[magesh_kumar]

now the four lanning of road until thopput is complete. if you are planning a trip to ooty dont take up the route through bhavani and avinashi. road construction is going on and it will slow down your speed

[m8002?]

Isnt mysore route faster/shorter to Ooty from bangalore?

For people going to Ooty from chennai, the best route would be krishangiri- dharmapuri-Mettur-Sathy-Mettupalayam-Ooty. They can skip the entire NH47.

Here are the approximate distances from memory

thoppur - Mettur : 36Kms
Mettur - Ammapetai : 20 Kms
Ammapetai - Andhiyur : 17 kms
Andhiyur - Sathy ( via Athani ) : 37 Kms
Sathy - Coimbatore ( via annur ) : 69 kms

Sathy - Ooty ( via Mettupalayam ) : 96 kms

[csentil]

Originally Posted by tortoise

to reach Annur , is it easier to take Andiyur - Athani - Gobi - Nambiyur - annur or is it easier to take Athani - Sathy - Puliyampatti - Annur road?

It is faster to take the Sathy - Puliyampatti road. The Athani - Goby road is a winding road through paddy fields, makes for good scenery but you can't drive fast in that sector. Also you get into Gobi town and have to get out again which isn't much of a problem but still....

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by csentil

It is faster to take the Sathy - Puliyampatti road. The Athani - Goby road is a winding road through paddy fields, makes for good scenery but you can't drive fast in that sector. Also you get into Gobi town and have to get out again which isn't much of a problem but still....

thanks csenthil, how long do you think it will take to reach Annur from Athani through Sathy. Can I maintain average of 80 kmph? what is the usual traffic situation ( say if I reach there around between 9 am to 10 am )?

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by tortoise

thanks csenthil, how long do you think it will take to reach Annur from Athani through Sathy. Can I maintain average of 80 kmph? what is the usual traffic situation ( say if I reach there around between 9 am to 10 am )?

tortoise,
Athani to annur can be covered in 60-70 min easily. I am not sure if you can maintain an average of 80. You can definitely cruise at 80-90 ( thats the speed i was at ) in most of the stretches...but will have to slow down when approaching the villages or some narrow bridges.

On my return leg, i did Annur to Mettur in less than 2 hrs. Crossed Annur at around 6:25am and reached mettur at 8:15am. Didnt time the Athani crossing.

Hope this helps.

regards
m800

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by m8002?

tortoise,
Athani to annur can be covered in 60-70 min easily. I am not sure if you can maintain an average of 80. You can definitely cruise at 80-90 ( thats the speed i was at ) in most of the stretches...but will have to slow down when approaching the villages or some narrow bridges.

On my return leg, i did Annur to Mettur in less than 2 hrs. Crossed Annur at around 6:25am and reached mettur at 8:15am. Didnt time the Athani crossing.

Hope this helps.

regards
m800

thanks m800 . Will be doing this trip tomorrow.

[karthiksubraman]

Hi Folks,

My first time around here - as also my first long distance drive

I took the Blr - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Bhavani - Perundurai - Avanashi - Coimbatore route on the 31st of Jan. (This was
before someone introduced me to Team BHP :( ).

Bangalore to Thoppur was an awesome drive, the speedo needle was hovering around 100. Around 2.5 hrs, totally. Probably averaged 90 Km/Hr. Thoppur to Salem was OK too.

Salem to Coimbatore was hopeless, took me almost 5.5 hrs. I never thought I'd have to shift into 2nd gear on a national highway, but happen it did! I think I averaged 30 Km/Hr. on this stretch.

Lots of road construction happening, so lots of "Take Diversion" signs. In many places, there's no road - just a gravel path that tests your car's suspension to the limit. With a 1-year old in the backseat, your patience is also under test.

In other places, the roads are so filled with potholes that you can hardly see a straight stretch of asphalt.

The roads get better once you cross Avanashi, but they also get narrow and there's a lot of traffic - so overtaking is next to impossible and you have to chug along behind a line of big trucks for ages.

