[temala]

Originally Posted by ravib

Completed a Bangalore-Tirupati-Bangalore trip on Friday 23-July-2021.

Timings
Left Bangalore C.V.Raman Nagar at 6 am and reached Tirupati-Tiruchanoor at 10 am including an hour break for breakfast in Highway star mall after Kolar.
Return Journey, left Tirupati at 5 pm and reached Bangalore at 8:15 pm.

3 Hrs 15 Mins from Tirupati to Bangalore .. Just wanted to check on your avg speed on Ecosports (I Guess). Have you stopped for a break?

[ravib]

Originally Posted by temala

3 Hrs 15 Mins from Tirupati to Bangalore .. Just wanted to check on your avg speed on Ecosports (I Guess). Have you stopped for a break?

Haha. Actually my onward journey driving time was less than 3 hours. Thanks to stunning roads. Its easily doable now.

As i mentioned, i drove about 90% of distance in Cruise Control set to 95 kmph or 105 kmph. So onward journey with less traffic was super easy.
Return journey, i started at 5 pm from Tirupati and by the time i reached chittoor it around 6 pm. As it was dusk, traffic from Chittoor to Palamaner was very high so had to drive manually, because too many 2 wheelers and farmers returning back to home at end of their day.
I took 15 minutes break in between at Hotel Varsha around palamaner, as i strongly believe to stretch and take a short walk and to have cup of tea usually after 150 kms drive.

-Ravi

[jkrishnakj]

I did a round trip today. Left home at 6 am, KR Puram Bridge at 7 am and I was at Alipiri at 945 am. Such were the roads. The stretches from Chittoor ByPass till Tirupati and compete and win against any super expressways. A few small stretches are still to finish though.

Return journey was a tad slower. Left at 2 pm from Tirumala and reached home at 7 pm. Took me 90 mins from hanging bridge to my home. Bangalore traffic is back. The ORR was ok.

[temala]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

I did a round trip today. Left home at 6 am, KR Puram Bridge at 7 am and I was at Alipiri at 945 am. Such were the roads. The stretches from Chittoor ByPass till Tirupati and compete and win against any super expressways. A few small stretches are still to finish though.

Return journey was a tad slower. Left at 2 pm from Tirumala and reached home at 7 pm. Took me 90 mins from hanging bridge to my home. Bangalore traffic is back. The ORR was ok.

This is Wonderful to hear. Kudos to NHAI. I wish to have similar ride to Chennai as well.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by temala

This is Wonderful to hear. Kudos to NHAI. I wish to have similar ride to Chennai as well.

Yup. I wish the same. I really hope that once the 6L construction betweeen Chennasamudram to Sriperumbudur completes, travel time should reduce. Fingers crossed!
Sorry for

[shashank.nk]

Finished another darshan yesterday. Absolutely fantastic roads throughout and it was such a relief to drive on such beautiful roads in just 6months from my previous visit.

Started late around 12.45 on thursday from my home and reached tiruchanoor at 6.15 with a 1hr plus lunch break. There was a lot of truck traffic and two wheelers during the onward journey so drove at a leisurely pace.

Return was much quicker as there wasn't much traffic, with me reaching KR puram hanging bridge at 6.15 leaving Pai viceroy Tirupati at 3.15. It took another 1hr from KR puram to my home.

The best part is unlike before, you don't feel drained out from the journey. The transformation of the Chittoor to Tirupati stretch is simply unbelievable...the entire mess of what we called roads is now a beautiful 10 lane highway. My car with 5+boot full of luggage didn't scrape ANYWHERE for the first time in the last 3 years!

[temala]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

My car with 5+boot full of luggage didn't scrape ANYWHERE for the first time in the last 3 years!

Nice to see the transformation. Saves Time - Saves Energy - Saves Fuel

[shashank.nk]

Absolutely! Infact on the way back my dad was explaining how stressful and borderline risky it was to drive on this stretch a little over a decade ago, it was a 2 lane highway right from Hoskote to Tirupati and one had to be very careful while overtaking due to the traffic volume. Now even a new driver can drive at a decent pace with negligible risk of accident.

