[binaiks]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I am doing Bangalore-Kochi tomorrow, may be in the afternoon. Anyone reported any traffic block at Walayar recently? Also, is the Avinashi bypass open?

I am doing Bangalore-Kodungallur tomorrow morning (Planning to start off from Bommanahalli around 0530~0600hrs). Just PM me your mobile number, i'll message you if there are any troubles anywhere on the route.

Originally Posted by lloydofcochin

Btw, Avinashi stretch is much better now? Which bypass are you referring to?

A new bypass is being built at Avinashi. The bypass takes off to the left of the current road a while before Avinashi, and joins back sometime after Avinashi. A similar bypass is coming up for Perumanallur as well, which takes off to the right.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

They started checking before that too. I was stopped just before Walayar by TN cops. Boot was checked and had to open my bags.

This may be a regular checking that they do especially in the border. This week when I was in Chennai, they stopped each and every vehicle looking for the robbers. TV channels also reported about police checking every vehicle.

Originally Posted by binaiks

I am doing Bangalore-Kodungallur tomorrow morning (Planning to start off from Bommanahalli around 0530~0600hrs). Just PM me your mobile number, i'll message you if there are any troubles anywhere on the route.

Thanks Binai, I just PMed you my number. Looking for your updates.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

I travelled that stretch today early morning. Saw a lot of trucks and other vehicles taking a by road just before the tollgate and then reentering some distance down.

I have a feeling that these by-lanes which help to avoid the toll will see little maintenance from now on - to the point that it will no longer be worthwhile for long-distance travellers to take that route (in terms of time).

But this stretch is the best motorable road in the state as of today. The old 4lane stretch from Ankamali to Alwaye which earlier felt so good to drive suddenly felt bad.

True. The Ankamaly-Alwaye stretch is narrower and sees lot of traffic to/from the airport. On my Cochin-Thrissur trips, I always heave a sigh of relief once I cross Athani junction.

[ontheroad]

Thrissur district is witnessing another hartal today in the name of toll collection at Palliyekkara. Reason for hartal is the so called police lathi charge against protesting BJP workers in toll gate yesterday.

[binaiks]

Reached back from Bangalore a while back. Started off from there at 0550 (near Bommanahalli) and reached home at 1615hrs (Yeah! It took me more than 10 hours to cover 500-odd kms).

In fact, Bommanahalli to Salem (KPN Fuels) was done in just over 2:30 hours. It was at this point that I got to know of the hartal in Thrissur. Progress slowed down after that - took lots of breaks, and finally landed up in Palakkad (Hotel Sre Aaryaas, Chandranagar) at 1230hrs. (Left Salem KPN at 0850, took a break at Saravana Bhavan for breakfast).

Visited an old family friend, spent some time there, and finally left from Palakkad at 1415hrs. Reached Thrissur at 1510hrs - the road was absolutely empty. Just no body on the road! More importantly, Private buses weren't running!!! Thrissur to Kodungallur (35kms) was done in a shade over 30 minutes - absolutely no body on the road.

Shops in and around Thrissur were closed due to the Harthal - but no incidences of violence reported around the town. I did not go to the toll gate area - not sure how is the situation there. But long route KeSRTC buses were running normally.

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Thrissur district is witnessing another hartal today in the name of toll collection at Palliyekkara. Reason for hartal is the so called police lathi charge against protesting BJP workers in toll gate yesterday.

This is the 6th or 7th Harthal on this issue in Thrissur district, this month itself! These guys are demanding good roads, and they want it for free. I somehow feel they should have two toll gates (something like the CBE Bypass one, or may be the Mumbai-Pune Expressway types). People traveling shorter distances may be charged lesser.

Note: There was a speed radar just a while after Walayar Check Post - atleast three KA registered cars and one KL registered Punto was stopped. Interestingly, that Punto had overtaken me just a while back - we was outright rash, and did quite a lot of dangerous cuts. I jovially mentioned that the speed limit in Kerala in 70kmph just as he overtook me - a km down the road, I see the car stopped by the cops for overspeeding!