There are a few potholes on the Avanashi-Coimbatore stretch, but you can
spot them from afar - they're that big - and can avoid them by going right over them.

I was going to drive back to Bangalore tomorrow, but have postponed my departure by a day, thanks to the statewide bandh in TN. (I have a KA registration, don't want to ask for trouble).

I'm leaving for Bangalore on Thursday morning, planning to take the Cbe-Puliyampatti-Sathy-Athani-Andiyur-Mettur-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-etc.-Bangalore
route. From what I've read on this thread, that route is a million times better than the Salem route.

In spite of the hopeless roads on the Salem stretch, my Swift VXI gave me 18 Km/litre - with the AC on. I'm very happy with this

[csentil]

@karthik: You are crazy man Salem - Perundurai - Cbe is a strict no no for the next 1 yr atleast. 5 hrs to do 180 odd kms from Salem to coimbatore !! I was advised on the Ammapettai - Sathy road a long time back by my cousin and after publishing it in this thread a lot of people have used it. I did it last week and its still the best and easiest way to get to Cbe.

The great thing abt this route is traffic into Cbe is never high. Saravanampatti, Ganapathy do not suffer from the same amount of traffic like the Avanishi sector. So one can get to Gandhipuram from Annur within 45 minutes. Hope College bridge is still being widened and that is another bottleneck while coming from Avinashi. Thankfully the 6 laning of Avinashi Road from Hope college to the flyover is done so its pretty easy now though devoid of vegetation.

I did Bangalore - Coimbatore in 5 hrs 45 minutes (with 30 minutes breakfast break) last Thursday.

Starterd 6.00 am from the petrol bunk in Jeevan Bheema Nagar. Krishnagiri was 7.20. From Krishnagiri to the A2B just before the Thoppur Ghat section (a distance of around 70 kms) took me 35 minutes or less. Reached A2B at 7.55 am. The road is awesome to say the least. The layout of the road is better than the GQ to Chennai. You have an extra lane wherever there's a right turn. So you don't have vehicles blocking the fast lane when taking a right/u-turn.

Left A2B at 7.30 and reached Cbe via Ammapettai - Athani - Gobi - Nambiyur - Puliampatti - Annur - Ganapathy at 11.45 am. I still prefer this route as I don't have to enter Sathy and the road from Athani to Sathy has many small villages. Gobi - Nambiyur - Puliyampatti is virtually devoid of any vehicles. I think I met just 1 bus and some cows on the way !!!

Return I did even quicker yesterday. Left Cbe at 12 pm. Reached A2B at 2.55 pm. Left A2B at 3.20 pm and reached Krishnagiri toll gate at 3.46 (according to the toll slip) !! It was amazing driving in the Civic with constant speeds of 150kmph+ . Reached Silkboard at 4.45 pm and home around 5.25 pm. Afternoon traffic being sparse it was an easy drive except from EC to Silkboard and the three flyover constructions in Attibele, Chandapura and EC.

Non stop one can do Bangalore - Cbe in 5 hrs provided you choose your departure time well.

Toll Gate is getting ready just before the Thoppur Ghat section and should be operating within a couple of weeks.

The Thoppur Ghat section has been relaid. However expect speedbreakers and stupidly kept road blocks on the ghat section. This is present only on the Dharmapuri to Thoppur side. Its a downhill during most of the ghat section and its damn irritating to take a fast curve downhill and see the roadblocks and speedbreakers. Lorries have toppled over due to sudden swerving and breaking here !!!

There are no speedbreakers when you come from Thoppur towards Dharmapuri.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by csentil

From Krishnagiri to the A2B just before the Thoppur Ghat section (a distance of around 70 kms) took me 35 minutes or less. Reached A2B at 7.55 am. The road is awesome to say the least.

csentil, Now thats a great update. last time I took this road was in Mar07 when I was returning from Sulur (near CBE) and the road was under construction. Before that this section was nightmare.
I am itching to drive down till Dharmapuri to see the new road. It must be really great. Wonder the Kanyakumari drive will be less times once the entire NS corridor is done.

