[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Twiny,

The left turn you mentioned here, is that the road which leads to Thrissur town and the one we have to take if we come down from Cbe?

I think, we need to go straight at Mannuthy Jn while coming from Palghat and then right to Shornur. But 15 kms is means 20-25% extra compared to traditional NH47 that too without byepassing Walayar. Better to take on peak hours IMO.

Originally Posted by aargee

Coimbatore - Palakkad is breeze except for the 2 lane Avinashi road. Once you cross Avinashi, you're blessed with L&T's excellent 4 lanes. If you mean the traffic, there's nothing to worry; except for the ultra low toll fee of Rs 31 for all 5 of them put together.

Rs. 31 is not that low for just about 20 kms though the construction cost is relatively high.

[Twiny]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Twiny,

The left turn you mentioned here, is that the road which leads to Thrissur town and the one we have to take if we come down from Cbe?

Yes, but this way we can avoid busy roads of Ollur/Tsr Round etc.. this way town traffic will be less.

Earlier I used to take Left around Oushadi, when coming from Angamaly, and it will go via Jubilee Mission Hospital. Now I drive till Mannuthy and take left to go to Calicut/Shornur

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Twiny

Yes, but this way we can avoid busy roads of Ollur/Tsr Round etc.. this way town traffic will be less.

Earlier I used to take Left around Oushadi, when coming from Angamaly, and it will go via Jubilee Mission Hospital. Now I drive till Mannuthy and take left to go to Calicut/Shornur

Last time, when I traveled from Cochin in Bus, it took a left little before Mannuthy (a junction with flyover under construction i think) to enter Trichur town. The road looked less crowded compared to Ollur route. Is it easier to connect to Calicut route if coming from Pudukkad side?

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thanks for that update. I have not drive on this road off late. But will try some time. If the NH209 is in good shape, it would be really worth it and couple it with NICE road, drive may be much smoother.

I heard recently that the road had be re-tarred. Is that so? Since you saying its better than SH17 (Mysore road), looks like it must have been re-tarred. Only issue is that there are no hotels on this and good clean toilets for break.

But definitely lot of picnic spots!

Yes the road surface certainly looked new, so it must have been resurfaced fairly recently. And you are right, there are hardly any hotels on the way - leave alone ones with clean toilets !

But Kanakapura town is still a pain to drive through. Took me 15-20 minutes to negotiate the 2 kms due to a traffic jam near the bus stand.

I went to pandalam (via cochin) on 8th and came back on 14th.
While going, started at 10PM, took just 4.5 hours to reach Walayar. Got stuck in Walayar for 4+ hours ( if you are planning to drive in the night try to start bit early and avoid the walayar traffic). From Aleppy - Kayamkulam, NH is in very bad shape.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Thanks aargee. How much of the Salem-Palghat stretch on NH47 is 4-lane?

NH47 is still under construction (for several years now). Once you cross Palakkad, expect bad roads, but you can still maintain speeds upto 70-80 Kmph on some stretches & expect potholes too. IMO, it takes about 2 hours from Palakkad-Thrissur.

Net net, NH47 in TN sector is in good shape & is still shaping up in KL; after Mannuthy, the road work is still in progress all way upto Angamaly.

There's an alternative route recommendation in this thread to take, Palakkad-Ottapaalam-Wadakanchery-Thrissur & the road is in good shape. You may want to take this route. I'd been through Wadakkanchery-Thrissur about 3-4 weeks ago & I can vouch for the silky smooth road.

[kavu75]

Originally Posted by nisam76

I went to pandalam (via cochin) on 8th and came back on 14th.
While going, started at 10PM, took just 4.5 hours to reach Walayar. Got stuck in Walayar for 4+ hours ( if you are planning to drive in the night try to start bit early and avoid the walayar traffic). From Aleppy - Kayamkulam, NH is in very bad shape.

If you are directly going to Pandalam its better to avoid NH47 in its present condition. Nowadays i am sticking to
Bangalore - Salem - Namakkal - Dindigul - Periyakulam - Theni - Cumbum - Kumily - Mundakkayam - Erumely - Ranni - Pathanamthitta – pandalam.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by aargee

Coimbatore - Palakkad is breeze except for the 2 lane Avinashi road. Once you cross Avinashi, you're blessed with L&T's excellent 4 lanes. If you mean the traffic, there's nothing to worry; except for the ultra low toll fee of Rs 31 for all 5 of them put together.

I have paid more than 150 bucks on the tolls between CBE and Bangalore. Do you mean its only a single toll of Rs 31 for the entire distance? Can I show the ticket from first toll in other toll gates and pass through?

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by vasoo

I have paid more than 150 bucks on the tolls between CBE and Bangalore. Do you mean its only a single toll of Rs 31 for the entire distance? Can I show the ticket from first toll in other toll gates and pass through?

Rs.31 covers only the L&T bye-pass for CBE. In this stretch from Karumathampatti to the other end, you can show the receipt you got from the first tollgate where you paid.

[Twiny]

If I remember correctly, the total toll charges from BLR-CBE-COK is 274/-
(if Elevated tollway is used in E-city, it cost additional 35/-). All toll charges except for CBE-L&T & Krishnagiri gates got hiked recently.

BLR--CBE(End of L&T Bypass) distance is ~370km. In this only ~45km distance is not a toll road.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Rs.31 covers only the L&T bye-pass for CBE. In this stretch from Karumathampatti to the other end, you can show the receipt you got from the first tollgate where you paid.

All toll booths in this bye-pass comes in the main highway itself :(
Instead, they could have made it in entry points from other roads to allow a smooth, non stop, hassle free drive.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Twiny

If I remember correctly, the total toll charges from BLR-CBE-COK is 274/-
(if Elevated tollway is used in E-city, it cost additional 35/-). All toll charges except for CBE-L&T & Krishnagiri gates got hiked recently.

BLR--CBE(End of L&T Bypass) distance is ~370km. In this only ~45km distance is not a toll road.

Here is the toll rates as on May between Bangalore and Palghat.

L&T Madhukarai - 31
Kumarapalayam Tollways Perunthurai - 34
MVR Tollways Omallur - 34
L&T Thoppur - 48
NHAI - Krishnagiri - 25
BETL Attibelle - 20

Total: 192. Is it revised after May?

[Twiny]

Please see inline the revised ones as on 13/Sep. Now its 273

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Here is the toll rates as on May between Bangalore and Palghat.

L&T Madhukarai - 31
Kumarapalayam Tollways Perunthurai - 34 > 37
4lane is completed at Salem > Salem Tollways - 41
MVR Tollways Omallur - 34 > 53
L&T Thoppur - 48 > 66
NHAI - Krishnagiri - 25
BETL Attibelle - 20

Total: 192. Is it revised after May?

[lloydofcochin]

^^
+1 to this. I did not make an exact note but it was definitely more than 250. Proposals are already on to make the Kerala roads wider on a BOT basis and if that ever happens we would be shelling out close to 500 bucks as toll to travel from Bangalore to Cochin

[shamanth]

If Bangalore to Cochin entire stretch becomes 2L then you can travel from bangalore to cochin in 5-6 hours, So that might be worth paying Rs 500 as toll, We might save that amount in petrol due to good roads. But seeing the slow work on Kerala side its not promising to get 2L roads anytime in near future.