[sv1976]

Did Blr-Calicut-Blr over the weekend. Wayanad ghat section is in excellent condition and a pleasure to see/drive. They've done a great job in the one month when heavy vehicles were not allowed. No interlocking concrete blocks at hairpin bends but tarred nicely. Hope its stays like this for some time.

[thelightening]

Travelling from Bangalore to kottayam tomorrow (28th) morning on my wagonR. Confused between coimbatore and dindigul route. Heard that there is one more harthal tomorrow in Kerala, so planning to reach border by around 6pm. Any suggestions?

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by sv1976

Did Blr-Calicut-Blr over the weekend. Wayanad ghat section is in excellent condition and a pleasure to see/drive. They've done a great job in the one month when heavy vehicles were not allowed. No interlocking concrete blocks at hairpin bends but tarred nicely. Hope its stays like this for some time.

Great welcome news is that they announced this as only the first phase of improvement works. Of course, no interlocking is done now but they have done enough digging and levelling in the underneath layers to felicitate interlocking work in a much shorter span of time if that is planned to be done anytime. Also made some water channels below the tarred surface for water to flow underneath rather than getting clogged/flooded on the curves and damaging the upper surface (which is not viable and hence not done in Shiradi ghats leading to its damage after every rainy season). They have also announced road-widening work in the whole 12-km stretch of ghat roads including the hairpin bends. Most probably, expect it later this year after the rains since they expect a few land(forest/private) related litigations to be resolved by then. Also, the authorities seem to be determined to ban super-heavy cargo vehicles throught this ghat section that carry automobiles to various show rooms in Kerala.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by thelightening

Travelling from Bangalore to kottayam tomorrow (28th) morning on my wagonR. Confused between coimbatore and dindigul route. Heard that there is one more harthal tomorrow in Kerala, so planning to reach border by around 6pm. Any suggestions?

It is not a Hartal, per se. It is a "General Strike" declared by various trade unions (not political parties) across the country. It is from 00:00hrs of February 28, 2012 to 23:59 hours of February 28, 2012. They have announced and exemption for private vehicles. However, KSRTC/Private Stage Carriers would not operate.

So, there is no point delaying your entry into Kerala until 6 pm, since the strike is upto midnight. IMHO, things would be normal tomorrow. If you are entering Kerala post noon, there should be no problems at all. May be have someone at your home to check news channels in the morning (Malayalam News Channels) to have an update on how the situation is.

[deetjohn]

Drove from EKM to Bangalore yesterday.

The Angamali Trissur toll road is excellent. The toll is 55 which I feel is not too bad. It sure saves a lot of time. Gave INR 100 at the gate and they asked for 5 rupees change. I didn't have and they returned INR 50 back. Wonder why can't they keep that as the fee then. Will save a lot of time and trouble.

Thrissur to Palghat is very rough and had many potholes. The Palghat Walayar section is relatively better. Just after the border, the road is very bad in TN till the L&T byepass.

It looks like the 4 Lane construction at Avinashi will get completed in 2 or 3 months. Its full of dust and idiotic bus drivers. I could see many drivers overtaking an overtaking car. So you'll get 3 vehicles coming straight at you with head lights on. Be very careful here. The ambient temp was very high in TN, the reading was 37C around Salem.

Expansion at Krishnagiri still going on and roads in Hosur is a bit bad. And to my surprise there was a traffic jam on top of the BETL at around 6PM. Wonder if its worth paying the toll there anymore.

[jeeva]

How's the road condition to Guruvayur these days? Anyone had been there off-late?
I will be driving from Sulthan Bathery taking the Nadugani-Vazhikadavu-Nilambur-Pandikkad-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi route or is there a better route?
I will be with my family (parents, wifey and my 1.5 years old kiddo) and so, please suggest some good/clean hotels on the way.

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by jeeva

How's the road condition to Guruvayur these days? Anyone had been there off-late?
I will be driving from Sulthan Bathery taking the Nadugani-Vazhikadavu-Nilambur-Pandikkad-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi route or is there a better route?
I will be with my family (parents, wifey and my 1.5 years old kiddo) and so, please suggest some good/clean hotels on the way.

