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Its a good news no doubt. I lost so much time during the recent journey in this stretch. Also it is bit dangerous since no lane rules in the deviations.

Sorry to go OT here. Mods pls delete the post if it is inappropriate.

T-bhpians,

I'm driving down alone to Cochin tonight and if anyone is interested in joining me pls send me a PM. 4 people can travel in comfort in my Car. I'm targeting a 10-10.30pm start from here.

Cheers
Lloyd

Nice Lloyed!

Being a long weekend, all buses are running full today and nice to see someone offering a seat. Hope some bhpian will join you today. Wish I found this little early as I was hunting for a ticket today for my cousin to Ernakulam.

Enjoy!

coolclouds,

1 Bhpian might join me. Btw is there a thread where we can offer seats? I mean this could be of great help for people who does not have tickets & have to travel on short notice, esp on Fridays.

Next time I will try to post such plans much early :)

Thanks Llyod for the kind gesture.
But, due to last minute changes, I had to cancel the trip.

Which route did you take and how's the road condition!!

Has anyone recently [in the last one month] traveled thru the Kumily - Cumbum - Theni - Dindigul - Karur - Salem - Bangalore route ? Want to know how is the condition between Kumily & Dindigul !

Went through this route end of December and early January. Road is perfect from Dindigul to Bangalore.

Kumily-Cumbum: Good smooth roads all the way through.
Cumbum-Theni-Dindigul: Patchy roads, some stretches are under road widening/culvert/bridge construction.

No probs. I got a friend's friend for company :)

I took the usual Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore route. Road condition has improved in Avinashi. It's less painful now with some decently tarred stretches and less diversions.

Coimbatore - Palakkad is drivable but the progress would be slow due to broken tarmac and lot of loose stones. The roads approaching Kuthiran and few kilometers after that is very bumpy and there after it is much better and then you have the new 4 lane which starts from Mannuthy. Toll collection is in place and I had to shell out Rs.55/- for the same.

My favourite part in the entire trip!

As it's 1.5 months since your journey, I could expect slightly better state of affairs I believe. What's the average speed you were able to clock on this stretch? Are there potholes in this stretch ?

So everyone is shunting the Thoppur - Mettur - Bhavani route? Any idea how the work progressing in this route ?

Truck driver's paradise(avoiding toll) and car driver's nightmare.

Thoppur- Mecheri: Good. 80kmph.
Mecheri - Mettur: Breakers, rough at some stretch.
Mettur - Bhavani : Bad road, patched up even badly. 40kmph, max.

In fact many truck drivers divert from Hosur itself to avoid the toll.
The route they prefer:

Hosur-Rayakottai-Dharmapuri (at Hogenakkal SH)-Pennagaram-Mecheri-Mettur-Bhavani.

Pennagaram-Mecheri is a very nice SH and is in pretty decent state.

Update on NH47:

I made a Kodungallur-Bangalore journey this morning - left my home (3.5kms from Kodungallur) at 0535hrs, and I reached Bangalore (Kodichikkanahalli, 2.5kms from Bommanahalli on Hosur road) at 1350hrs. This includes one break for breakfast, one for refueling and about 4 other breaks (short breaks - each about 5~10 minutes).

The route I took was Kodungallur-Thrissur-Mannuthy-Palakkad Bypass-Coimbatore Bypass-Salem-Krishnagiri-Hosur-B'lore. (Took the conventional route below the elevated highway between E.City and Bommanahalli)

I purposefully went through Thrissur town to beat the Rs. 55 toll at Paliyekara (I run hardly 10kms on the road, and find it unreasonable to pay Rs. 55).

About the state of the roads: They've started diversions on the Mannuthy-Vadakkenchery section due to 4-laning works. There is no sign of work around Kuthiran (have they decided whether to tunnel or widen the ghat??).

In the Vadakkenchery-Walayar section, noticed that they've fell trees at places - so preliminary works in this section has begun. The works on Walayar to beginning of CBE bypass are progressing pretty well - there is absolutely no shoulder space to move if someone on the opposite direction decides to cut across. Neelambur (end of CBE BP) to Chengampalli is progressing briskly. Avinashi bypass is more-or-less ready (reportedly will open next month). It was bliss from Chengampalli onwards.

Refueled from KPN Fuel Service (operated by KPN Travels) at Salem - they have very decent toilets, two ATMs and a small snack bar. Its a good place if you intend to take a short break while refueling as well. All the KPN buses refuel here - so guess fuel quality would not be bad.

Road condition: average surface quality between Mannuthy and Vadakkencherry. Good surface from there on till Walayar. Road quality is very bad around Hosur.

Heard from someone else who has gone recently to CBE about the same too. Tried to locate this when I was crossing Salem around 5-6 PM once when returning from Ernakulam about a month ago but could not locate the same. Can you please help with the exact location of this place? The main intention is NOT to stop at Thoppur A2B which would expectedly be crowded on weekend evening return drives. All we would mostly do on a break at Thoppur A2B is refuel, take some coffee (no snacks or sweets as we stock enough in the car itself) and use the toilet.

I think this is a 24/7 fuel station as well, right?

The KPN Fuel Service pump is on Suramangalam Main Road. While coming from Coimbatore side, one has to take a left at the first circle (not the first intersection, but the first circle). The pump is hardly 50metres into the road on the right side. Its hard to miss if you are on the correct road because they have a huge hoarding reading "KPN Fuel Service".

If I remember correctly, this road (Suramangalam Main Road) is on the first intersection after a road overbridge (over a railway line). The place would be a good choice if you are not looking at a place to eat. This fuel pump has good toilets, two ATMs and a small bakery. The pump works 24 hours - but during late night hours, a lot of KPN buses would turn up - so may be one would have to wait longer.

This link would help.

Edit: An image of this pump: