[kochup]

Originally Posted by kap04

Any recommended places to get lunch, I plan to start at 4 am from Whitefield to Trivandrum. I guess I can get the breakfast from Salem, lunch is what I was thinking about as I'm travelling with family. Earlier I used to have it from Capsi before Thirunelveli, last year they weren't open but.

Capsi was open as of this April, we had lunch here when we travelled during Easter vacations. Madurai stop may be too early for lunch with a 4AM start

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by kap04

Any recommended places to get lunch, I plan to start at 4 am from Whitefield to Trivandrum. I guess I can get the breakfast from Salem, lunch is what I was thinking about as I'm travelling with family. Earlier I used to have it from Capsi before Thirunelveli, last year they weren't open but.

You can try Vairamaligai (https://goo.gl/maps/2JVNsShtruoBErPv9) on the Tirunelveli bypass, its just 50-100m from the highway, this is a non-veg hotel. For veg there are few veg hotels nearby, you can check the same in the maps.

[bhandary]

Originally Posted by gkrishk

Hello
I am planning to drive upto Bangalore from Trivandrum next week after a gap of 2 years.
What are the road conditions and afternoon traffic northwards of Salem on a weekday?

Planning to travel by car in Aug third week. How was your journey in terms of traffic from Bangalore and how much time did it take to reach Trivandum from Bangalore? Google shows a little over 12h.

What about the return journey, considering that the morning travel will be in Kerala?

Any issues with KA registered vehicles in Kerala?

[gkrishk]

I did BLR-TVM on a Sunday. Started at 6am and reached about 6:30pm, so about 11 hours plus around an hour and a half on breaks. Weekdays may take a bit longer because of traffic especially around Hosur and Salem. As usual very slow going between Nagercoil and Trivandrum. This same stretch is quicker in the opposite direction especially if you start from TVM at 5am.
No problem with KA vehicles. Plenty of them on KL roads.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by gkrishk

I did BLR-TVM on a Sunday.

How about the new 4L that start from TVM airport towards TN border? Earlier around 5-6 Kms were open, have they opened it further?

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by gkrishk

As usual very slow going between Nagercoil and Trivandrum.

Was this on the new concrete highway stretch from Kaliakkavilai to Trivandrum?

Originally Posted by arun_josie

How about the new 4L that start from TVM airport towards TN border? Earlier around 5-6 Kms were open, have they opened it further?

It's open till TN border and you need to cut to Kaliakkavilai and rejoin the old highway.

Be careful of morning/evening walkers and wrong side riders. It's a lovely piece of road.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

How about the new 4L that start from TVM airport towards TN border? Earlier around 5-6 Kms were open, have they opened it further?

It is open till the TN border, at which point you will have to take a 2km deviation to the old highway and join Kaliyikkavilai

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

How about the new 4L that start from TVM airport towards TN border? Earlier around 5-6 Kms were open, have they opened it further?

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

It is open till the TN border, at which point you will have to take a 2km deviation to the old highway and join Kaliyikkavilai

Going by the info I have, it is 4 lane throughout. Kazhakoottam - Kanyakumari in little over an hour.

But why discuss this separate from the "All roads to Kerala" thread?

[gkrishk]

Was this on the new concrete highway stretch from Kaliakkavilai to Trivandrum?

Yes, this stretch is smooth and fast but it's tough going before you reach it. Also the narrow 2 lane road from Kalliakkavila to the new highway is now chock-a-block with vehicles in both directions including heavy trucks.

Be careful of morning/evening walkers and wrong side riders. It's a lovely piece of road.

True. Also local traffic hasn't learnt yet that driving on a 4 lane highway is a bit different from driving on minor side roads.

[KrisTvpm]

Did a to&fro trip BLR -- Tvpm last week.

The BLR - Tvpm stretch took 13hrs incl. 2hrs of pitstops for food/refreshments(5:15am - 6:15pm).

Return trip took 14hrs due to choc-a-bloc traffic from E-city to Marathahalli (5:00am - 7:00pm).

Points to note:
* Morning traffic (around 8:30am) thru Salem city is horrible; 2wheelers/4wheelers virtually everywhere, haphazard & totally undisciplined traffic. People don't give way generally, despite honking (which I don't like to do either); need to tread very carefully.
* Kavalkinaru jn. to Nagercoil town - new tolled highway is a big relief; cuts down time by more than half.
* Nearly 5km or so after Kaliyakavilai(TN) till Tvpm city(KL) - new bypass road(part of Mumbai - Kanyakumari highway) is excellent. Did this stretch in just 25min. as against approx 2 hrs previously.
* The above 2 new bypass roads put together help trim off atleast 1:30 hrs from Nagercoil -- Tvpm commute, which is good!
* The Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri stretch towards Bengaluru, where plateau ascent happens - beware of slow-moving trucks hogging ALL lanes of the road, sometimes will be forced to follow them for kms together Authorities need to take this inconvenience seriously & reserve ONE lane exclusively for commuter vehicles.

No problems with KA or other Indian state vehicles, noticed DL/RJ/UP all sorts of cars. Unless one gets involved in an unfortunate traffic incident, guess police or RTO won't care.

[kochup]

Apparently, the toll rates for the Kazhakootam-Kovalam-Karode bypass has been increased to Rs 150/- from the earlier Rs 80/- for one way travel and this is the third hike since April.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt5MLaDuPy4

Sorry its in Malayalam

[deathwalkr]

Yes, it's been increased to 150. Just travelled to TN and back over the weekend. It's quite a steep hike but then when i think about the traffic and narrow roads between Balaramapuram and Kaliyakavalai...

Wonder if the full stretch would be ready in the next 5-10yrs.

One hopes.

Edit: Come to think of it, my wife did notice a camera man at the toll booth and was wondering what he was doing there

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Yes, it's been increased to 150. Just travelled to TN and back over the weekend.

Its on par with the NICE road rates. Good thing is for two-way it is 225/- only. I took this route today, looks like for now its only cars and two-wheelers on this road.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

It's quite a steep hike but then when i think about the traffic and narrow roads between Balaramapuram and Kaliyakavalai...

Yes, this stretch cuts down the travel time easily by 30 minutes.

[harikrishnansp]

Yes, this stretch cuts down the travel time easily by 30 minutes.[/quote]

Would save a lot of fuel and time. Though it is a steep hike, those who use the NICE road would understand .

[krishnakumar]

Hi everyone,

I'll be driving to Trivandrum after a gap of 1 year and seems like the Nagercoil Bypass is finally open. With this we can effectively avoid the Aralvaimozhi road right?

Although the Nagercoil town to Kaliakkavilai stretch is still going to be painful - how are the road conditions now?

Also, after Madurai (especially Tirunelveli-Nagercoil), I recall multiple speed cameras on the road and was said to be set at 80kph speed limit. Are these still functional?

I usually cruise between 90-100kph and find this to be optimally fast but safe enough for the road. 80kph would be a big disappointment. Can someone throw some light on these speed cams?