Kudos to NHAI for transforming this stretch!

[AJ739]

Ever since the second lockdown, the itch to set out for a ride had been bugging me and simultaneously I had been wanting to go to Tirupati for quite sometime.

So I decided to address two situations at one go - To ride to Tirupati for darshan. What turned to out to be more interesting was the vehicle I had decided to this on was the Honda Navi!!!

On 7Aug21, I started my journey at 6:45am and reached the entry toll plaza at Tirumala foothill at 11:50am with three 20minute breaks in between. Total distance traveled was 278kms.

Barring a few places where road construction activities are going on, the roads are terrific and amazing to ride on. I felt quite safe to ride on the highway, the traffic density was quite low than usual times and didn't any stress while riding.

Even though my darshan slot was for 6pm, I entered the queue at 3pm itself. There was a lot of pushing around, no social distancing was followed and was put in the caged auditorium for 25 minutes. I had a fantastic darshan and spent close to 1minute in front of the deity. Overall darshan took about 1.5hours.

Also, on the way at the Gadanki Toll Plaza I came across 2 test mules of the Mahindra XUV700.

[nareshtrao]

Folks, A query to all those who have been in the recent two weeks.

Is there any need for ePass or RTPCR from Bangalore to Tirupati and back? Any checks we need to plan for?

Also how crowded is Tirupati these days?

Guidance much appreciated.

Edit: Looks like Special Entry Darshan slots are full till 31st and not open for 1st Sep onwards.

[temala]

I had a visit couple of weeks back

- Crowd was normal / below normal as they were limiting the tickets they issue per hour.
- Special Entry Darshan for Sep will be released 20th Aug (Probably)

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

Folks, A query to all those who have been in the recent two weeks.

Is there any need for ePass or RTPCR from Bangalore to Tirupati and back? Any checks we need to plan for?

Also how crowded is Tirupati these days?

Guidance much appreciated.

Edit: Looks like Special Entry Darshan slots are full till 31st and not open for 1st Sep onwards.

No epass or any such drama. It’s peaceful. I rvisited a few days back.

Sept slots may open by 20 or 21st. You have to login and check. On the home page, they do declare what dates they open slots.

You can try through the virtual Seva route. I did see many open dates in Green for Sept in the virtual Seva route.

Edit: Just checked. Sept Darshan slots are in RED through the virtual route. Darshan is available only for October now. Will be good to check on 20th/21st Aug at 930 am for Sept special entry ticket. They get sold out inside minutes.

[temala]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Edit: Just checked. Sept Darshan slots are in RED through the virtual route. Darshan is available only for October now. Will be good to check on 20th/21st Aug at 930 am for Sept special entry ticket. They get sold out inside minutes.

As per latest update, Special darshan for Sept 2021 is not yet released and will not be released on 20th Aug which they do usually.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Finished another darshan yesterday. Absolutely fantastic roads throughout and it was such a relief to drive on such beautiful roads in just 6months from my previous visit.

Shashank, any interceptors anywhere? Last time, I saw a couple near Kolar.

Also, there where a few ugly culvert lips/protrusions on the final stretch to TPT. Gave us a massive bump as we were at good speeds. Have they fixed those in-progress bits now?

[ravib]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Shashank, any interceptors anywhere? Last time, I saw a couple near Kolar.

Also, there where a few ugly culvert lips/protrusions on the final stretch to TPT. Gave us a massive bump as we were at good speeds. Have they fixed those in-progress bits now?

Usually interceptors are between K.R.Puram to Hoskote stretch AFAIK.

There are no protrusions or bad roads that will give massive bump.
You can read my previous posts. Except for few kms (after Gadanki toll) and one near to railway underpass, where we drive in old roads, overall the roads are stunning.

-Ravi