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Good news for those who travel especially to north Kerala.
Allowing vehicles on convoy basis could protect wildlife to some extend.

agree:. This highway, at night, resembles a traffic jam in Bangalore, mostly filled with private buses and trucks. It is tough even for a human to cross the road. How do you expect any animal to cross it safely? This is a very bad move by the govt. Just when it seemed that the night traffic ban was getting support (Tamil Nadu govt recently banned night traffic in Mudumalai), this news has come out.

How long do you think the convoy system will work? I'm sure all these private buses will care a hoot for the convoy and go on their own merry way. Convoy system is not the answer for this.

+1
It is an answer indeed :D; all the notorious gang can bribe the convoy to cage & sell the animals; oh!!! there're few trees still left over to chop down.

I do not agree with the ^^^.
Protection of wild animals is fine. But that shouldn't be at the cost of completely blocking the road. What about people living in those areas and the transport of essential commodities? Mysore is the hub for all commodities including vegetables, fruits, rice and other stuff for both the KL and TN.

When someone in my family was hospitalized, I was late by just 2 minutes to 9 and the forest folks closed the gate. I had to wait there until morning to get home. Calicut is some 100km from there and the thamaraserry ghat section isnt the best route to carry around an injured or someone in dire medical emergency, and then they close the road to the adjacent Mysore. What are the people living in those areas supposed to do? There are'nt any proper education institutions around and 90% of the students attend school/colleges at Mysore/Bangalore. What about the students and other working professionals? please:

If the convoy system is to be implemented, then the officials should ensure that the private buses and others follow the rules, like how they strictly imposed the night traffic ban. Certain points that I can think of are:

• The KA and KL officials can work together to escort each convoy and probably charge a fee which could be collected from the road users.
• Night vision cameras can be installed at prominent animal crossing zones and use the already existing wireless network to pass on real time info.
• If someone is found not to adhere to the basic rules put in place, ban them, so that they are not allowed to cross this stretch once again.
• Something is better than nothing.

It is good that the road is reopening for night traffic. This is a busy corridor that needs to be allowed 24x7 traffic. I don;t think there is any case for levying any extra charges - why add more to the coffers to be swindled?
In many places in India - in Assam and also Corbett area, I think - they have wild animal passages, whereby sensitive corridors have been identified for animals to cross the road underneath bridges across the road so that they do not come across traffic. Popular corridors can be identified and maybe the road itself can be diverted to avoid such passages to allow uninterrupted and peaceful movement of animals. I am sure there are many such measures which will ensure safety of wild animals. In any case, my observation is that there is heavy movement of animals during dawn and dusk hours when the traffic is allowed anyway! However much one may want wildlife to be protected, I do not think such blockades are the solution, and animals are not exactly perishing or getting endangered because of nearby road traffic.

Alternately, I can also do the Kayankulam - Chengannur route to get on to MC road rather than take the roundabout Kollam - Kottarakara - Adoor route. It will save me some 30 odd kms, of course depending on the road conditions.

BTW - all of these options are totally based out of my R&D over Google Maps :)

But the problem, cool_dube, is that NH47 towards Kayamkulam is in a bad condition

Understand that! Since I would be travelling on NH47 on my way from Cherai to Ashtamudi, I should be in a position to take a call on whether I want to re-do NH-47 or choose to take the longer but (hopefully) better route via Kollam and Kottarakara.

Planning to drive to Mannarkad and Pattambi next week. How are the road conditions from Gudalur onwards? I did this route in April and it was pretty good all the way. This time I doubt that the roads in Kerala will be that good. My plan is to go through the usual route Nilambur -> Wandoor -> Pandikkad -> Melattoor. Are there any better alternatives?

The Nilambur-Pandikad route was in utter shambles until a month back.
The rains should have made it worse now unless its worked upon recently.

Thanks for the update Jeeva.

Guys - if anyone has done this route recently, please share the latest updates. I am planning to do Gudalur - Nilambur - Wandoor - Pandikkad - Pattikkad - Perinthalmanna - Pattambi - Kunnamkulam - Chavakkad - Paravoor later this month!!

I did Gudalur-Kunnankulam-GVR quite some time back (Dec last year). It was quite decent then. But that was before the current monsoon.

Gudalur to vadapuram (nilambur) section was good some last two months back.
the nilambur (vadapuram)- pattikkad stretch is bad because of the PWD works.
Perinthalmanna- pattambi also not so good.

My assessment then was:

Kunnankulam-Pattambi: Good roads
Pattambi-Perinthalmanna-Melatoor : Decent roads with potholes.
Melatoor-Nilambur: Excellent 2L road with brilliant tarmac.
Nilambur-Gudalur: Fine roads, except quite some potholes on the Nadugani ghat section.


Not sure how these roads are today. Need to check with Ramsnavy and Bigzero who had driven on this stretch recently.

I believe these updates are as of 2 months back. I heard from Kumar sir that one of his friends would be traversing this stretch shortly. We should have the latest updates then!