Team-BHP - Bangalore to Tirupati : Route Queries

Been to Tirupati this week. Took the normal Kolar Chittoor route. The 4-laning work is on until Mulbagal. Did this stretch in both daytime and night time. Had no problems whatsover. The diversions and speed-breakers are clearly marked. The access to the 2 coffee days on either side of Kolar is slightly an issue.

The Chittoor Bypass too has been tarred for most part (and toll removed) since I last drove about a year and a half back.

Just back from a weekend trip to Tirupati. Took the Hoskote->Madanapalli->Piler->Tirupati route. I think this is one of the better alternate routes to Tirupati if you want to skip the Bangalore-Chitoor route. My ratings for the different road sections as follows.
Bangalore-Hoskote - 4-lane development in progress. Too many diversions/speed breakers - 4/10
Hoskote - Chintamani split road - expect a lot of lorry traffic. 2 lane - 5/10
Chintamani - Madanapalli - 1 3/4 lane for some 30 odd KMs and good 2 lane after that- very light traffic - 6/10
Madanapalli - Piler - 2 lane, road is overall good except for some patches here and there - very light traffic - 5.5/10
Piler - Tirupati - 2 lane, ghat section in between, very good road - 7/10

It took us 4 1/2 hours from J.B.Nagar to Tirupati with a 30 min halt in between. On return we took more time in halts and so back home after a 5 1/2 hour drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sree70 (Post 1770287)

Seems to be new route & what was the distance from JB nagar to tirupathi via madanapalli?

Roughly 250-260 to Tirumala. May be a 20/30 KMs more than the Chitoor route. Sorry i didn't measure the distance promptly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_mouli (Post 1769687)

Hoskote - Chintamani split road - expect a lot of lorry traffic. 2 lane - 5/10

Hoskote-Chintamani stretch - is it wide enough to accomodate a car and a lorry? Would I have to get off the road to let the bigger vehicle pass?

This was my impression when I went last time via that route to Parkfield Hotel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbraj (Post 1770383)

From Hoskote to Chintamani split, the road is a 2-lane so theoretically it should be possible to accommodate a car and a lorry together. But what i observed is that a number of those lorries and even mini-vans tend to occupy a part of your lane mostly at the curves. Even with that we are able to fit our car within the lane (though we had to be at the extreme left).
But after the Chintamani split, the road gets considerably narrower for 30 odd KMs (1 3/4 lane as i mentioned in my earlier post). There it would be difficult to accommodate a lorry and car together without one having to go a bit off the road but you should be careful as there are places where the road side is 2-3 feet deep from the tarmac. Better watch out and stop early in case you encounter a heavy vehicle at that stretch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 1771722)

By the way what are the decent eat-outs on this sectors?

On the madanapalli route, am afraid there are not many eat-outs. I saw a few Dhabas on the road and the Madanapalli town has a few restaurants. We had our breakfast in a small restaurant there. I forgot the name but it was situated right behind a no-entry gate on the main road. All vehicles coming from Chintamani direction would have to take a left there instead of going straight. This restaurant is being run from 1971 and food quality was good. But it is a very simple place (no A/C and all) so YMMV.

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_mouli (Post 1772304)

Any options available on the NH4 ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 1772368)

Any options available on the NH4 ?

NH4, if i remember it right, has a Reliance Petrol Bunk with a Nandi restaurant close to chitoor. That restaurant quality is ok-ok, most of the KSRTC buses stop there. But i found the cost of the food items there a bit too much for the quality.

I am driving to vijayawada on 2nd Aprl 2010. Only worry is the Kolar route. Last month (12th Feb) I bent my cars rim in that dirty road. Very concerned about the road and planning to start @ 4 AM in the morning. But afraid that the Volvo guys might gimme a run on the bad stretch. Guys any info would be helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordy (Post 1801461)

There is one alternate route.
Bangalore ( HSR ) -> Sarjapur -> Bagalur -> Malur -> Kolar.

This way you can bypass NH4 till Kolar. I have seen some stretches of the Bagalur Malur road. Seems OK. At least should be better than the current NH4 condition between Bangalore to Kolar.

You will need to go via Sarjapur village through a mud road which is pathetic, but after that it is decent. Beyond Sarjapur you get NH207 Y junction. Left goes to Chikka Tirupathi. Right goes to Bagalur. At Bagalur you will hit a T junction. Right goes to Hosur and left goes to Malur. Take this road and you should be OK.

Although I am not sure of exact condition of the roads from Malur to Kolar. They should be decent according to me.

Here is the Google route link:

Outer Ring Rd to NH 4 - Google Maps