From Sulthan Bathery, there is no need to go via Nadugani/Nilambur unless you are on a sight-seeing tour of Wynad.

Just go Sulthan Bathery->Kalpetta->Lakkidi->Wynad Ghats->Thamarassery->Calicut Byepass->Ramanattukara->Kottakkal->Kuttipuram->Kunnamkulam->Guruvayur route only.

Sulthan Bathery->Calicut Byepass : about 2 hours
Calicut Byepass->Guruvayur : about 3 hours

What type of hotels are you looking for? Veg/Non-Veg? BreakFast/Lunch?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by jeeva

How's the road condition to Guruvayur these days? Anyone had been there off-late?
I will be driving from Sulthan Bathery taking the Nadugani-Vazhikadavu-Nilambur-Pandikkad-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi route or is there a better route?
I will be with my family (parents, wifey and my 1.5 years old kiddo) and so, please suggest some good/clean hotels on the way.

But, why do you want to go via Nadugani-Vazhikadavu-Nilambur? The Thamarassery ghat section has been repaired, and from a post earlier in this topic (and from a couple of friends), the section is in great shape now.

So you can try Bathery-Kalpetta-Thamarassery-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi. I would actually suggest going via Kozhikode though - the road is fairly decent all the way. There would be traffic between Kozhikode (Ramanattukara bypass) and Kuttipuram (till the point where NH17 branches off). It depends on what time would you be driving - early morning and afternoon timings have less traffic. Its just bliss after Kuttipuram (except for the traffic signal at Edapal). Kunnamkulam would have a bit of traffic - but not worrisome. Its good roads after Kunnamkulam again.

There is one hotel after Adivaram (Thamarassery adivaram) on the right side (I am forgetting the name). Its a good restaurant, with clean washrooms. There are some good restaurants all along the way - there is no problem at all if you are not a strict vegetarian.

Edit

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Sulthan Bathery->Calicut Byepass : about 2 hours
Calicut Byepass->Guruvayur : about 3 hours

Accurate estimates. You'd not require 3hrs for Calicut bypass to Guruvayur though. Its easily doable in a shade over 2 hours. But since you have a kid, 3 hours would be fair.

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by binaiks

There is one hotel after Adivaram (Thamarassery adivaram) on the right side (I am forgetting the name). Its a good restaurant, with clean washrooms. There are some good restaurants all along the way - there is no problem at all if you are not a strict vegetarian.

I think starting from Bathery, you can reach Calicut without any stoppage. If you still want to stop for clean washrooms, I would strongly suggest the hotel (I think the name is Hotel Luncheon) on the left side immediately after the ghat road ends. It has ample car parking space as well and is on your left side after a few road-side shops. Just drive slow and you can spot this easily as it is a relatively taller building in the area and I guess they have boarding as well. Occassionally, there maybe a KSRTC bus just on the entrance of the hotel, so just be watchful.

There is 'Food-n-Fun' just after Kottakkal junction. This comes on the LHS immediately where you take a sharp right turn just after Hospital building.

There is 'Motel Aaram' on the RHS just after Kuttipuram bridge on a small hillock kind of place.

There is KR and a couple of others on the LHS on Perumpilavu junction where Perinthalmanna/Pattambi road joins.

Originally Posted by binaiks

Accurate estimates. You'd not require 3hrs for Calicut bypass to Guruvayur though. Its easily doable in a shade over 2 hours. But since you have a kid, 3 hours would be fair.

I have considered the northern end (Wynad road intersection just after Malapparamba) of Calicut byepass and budgetted for 3 hours. And also, I believed that it is not a 100% familiar route for our friend to just focus on driving itself as he may need to slow down on some of the major junctions or may need to look for signage boards.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

There is KR and a couple of others on the LHS on Perumpilavu junction where Perinthalmanna/Pattambi road joins.

Isn't KR on the RHS while coming from Kozhikode side? There are actually a lot of joints at Perumpilavu junction.