How is the Dharmapuri BP designed (left, right or flyover)? I remember there was no Dharmapuri BP while travelling from bangalore, it was straight through the town isnt it?

Abhi

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by akroy

How is the Dharmapuri BP designed (left, right or flyover)? I remember there was no Dharmapuri BP while travelling from bangalore, it was straight through the town isnt it?

Abhi

With the new road, you will not find Dharmapuri unless you really search for it and are desparate to enter. In fact, i didnt notice the exit it in my onward journey and reached the toll plaza.

On return, made it a point to search the exits for Dharmapuri, Denkanikottai and Kaveripatnam ( for old times sake )

[akroy]

Originally Posted by m8002?

On return, made it a point to search the exits for Dharmapuri, Denkanikottai and Kaveripatnam ( for old times sake )

Ohh Thats nice, Kaveripatnam was also a mess as the older highway used to pass through it. Also that bridge before Kaveripatnam was headache as well.

Now Denkanikota doesnt even come in the Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri stretch. How come NH7 pass through Denkanikota? I think there is some typo.

It is under Hosur - Denkanikota - Anchatti route (about 40km from Hosur), isnt it?

Abhi

[csentil]

Yes you cannot make out where Kaveripatnam and Dharmapuri have gone. Kaveripatnam will be on the right. The boards are well marked for diversion towards Kaveripatnam and then onto Palacode.

Dharmapuri will be on the left. There are a couple of bridges and you will see boards clearly indicating the road to take for Dharmapuri and Hogennakkal. The other great thing about this stretch is you will not encounter villages at all. The roads are elevated over a couple of villages that you would see on the Krishnagiri - Kaveripatnam sector. All these add to the easy drive that you can make on the roads.

A2B is not actually near Dharmapuri. Its actually just before the Thoppur ghat section on the right side a little before the toll gate thats coming up. You need to go a little further and then take a U-turn to reach A2B.

If the road towards Salem - Avinashi - Cbe is done up the same way, I'm predicting a 4 hr nonstop drive to Coimbatore from Bangalore. Waiting for that day !!!

[sj_koova]

Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri stretch is of international standards I should say. Excellent work by NHAI. Truck drivers keep the left line mostly, and the right line is open for fast traffic. Area arond Thoppur ghat is beautiful also.

On last Sunday, it took only 2 hours and 20min for me to reach from Salem to Bangalore (Belandur). Only worry is the local two wheelers coming on wrong direction (They are still in local standard).

I hope the Salem-Coimbatore will also be done in similar standrard. But I do not the the extra line option for right/U turn on already done up part on Salem-Coimbatore.

[m8002?]

Now Denkanikota doesnt even come in the Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri stretch. How come NH7 pass through Denkanikota? I think there is some typo.

It is under Hosur - Denkanikota - Anchatti route (about 40km from Hosur), isnt it?
I was mentioning the exit to connect the road going to palacode, Denkanikota. Not Denkanikota town per se.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by csentil

Yes you cannot make out where Kaveripatnam and Dharmapuri have gone. Kaveripatnam will be on the right. The boards are well marked for diversion towards Kaveripatnam and then onto Palacode.

csentil, I am just speechless. absolutely not able to believe that the nightmare 40km/1 hr drive from Kgiri - Dharmapuri has now turned to a dream.
I had numourous experience while bikking/driving on that route. ditches , potholes, maniac buses overtaking, huge craters etc etc. It was nightmare through out. Once in 2005, me and my wife had to bike (from Hogenakkal) at 7PM (just after darkness) from Palacode to Kgiri (believe me that was a nightmare experience with all kind of lights from buses/trucks with absolute no cares of bikers and the worst kind of roads).

Doing Dharmapuri - Thoppur at 100+ speeds is like nirvana. I need to plan my next trip in such a place that I had to travel through this stretch of NH7.

Abhi