[sj_koova]

Road Condition Update:

NH7 / NH47 - Bangalore-Salem-Coimbatore-Palaghat-Mannuthi
Bangalore - Krishnagiri -> Roadwork can slow you down. But easily doable in the night as the diversions are very well marked.
Krishnagiri - Salem -> Very good as usual
Salem - Coimbatore L&T -> Significant improvement between Avinashi and L&T bypass
L&T Bypass - Palaghat Bypass -> In good condition
Palaghat Bypass - Mannuthy -> Reasonable to bad. Pattikad/Kuthiran is uneven and tiring. Avoid this section in the night.

Kumily - Theni - Dindigul - Salem

Kumily - Theni -> Roadwork is almost completed. Freshly paved/wide 2 lane road. Markings and directions boards and not completed yet. So be careful in the night. I did this stretch yesterday night. I managed to do 100+ where there were no markings (I have HID headlamps ).
Dindigul - Salem -> Excellent as usual.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

Kumily - Theni - Dindigul - Salem

Kumily - Theni -> Roadwork is almost completed. Freshly paved/wide 2 lane road. Markings and directions boards and not completed yet. So be careful in the night. I did this stretch yesterday night.

More importantly how is it beyond Kumily? Any road work happening? Many wanted to know about that as well.

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by RobC

There are a few new cameras being installed on the NH too, however, I just noticed them on a late night drive, don't really remember the locations.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Great roads. Even the rough roads around Chengannur are much better.
AFAIK, no speed guns on MC Road.

Originally Posted by ontheroad

There may not be "installed" speed guns in MC road, but there are police Highway Patrol team with speed guns. One of my friends were fined two months back on a sunday for overspeeding.

Originally Posted by pramodpk

I noticed lot of (what appeared to be) speed cameras on NH 47 between Angamaly and Mannuthy. Could not spot any between Kalamassery and Angamaly. They can be easily spotted during day time and most of them are kept at intersections. There were 2 after the Paliyekkara toll both.

Wow, thanks a lot for such detailed info!! I'm back home after the trip . My dad was down with a bad sprain at our relatives house at Kumaranallur, Kottayam. Hence went there, had breakfast, picked him up and came back!

I stay close to eanchakkal hence took the route via Kazhakuttam instead of starting off with the MC itself

The route I took for the onward journey:

Eanchakkal --> Attingal--> Turn right from Aalamcode jn--> Kilimanoor--> Chengannur--> Changanassery-->Kottayam-->Kumaranallur

Distance: 163.5
Starting time: 4.15 am
Reaching time: 7.15 am

Was travelling with mom for the onward journey. I chose to go via Attingal instead of turning towards Pothencode mainly to fuel up from the BP COCO pump, Thonnakkal. The route turning from Alamcode Jn. towards Kilimanoor was better than the road to venjaramoodu from the junction before Attingal (Mamam, i guess). The MC was damn awesome, better than many NH stretches I fellt. I found the rumble strips and speed breakers installed at the apt places, well marked with proper road signs. Excellent roads till Chengannur!! From there on till Kottayam, the roads were bad, uneven I guess it was not developed along with the rest of the stretch! Due to the early morning drive, I could move fast without getting stuck in traffic! I maintained good speeds between 60-90 kmph.


The route for the return journey:

Kumaranalloor--> Kottayam--> Changanassery-->Chengannur-->Kilimanoor-->Venjaramoodu-->Attingal(Mamam Jn.)-->Eanchakkal

I chose to go to Mamam Jn. inorder to avoid the heavy traffic snarls in Attingal and it came out to be a great decision!

Started off by 8.00 am. Traffic was getting dense and since my dad had a sprain, I took extreme care in the Changanassery and Chengannur stretches due to the poor roads. This ate up some precious time though. From there on, as I mentioned earlier, roads were awesome, traffic was mediocre (way less than the NH) and was great. Got stuck in a huge block in Venjaaramoodu and Kazhakkuttam. Kottarakkara was a little slow too!

Distance: 170 km
Starting time: 8.00 am
Reaching time: 12.15 pm!!

I did not spot any speed guns in the MC stretch but spotted three Police Speed tracer vehicles-one each in the Chengannur and Kilimaanoor, Kilimanoor - Kottarakkara, Kottarakkara- Venjaramoodu stretch. I loved the speed breakers in all the steep inclines. Very aptly placed and you will definitely thank them considering the danger posed otherwise!

