[Jeep]

Also, I thought I saw Benny's IKON (travelling from Bangalore) between Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri at 11:15 am.

[kuttapan]

Salem- Thoppur is just about manageable, lots of four laning work going on, few good streches in between.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Jeep

T

Overall, the roads have become really good, as compared to anytime in the last 3 years. Krishnagir-Dharmapuri used to be nightmarish.

It's a relief to know this. I am driving to Ekm from Blr on May15th. Anyone joining?

[Jomz]

YouTube - DANGER ZONE

Some guy had made a video about the roads of Kerala.. Really should watch.. Love the guitar and all the stuff.. I dunno whether somebody has posted this before..
And nice original soing by those guys..

[menonrajesh]

Another drive on cards..should be on 25th early morning, with family..
This time driving down through CBE route to TCR.
Will post the updates once back.

[unni.ak]

I was browsing through Yahoo Maps and got a route for B'lore - Cochin:

Bangalore – Kanakpura (NH209) – Malavalli (NH 209) – Kollegal (NH 209) – Yelandur (NH 209) – Chamaraja Nagar – Gundlupet – Bandipur – NH 212 – Manjeri – Malappuram – Tirur – Ponnani – Kodungallor – Pravur – Ekm

Its supposed to be about 500kms. Has anyone done this route? Or updates on bits and pieces of this route....

Thinking of taking this route when I go in May.

[anarchist]

Hi, Me and friends are planning for a trip in the coming week to Alleppey. Can anyone suggest the best route to get to Alleppey from Bangalore. Car we are driving in may be OHC VTEC or an Innova. Last heard that the road condition is pretty bad. Thanks in advance.

[rex_varghese]

Hi,

We're hitting this road on 1st May. Anybody taken this route of late? Please share road conditions.

Thanks
Rex

[Maibaa]

Originally Posted by unni.ak

I was browsing through Yahoo Maps and got a route for B'lore - Cochin:

Bangalore – Kanakpura (NH209) – Malavalli (NH 209) – Kollegal (NH 209) – Yelandur (NH 209) – Chamaraja Nagar – Gundlupet – Bandipur – NH 212 – Manjeri – Malappuram – Tirur – Ponnani – Kodungallor – Pravur – Ekm

Its supposed to be about 500kms. Has anyone done this route? Or updates on bits and pieces of this route....

Thinking of taking this route when I go in May.

Avoid the Kanakapura route to reach Bandipur. I did parts of this stretch from Malavalli to Kollegal and the roads are not good.

A better option would be to go via Mysore - Nanjangud - Gundlupet - Bandipur and onwards.

[menonrajesh]

Travelled with family on 25th morning to Irinjalakuda via Hosur - Dharmapuri - Mettur - Bhavani - CBE - Palaghat - TCR. We returned yesterday via the same route.

Bangalore - Hosur section has to be driven with utmost care as the road works are happening and there are lots of deviations.

Hosur - K Giri, as you all can imagine, is still very good.

K Giri - Dharmapuri section is also good, apart from a number of deviations that we need to take due to road works. But comparing the road conditions in Dec 07- Jan 08 period, it has improved a lot. Please take care of sudden dips / highs on the roads due to the difference in the levels of tarring.

Dharmapuri - Thoppur section has improved a lot. Here also road works are happening and we should carefully overtake as most of the time there are only 2 lanes for vehicle movement.When I travelled, traffic was very very less, so didnt find any major issues.

Thoppur - Mettur - Avinashi - Bhavani section is really good;recently they have re-tarred most of the section. I loved this section in the entire route.

Bhavani - CBE; we face the road works again, but no 'non-motorable' stretches.

CBE - Palghat is good;upto Walayar you will get good roads.The only 'worst' portion is near to Walayar; for about 200 meters! After Walayar, roads are good, but not great.

Palghat - TCR also is comparatively better; beware of reckless drivers; but no un-expected potholes; patch works have been done for the entire section.It is surely a bumpy ride, but way way better than old days.

Distance (one way) covered was 484 KM and reached home in 10 hrs including breakfast,lunch and a couple of stops.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the road condition this time, cos I went through hell during my Dec trip to Kerala in this same route. You would be surprised at the effiicient and swift road works happening in TN state. I reckon, may be after some 10-12 months, driving home and back would be bliss.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by menonrajesh

I reckon, may be after some 10-12 months, driving home and back would be bliss.

How I wish your thoughts would come true..........

Every year, the rains bugger up the roads from Walayar onwards. Surprising thing is the TN secton lasts for more time after road repairs, as one frequent PGT-CBE commuter pointed out recently.

They say it's more difficult to maintin the Kerala section due to heavier rains and "soil crawls"...... don't know if this is an excuse or a reason.

--Ramky
==============

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

How I wish your thoughts would come true..........

Every year, the rains bugger up the roads from Walayar onwards. Surprising thing is the TN secton lasts for more time after road repairs, as one frequent PGT-CBE commuter pointed out recently.

They say it's more difficult to maintin the Kerala section due to heavier rains and "soil crawls"...... don't know if this is an excuse or a reason.

--Ramky
==============

Doesnt rain quite as much as it does in Kerala. Besides, the roads in Kerala have been pretty good for the last few years - rain or no rain - until Comrade VS and his band of merry men decided that there is no need to maintain roads for the Bourgeoisie to travel fast on. The working classes can suffer anyway since that is what they are supposed to do.

Last year was a disaster. The roads have crawled back to normalcy (or close to normalcy) since then, but I really have no hope for good roads under the current administration.

Bring back Muneer!

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by Maibaa

Avoid the Kanakapura route to reach Bandipur. I did parts of this stretch from Malavalli to Kollegal and the roads are not good.

A better option would be to go via Mysore - Nanjangud - Gundlupet - Bandipur and onwards.

Thanks for the tip. Will be doing this route this saturday mostly. Will take the Mysore - Bandipur road.

[mohansinha]

Does anyone have an update on this? This iteam appeared in The Hindu of April 17.


Udupi: APRIL 17, 2008: The convener of the Save National Highway 17 Committee, B. Govindaraj Hegde, said on Tuesday that the members of the committee would stage a dharna or fast at [COLOR=#ff0000]Byndoor, Kundapur and Udupi, on May 5, 6, and 7,[/COLOR] respectively, to protest against the poor condition of the highway in Udupi district.
The committee is an umbrella organisation with representatives of various political parties and voluntary organisations.
Speaking at a meeting of the committee, Mr. Hegde said that if the officials of National Highways Department do not respond to the protests, the committee would call for "National Highway 17 bandh" in Udupi district on May 10.
"We are giving a deadline till April 30 for the National Highways Department to provide details of the money spent on repair and maintenance and four-laning of NH 17 in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts," he said.

[menonrajesh]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Every year, the rains bugger up the roads from Walayar onwards. Surprising thing is the TN secton lasts for more time after road repairs, as one frequent PGT-CBE commuter pointed out recently.

I seriously doubt over the quality of work that is happening on National Highway ( TCR side atleast from my experience) now. I entered into the newly laid road ( work is progressing on the 4 lane;one side is open for traffic) between Puthukkad and Mannuthy and the ride was not as smooth as we get in the 'rubbarised' roads which exist in other parts of the state. One such rubberised road runs through my town and it has survived atleast 3 monsoons and still going great. The newly laid stretch which I mentioned above is nowhere nearby in quality and need to see how fast we can spot a pothole in there!

In TN on the otherhand, either there are very good roads (very good quality of tarring) or they are under construction.