[vdi]

@mpksuhas & ranjitp1, couldn't check your posts on time. But luckily found some guys from Cochin at Goa who took this route and confirmed it to be in good shape except the diversions near Mangalore due to 4 laning. Left Baga at 8am on Monday and reached Cochin by 3am on Tuesday with sufficient breaks.

Road condition - Perfect all the way till Cochin except for the 4 laning part near Mangalore which also was not that difficult to cover with some excellent markings.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Closed in the sense is the traffic diverted through another route or is it that they are diverting traffic through same road but another (wrong) lane?

How long will it take to cross this section. Iam not much familiar with this route since I have travelled only in bus couple of times through there. Planning to drive from Guruvayur to Bangalore on Sunday like Kala. Will be starting from Guruvayur around 9AM with a break in Palakkad to meet a relative (~1 hr). So hope I will be crossing Coimbatore around afternoon.

I meant nothing has changed. All 4 lane sections "remain" closed. Diversions are as it was earlier, except that in some sections road surface seems to have become better. I did not time the route specifically but reached Palakkad in about 8 hours with one hour of breaks. I think it should be possible to cover the distance (400 kms) in 7 hours with decent speeds.

[joecherian]

took the dindigul route for my easter drive. Left Bangalore at 8 30 PM from C V Raman Nagar. Route till Dindigul was a breeze. Reached kodaikanal turn off at 2 AM. There are numerous diversions for culvert constructions on the Theni route. Since I was driving at night, there were not much issues but could imagine the long queues that might be present during day time.Lowercamp till Kumily checkpost is tarred and hence no issues. But craters have started appearing towards the last leg of this ghat.
Post Kumily, road surface is patched badly and hence the ride is bumpy for 8-10 kms. After this, butter smooth roads all the way.
FInally , reached my home in manimala at 7 15 AM.(covering a distance of 630 kms)

Will I take this route for my return journey ? probably not since I am planning to do a day journey.

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by kala

Sorry to hear that Lloyd. But thank god it wasn't much worse, encounters with heavy vehicles can quite often be much more serious than that.

Yes we were lucky. There was this other heart stopping moment where in a truck came head on while overtaking another Bus nr before Mannuthy. I just stopped and allowed that to pass. The stats show a very grim picture about the safety on Kerala roads. Would you believe? A staggering 698 people died on Kerala roads in the month of Jan & Feb. That's almost 12 lives a day

Originally Posted by ramzsys

The golden rule is to drive fast than those private buses or else pull to the left and let them pass.

That' very true. I normally let these morons pass esp in stretches like Kuthiran where the road conditions are bad and I can't drive that fast. This guy tried overtaking from the Right and since another Truck was blocking him he quickly tried to squeeze in from the Left which was tight on space.

[NAK]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Closed in the sense is the traffic diverted through another route or is it that they are diverting traffic through same road but another (wrong) lane?

How long will it take to cross this section. Iam not much familiar with this route since I have travelled only in bus couple of times through there. Planning to drive from Guruvayur to Bangalore on Sunday like Kala. Will be starting from Guruvayur around 9AM with a break in Palakkad to meet a relative (~1 hr). So hope I will be crossing Coimbatore around afternoon.

Just back from Irinjalkuda to Bangalore yesterday which passes through Thrissur. Road condition from Thrissur to Avinashi is not that great with 4 laning work still ongoing on the entire stretch and many diversions throughout. The only comfortable section was the L&T bypass with well laid roads and less traffic. Few kilometers after Avinashi, 4 lane roads start and after that its a breeze all the way to Bangalore. Irinjalkuda to Bangalore is 500 kms and took me about 9.5 hours including 1.5 hrs of break.

[naveen.raju]

Speaking of private buses along this stretch, I have attached an illustration of the wost overtaking I have ever witnessed. I'm not making this up, this actually happened few years back.

This is Kuthiran couple of years back when the roads were reasonable. Blue is my car going towards Blore and green is a truck towards Cochin. Red is a private bus coming down the hill at unimaginable speed. I saw the bus coming in the wrong lane and flashed my lights. When I realized he is near, I slammed the brakes. I thought he would definitely crash into my car, but was shocked to see his next move. He went off the road and passed my car in order to overtake the truck.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Speaking of private buses along this stretch, I have attached an illustration of the wost overtaking I have ever witnessed. I'm not making this up, this actually happened few years back.

I have seen this maneuvers only at traffic jams To do this at high speed shows the sheer arrogance and stupidity of these morons.

[vdi]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Speaking of private buses along this stretch, I have attached an illustration of the wost overtaking I have ever witnessed. I'm not making this up, this actually happened few years back.