A big thanks to all for the wonderful inputs! And I definitely found the NH 47(till Cherthala) slower than the MC Road!

Cheers!!

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by ampere

More importantly how is it beyond Kumily? Any road work happening? Many wanted to know about that as well.

Kottayam-Kumily road is in excellent condition. I felt it was recently paved as the surface was very smooth till Vandiperiyar. After Vandiperiyar it was more of patch work done (reasonably well).
There were couple of places where some drainage work happening, otherwise it is all good.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by ampere

More importantly how is it beyond Kumily? Any road work happening? Many wanted to know about that as well.

Ampere, did Bangalore - Kottayam - Vaikom - Kothamangalam - Munnar -Pollachi - Coimbatore - Bangalore and just landed back today morning

Left Bangy by midnight 12 and reached Kottayam by 8:30AM. Bangalore - Krishnagiri was ok, due to the timing and traffic. Diversions are well lit too for the drive in night.

Reached Kumily by 06:15AM. Good roads from Krishnagiri till Kumily. The kumily ghat section is also decently done. Kumily Kottayam road is fine, nothing that makes a worry. Kumily till Peerumedu had some mist, which was a welcome break in the summer.

Kottayam-kumarakom-vaikom-kothamangalam was good.

Kothamangalam till Adimali, good with little patchy areas nearer to adimali.

Adimali Munnar is having potholes and patches in between, slows you down.

Munnar - Marayoor - Chinnar is rough, but no major hassles.

Chinnar - udumalpet is good

Udumalpettu - pollachi -coimbatore is good

Coimbatore - Avinashi is better than it used to be.

Avinashi - Salem is excellent.

Did Pollachi - Bangalore in 6 hours.

[gajadonga]

@ laluks

I am planning for a Munnar trip this month end.A few queries.
How are the road conditions from Dindugal-Batalagundu-Theni did you travel on your
onward journey in this route.
From Munnar-Banglore which is the preferred road and timing wise.
Is it through Chinnar - Udumalpet-Dharapuram-Perundurai route is better or
Munnar-Bodinayakanur-Theni-Dindigul is better.
Thanks in advance

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

@ laluks

I am planning for a Munnar trip this month end.A few queries.
How are the road conditions from Dindugal-Batalagundu-Theni did you travel on your
onward journey in this route.
From Munnar-Banglore which is the preferred road and timing wise.
Is it through Chinnar - Udumalpet-Dharapuram-Perundurai route is better or
Munnar-Bodinayakanur-Theni-Dindigul is better.
Thanks in advance

Dindigul-Theni is work in progress but much better than what it was.If you want to take a detour,you could continue on NH7 from Dindigul till the Kodai Road toll and then go under the flyover immediately after the toll and take a right onto the Kodai Road-Vathalakundu-Theni route.Road is excellent.

I took the Udumulpet route recently and I would prefer that over the Bodi route,unless you are staying in the Chinnakanal area of Munnar in which case the Bodi route is easier as otherwise you would have to travel close to 30kms on the hills to reach the Chinnar road.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

@ laluks

I am planning for a Munnar trip this month end.A few queries.
How are the road conditions from Dindugal-Batalagundu-Theni did you travel on your
onward journey in this route.
From Munnar-Banglore which is the preferred road and timing wise.
Is it through Chinnar - Udumalpet-Dharapuram-Perundurai route is better or
Munnar-Bodinayakanur-Theni-Dindigul is better.
Thanks in advance

Perundurai Udumalpettu Chinnar Munnar route is ok. I have not continued forward from udumalpettu this time, but it was told to be ok.

As ranjitp1 mentioned after the dindigul toll plaza immediately exit and take the route towards kodai road to Theni. A few patches are there, otherwise perfect.

Take one to go and one to come back

[rajeev k]

Roads in Kerala iare likely to get dug up soon, as pipes have made their appearance on many important roads and have already been spread by the side of these roads. The major roads are from Tripunithura towards Kottayam direction and from Thannermukkom towards Alleppy. What is worrisome is that all these roads were repaired very recently. The road from Thannermukkom to Alleppy was recently relaid and made very good only very recently.
The agencies entrusted with he laying work wait for monsoons to arrive so that digging will be a lot easier not bothering about the hardships that will be caused to road users.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Dindigul-Theni is work in progress but much better than what it was.If you want to take a detour,you could continue on NH7 from Dindigul till the Kodai Road toll and then go under the flyover immediately after the toll and take a right onto the Kodai Road-Vathalakundu-Theni route.Road is excellent.

