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Yes I asked the Salem till plaza guy where Perundurai is. Then kept track of the distance and took left where the bypass ended

The Perundurai exit is very well marked. You find a exit sign board about 2km before the exit, so that people can plan accordingly.

Also as I mentioned earlier the first exit is also good.

Yes I took the first exit which leads to the same junction from where Kangeyam road starts. Also I noticed across my 2 recent trips that in the Ulundurpettai Salem stretch there is max violation in terms of vehicles coming in the wrong direction. Also final stretch which is not yet complete has been so for quite some time. Lot of infra projects lying in the limbo thanks to an indifferent government

Yet another Saturday and one more drive via Bandipur :)

Drove Bangalore - Kanakpura - Kollegal - Chamrjnagar - Gundlupet - Gudalur - Nilambur - Perinthalmanna - Shoranur.

NH-209 is in decent shape with sparse traffic & no tolls :)

Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet section is a lil bumpy and rough in patches but easily manageable and you can do 80-100 in most stretches.

Gundlupet to Theppekad is in great shape but further the road to Gudalur has many bad patches. Nadugani ghats is deteriorating with some big potholes. Vazhikkadavu to Pulamanthole bridge via Nilambur - Vadapuram - Perinthalmanna is good. Pulamanthole to Pattambi is bad but manageable and from Pattambi to Shoranur it is a good stretch.

Drove back from Cochin via Shoranur - Palakkad - Salem - Krishnagiri. Palakkad - Coimbatore is better now due to some patchwork being done but still it is a bumpy ride with some interspersed potholes. You have to budget for more time to do the Krishnagiri stretch since the road widening will slow you down. Also watch out for some diversions & unscientifically placed barricades.

Another thing to model is the "Queuing Theory" at the toll booths between Krishnagiri and Bangalore

- Weekend Returns equals high
- Festival returns is even higher

Anything else?

You are right. Surprisingly it was a quite smooth affair at the toll booths yesterday since the junta is yet to return from the extended holidays.

Did Cochin - Trivandrum this weekend. Entire stretch is pretty good except for Alleppey-Kayamkulam. Few halts during the journey
1) Travancore Palace, Cherthala
2) KTDC Aaram, Alleppey

Yesterday took Mannuthy-Kuthiran-Vadakkenchery NH47 route.. 1hour it took for this ~30km stretch, with less than usual traffic.
A big NO to take this route if it is raining.

Hello,

I am going to Calicut from Bangalore after a while now. Remember that the stretch between Sulthan Bathery and Kalpetta was horrible. Any idea if it has been repaired? Also how about the Mysore highway? Added more bumps on the road :D ? Should I choose Mysore - Mananthavady - Kalpetta Calicut?

Advise please:

Did a Thrissur-Mysore-Thrissur trip over the last weekend. Took Thrrisur-Shornur-Pattambi-Perithalmanna-Nilambur-Nadugani-Gudalur-Gundlupet-Mysore route.
Decent roads except the ghat section near Nadugani and some portion of Pattambi-Perithalmanna road. Started from Thrissur at 6AM and reached Mysore by 1 30PM (40min break in between). It was a good drive as traffic was very less throughout the route. However, faced heavy traffic on the way back as I entered Kerala by around 2PM on Sunday.

SB-Kalpetta continues to be bad. Mysore-Manathavady also has some bad sections after H D KOte

Take deviation from HD Kote (Handpost) through the forest to Kutta and proceed from Kutta to Mananthavady via Kattikulam.

HD Kote-Kutta road is also bad!
Best is to go via Hunsur to Kutta, lovely roads

As HVK said SB-Kalpetta is bad. Muthanga - SB also has some interspersed potholes. If you are taking the HD Kote - Mananthavady road there is a 14km bad stretch which has pretty big potholes but can be managed with some careful driving.

An alternate route is to go to Calicut via the scenic Thotillpalam ghat instead of the Thamarserry one. For that you can turn off from SB. Roads are fairly OK with some rough sections in between.

Did Bangalore-Wayanad (Poothady, near mananthavady) on 11th and returned on 13th. As adviced by HVK sir, took the following route:
Yelahanka-Mandya-Mysore (outer ring road)-Hunsur-Nagarhole-Kutta-Tholpetty-Kattikulam-Mananthavady-Panamaram-Poothady. Took the same route while returning.
Regarding road conditions, Bangalore-Hunsur is good all the way except the byepasses of Mysore. Took outer ring road while going, and while coming took yelawal-Belagola-KRS road-Ranganathittu road-srirangapatana. Outer ring road has some bad stretches due to road construction, but in between there are very good 6 lane stretches. The belagola KRS road byepass is in horrible condition. I would advice to avoid that route and take Mysore outer ring road if you are heading towards Hunsur from bangalore.
After Hunsur, till Nagarhole forest gate, roads are in excellent condition with almost nil traffic. from forest gate till Kutta, roads are rough with few potholes and lot of humps, but still very much drivable. From Forest exit till Kutta, roads are good. Beyond kutta town till Kerala border at Tholpetty, road has deteriorated badly. But this is only a short stretch of around 6 kms. beyond Tholpetty, all the way roads are excellent with sparkling black topclap:
In Wayanad as such roads seems to be pretty good except few stretches. NH 212 is is absolute shambles from Meenangady till Kalpetta civil station on the S.Bathery-Kalpetta stretch (did not travel, heard from locals)

If destination is Kozhikode and if you are looking for good roads through out and do not mind driving around 15-20km extra, I advice to take Hunsur-kutta-Tholpetty-Manathavady-Nalam mile-Tharuvana-Padinjharethara-Pozhuthana-Vythiri-Lakkidi-Thamarashery Ghat-Adivaram-Thamarasherry-Kozhikode. The 'less travelled' but best route currently with sparse traffic. Here is the gmaps link http://goo.gl/maps/WKTSx