This is Kuthiran couple of years back when the roads were reasonable. Blue is my car going towards Blore and green is a truck towards Cochin. Red is a private bus coming down the hill at unimaginable speed. I saw the bus coming in the wrong lane and flashed my lights. When I realized he is near, I slammed the brakes. I thought he would definitely crash into my car, but was shocked to see his next move. He went off the road and passed my car in order to overtake the truck.

This can happen only in Kerala. I think the private buses plying between Mangalore and Kundapara too is similar to this.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by NAK

Just back from Irinjalkuda to Bangalore yesterday which passes through Thrissur. Road condition from Thrissur to Avinashi is not that great with 4 laning work still ongoing on the entire stretch and many diversions throughout. The only comfortable section was the L&T bypass with well laid roads and less traffic. Few kilometers after Avinashi, 4 lane roads start and after that its a breeze all the way to Bangalore. Irinjalkuda to Bangalore is 500 kms and took me about 9.5 hours including 1.5 hrs of break.

What time did you leave Irinjalakuda?

Four Laning is happening only between Mannuthy-Vadakkenchery and Walayar-Chengampally. There is no work between Vadakkenchery and Walayar (except some trees being cut) - also, there are no diversions in this section. This is currently one of the "above average" piece of road on NH47 in Kerala limits.

[Rajeevraj]

Did a Bangalore Tirur trip Saturday . Came via bathery calicut . One of the most smoothest trips in a long time. Realized the benefit of leaving around 4 as opposed to 5. Leaving at 4 ensures that the mysore gundlepet section can covered before morning traffic picks up. I felt it saved me 20-30 min. Timings were 4.15 from belandur - 6.45 mysore - 7.40 gundlepet- break at ccd till 8.30 - 9.30 bathery - 10.10 kalpetta - 11 adivaram( ghat is beautiful now. Hope it stays like that) - 12 calicut bypass - 1.30 tirur

[NAK]

Originally Posted by binaiks

What time did you leave Irinjalakuda?

Four Laning is happening only between Mannuthy-Vadakkenchery and Walayar-Chengampally. There is no work between Vadakkenchery and Walayar (except some trees being cut) - also, there are no diversions in this section. This is currently one of the "above average" piece of road on NH47 in Kerala limits.

I started at 7 am from Irinjalkuda and reached Bangalore at 4.30 pm. I guess you are right with the road condition between Vadakkenchery and Walayar as there are no diversion in this section however I did see some areas where four laning was being done on the sides. For me the best portion of NH47 in Kerala for this drive was the Thrissur - Ernakulam stretch. Brilliant 4 lane road and I could easily do 100 - 120 consistently.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by NAK

For me the best portion of NH47 in Kerala for this drive was the Thrissur - Ernakulam stretch. Brilliant 4 lane road and I could easily do 100 - 120 consistently.

Although the road is good, I'd surely not call it the "best" portion, for the following reasons:

1. Too many morons on the road - people drive on the wrong lane for 'fun', and pedestrians running across the road at will.
2. Lots of speed checking - 70kmph is the limit. They stand at most strategic points, and its very risky to do over 70kmph on this route.

[travelmate]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Not really long,you would drive an extra of around 40-50kms and not more than that,but then you would save quite a bit of time as you have 4 laned roads to drive on from Dindigul(thats approx 380kms of 4laned roads).Mysore route would definitely take a longer time.

Went Friday via Nilambur and returned Sunday night via Ooty. Massive drive and found poor stretches on the Kerala side at border and bouncy after Trissur till the toll.

[mpksuhas]

Did Palakkad- Bangalore yesterday, roads from KL/ TN border till Coimbatore byepass is a mess. However it pales in comparision of Coimbatore byepass end till Chengapalli from where completed 4 lane starts.
Traffic was less and road condition superb for the ~100 kms from Chengapalli - Salem, was able to do that in about 80mins. Once reaching Salem and joining NH-7 traffic was mad which became even worse once passing Krishnagiri. However, saw both lanes open all way in Krishnagiri, had seen one lane closed in small sections while travelling couple of weeks back due to some excavation work. Took around 8 Hrs to reach Domlur in Bangalore with about 45 mins of break.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Reached Kochi today morning. There were huge traffic jam at Walayar around 3am.

Noticed most of the vehicles avoid Trichur toll gate by taking parallel road. The vehicles coming from Ernakulam direction takes a U turn just 100 meters before the toll gate (just below the board saying Lane1 Lane2 etc) and enters the parallel road and rejoins NH after less than 1km

Here is an image of this parallel road taken from Cochin side of toll booth. Those five lights in background is the toll plaza. Don't know how long it will be open