I would not advice to take the Kodai road detour any more as the work on the Dindigul-Theni route is almost done. I did this route a couple of weeks back and saved some kilometers also doing the regular route. There are only some patches remaining now and those are not really deterrents.

Did a long round trip as I mentioned which was like Banglaore-Kanakpura-Malavalli-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet-Gudalur-Nilambur-Kondotty-Calicut University(wife's home)-Vengara-Panakkad-Malappuram-Mannarkkad-Palakkad-Pollachi-Udumalpet-Palani-Kodaikkanal(stay)-Periyakulam-Theni-Cumbum-Kumily-Vandiperiyar-Kuttikkanam-Mundakkayam-Erumely-Ranni-Pathanamthitta(my home)and return to Bangalore via Kumily-Cumbum-Theni-Periyakulam-Vathlagundu-Dindigul-Karur-Namakkal-Salem-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur.
Most of the roads were in very good condition, except for a few kilometers before Pollachi, where the road surface is being redone completely and due to that, it's quite a rough ride.

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

@ laluks

I am planning for a Munnar trip this month end.A few queries.
How are the road conditions from Dindugal-Batalagundu-Theni did you travel on your
onward journey in this route.
From Munnar-Banglore which is the preferred road and timing wise.
Is it through Chinnar - Udumalpet-Dharapuram-Perundurai route is better or
Munnar-Bodinayakanur-Theni-Dindigul is better.
Thanks in advance

Just got back from a Munnar trip last night. Quick notes:
Bangalore to Munnar:
Bangalore - Salem - Erode (stayed at Erode)
Erode - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Udumalpetai - Marayoor - Munnar
Roads were good overall except for some patches on Udumalpetai - Marayoor and Marayoor - Munnar sectors. Roads from Erode to Udumalpetai was a pleasure to drive on (old style highways).
Should be possible to do this in 9 - 10 hours with stoppages and moderate traffic.

Munnar to Bangalore:
Munnar - Poopara - Bodi - Theni - Dindigul - Bangalore
Munnar - Poopara: Good roads, lot of newly laid stretches, bad shoulders (steep ).
Bodi - Theni: Good roads but moderate traffic
Theni - Dindigul: Lot of good stretches where work is complete. Reasonable traffic. Mid day action in local villages slow you down.
Dindigul - Bangalore: Good roads. Heavy traffic from Krishnagiri - Hosur - Electronics city stretches.
Took close to 11 hours - Slow progress on ghats (motion sickness of co-passengers), traffic, more stoppages. But if you start early, should be able to do this in 9 - 10 hours too.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

Bangalore - Salem - Erode (stayed at Erode)

Which route you took to Erode ? Divert from Sankagiri? Or drive till Bhavani ?
Also how was Erode-Kangeyam section? I assume you must come via Chennimalai?

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by ampere

Which route you took to Erode ? Divert from Sankagiri? Or drive till Bhavani ?
Also how was Erode-Kangeyam section? I assume you must come via Chennimalai?

I took the left from Sankagiri to Erode. The road surface is good but there is a fair bit of traffic.
I took SH 37 (via Arachalur) from Erode to Kangeyam. Road surface was excellent - smooth, no speed breakers. Since I started fairly early on Sunday, didn't have to deal with traffic.

[coolclouds]

Did Bangalore-Cochin day drive today.

Route taken was Electronic City-Hosur-Rayakottai-Palacode-Thoppur-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Kuthiran-Trichur-Ernakulam.

Hosur-Palacode-Dharmapuri is pretty much doable without any issues and shorter by few kms I guess. Electronic city toll to Ernakulam Kaloor stadium about 526 kms.

[Rajeevraj]

Hello All,
Need to drive from Tirur (Malappuram) to Ernakulam next Monday. Have a couple of questions. Appreciate inputs.

1. I'll be leaving from Tirur post lunch on Monday. Which would be the ideal route? From Tirur the default route would be via Chamravattam-Ponnani-Chavakkad-Kondungaloor-Paravoor-Ekm. Will this be the best option both from traffic and time perspective? Or does it make sense to go the Thrissur-Ekm 4 lane route?
2. I'll be hitting Ekm during evening peak hour. My destination is BTH Hotel on the DH Road. Which would be the ideal route to reach there once I hit Ekm outskirts. Google Maps suggests to go though the city to Marine Drive, take a left and enter DH Road from Marine drive.