads, rolling down the windows to enjoy pollution free air in scenic route is simply awesome.

After reaching Gudiyattam, its a pain to cross the town (but would say still worth the scenic drive) and drove further towards Pallikonda town to touch NH75. It was raining heavily all the way from Pallikonda till Sriperumbudur and slowed down my speed, but was enjoying a rainy drive


-Ravi

Ravi sir i used this route twice in july/august as my office is in bharatiya city and from whitefield there is a route to chokkenehalli completely avoiding traffic. I wanted to check if they have completed the bridge/culvert construction some 15 kms before gudiyattam. There is a 70 to 80m of horrible patch due to the construction activities. Also how is Mordana dam? Worth going at this time of the year?

Also if you wish to experiment, you can take left at gudiyattam and reach katpadi by a 2 lane road avoiding pallikonda toll. On this road there is a hillock called mahendra malai which is quite famous around this side. That is if you have time to kill.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by ravib

After crossing Nangili toll, the current status of new road up to Palamaner is almost 70% complete. With the completed portion of the road, now the route looks significantly different especially while crossing the forest area before Palamaner checkpost and would say quite scenic too. I was totally surprised to see they are laying concrete roads completely instead of tar roads! I hope this will last long even in heavy rains and also due to heavy truck traffic.

-Ravi

I noticed this white topping while going to Aragonda this May itself. My observation was till such time the work is fully over, no point taking risk by choosing this route.
My only concern is driving on cement roads in peak summer especially AP, wont there be a possibility of tyre burst unlike driving on Tar road ?

[srvm]

Originally Posted by ravib

....
After crossing Nangili toll, the current status of new road up to Palamaner is almost 70% complete. With the completed portion of the road, now the route looks significantly different especially while crossing the forest area before Palamaner checkpost and would say quite scenic too. I was totally surprised to see they are laying concrete roads completely instead of tar roads! I hope this will last long even in heavy rains and also due to heavy truck traffic.

There are still 3 to 4 diversions and also bridges constructions are in quite basic stages. What is worse, is not clear diversion boards well ahead and mixed mode traffic where you end up driving in opposite direction or vice versa is confusing. So, is it advisable to take this route now towards Palamaner, Tirupati or Madras - Absolutely NO and highly NOT recommended, particulary after dark.
......
-Ravi

Thanks for the update, Ravi.
I've done this route few times last year. This route after Palamner is an absolute treat to drive (recommended only in day time though). Once, I too had to drive during rains. It was absolutely delightful. Traffic is very sparse even during day.

How is Mordana dam? Did you visit?

Instead of driving through dense traffic of Gudiyattam town and narrow roads of Pallikonda, I prefer taking left at Gudiyattam junction- K Pudur - K V Kuppam - Vaduganthangal - Virinchipuram - join NH48 near Poigai.

A neighbour who visited Chittoor recently told me that as of today Palamner-Chittoor section is absolutely horrible compared to Nangli-Palamner section.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ravib

Vandalur-Padappai-Walajabad-Kanchipuram

Am curious to know your timings on this section Evening times can be a pain to drive on Walajabad-Kanchipuram.

I hope you bypassed Kanchipuram by taking Military Road and joined NH4 at the 76th km, Google Maps guides you through this.

Last time I took Padappai-Oragadam-SH120-Sunguvarchatram, which is longer than the Manimangalam and Walajabad route but avoids all the bottlenecks (Sriperumbudur bypass traffic, Walajabad-Kanchipuram-Military Road traffic) which took almost the same 2 hrs for Murugan Idli Kadai. Will be trying again this weekend, so will get another data point

[tilt]

Originally Posted by narayans80

*SNIP*
I hope you bypassed Kanchipuram by taking Military Road and joined NH4 at the 76th km, Google Maps guides you through this.*SNIP*

Could you please maybe show me a picture of this route? Google has never ever suggested anything to me other than the DLF/Porur/Poonamallee/Sriperambudur stretch on the main highway; hence my question.

Google sometimes has suggested the Mudichur route from Sriperambudur (from BLR - MAA), but that's the only alternative ever suggested.

Thanks and cheers

[binand]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I hope you bypassed Kanchipuram by taking Military Road and joined NH4 at the 76th km, Google Maps guides you through this.

Originally Posted by tilt

Could you please maybe show me a picture of this route?

It is this, I believe. That last stretch along the bypass was pretty lonely - but the only time I took it was in the middle of the night (11PM+).