[HeisenBerg]

Guys. I'm planning to drive to bangalore from pattambi. Planning to take perinthalmanna - nilambur - gundulpet - mysore route. Any idea how the roads are in this stretch?

[kala]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

For Bekal to Kalpetta, you can take Nileswaram - Payyanur - Thalipparamba - Iritty - Peravoor - Kottiyur Boys town - Manathawadi - Padinharethara - Kalpetta. The Kottiyur temple festival will be starting end of May till end of June (27days) so there could be traffic in this road and I am not aware of the road condition between Mananthawadi to Kalpetta.

Or
Since your destination is Kalpetta, you can take the Nileswaram - Payyanur - Thalipparamba -Kannur - Thalasseri - Nadapuram - Kuttyadi - Tharuvana - Padinharethara - Kalpetta. The advantage of the route is you will get some what plane and straighter road, but you have to deal with the mad traffic at Kannur and Thalasseri, so plan to travel early. Bekal to thalasseri you can cover in ~2hours if you are traveling starting around 6am.

I think the first route may be better in terms of traffic - the roads are quite OK all through except for some small rough sections between Boys Town and Mananthavady (around Talapuzha). the Mananthavady - Kalpetta road is excellent, and I think it may be better to take that road even if you come on the Kuttyadi-Tharuvana road. (From Tharuvana take the left turn and go towards Panamaram and then Kalpetta instead of turning right towards Padinjarethara. The road via Padinjarethara / Pinangode to Kalpetta is somewhat patchy in spite of some repairs they seem to have done recently)

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by SAPVEN

Thanks ! The Kangeyam route is presumably to bypass Tiruppur (which can slow you down ). I can see that there is no significant difference in Km too, between the two routes.

Kollengode to Vaddakkencherry, should be via Nemmara, right ? Or would you advise Kollengode-Alathur-Vaddakkencherry ?

Rgds,

Venu

Traffic in Tiruppur can be high and exiting the town is a pain. Better to stick to kangeyam-palladam-pollachi route.
I would advise pollachi-meenakshipuram-kollengode-alathur-Vadakkenchery route.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by HeisenBerg

Guys. I'm planning to drive to bangalore from pattambi. Planning to take perinthalmanna - nilambur - gundulpet - mysore route. Any idea how the roads are in this stretch?

The roads are in good condition. Vazhikadavu ghat section is relaid recently and a small stretch inside forest (just before Theppekkadu) is bad.

Take Gundlupet-Kanakpura-Bangalore route, if you are reaching Mysore road during peak hours.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Traffic in Tiruppur can be high and exiting the town is a pain. Better to stick to kangeyam-palladam-pollachi route.
I would advise pollachi-meenakshipuram-kollengode-alathur-Vadakkenchery route.

No need to goto to Tiruppur from Avinashi for Palladam. The problem is most people take the first exit on the Avinashi bypass and end up at Tiruppur. You need to skip that. Take the second exit. This road as of now does not look that great at the exit point, thanks to the railway over bridge construction. For about 2 km its rough. But beyond its smooth and takes you to Palladam directly via Mangalam.

Route Link

[HeisenBerg]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

The roads are in good condition. Vazhikadavu ghat section is relaid recently and a small stretch inside forest (just before Theppekkadu) is bad.

Take Gundlupet-Kanakpura-Bangalore route, if you are reaching Mysore road during peak hours.

Thanks for the update.
I'll probably hit Mysore around noon. I guess traffic should be OK then.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by HeisenBerg

Thanks for the update.
I'll probably hit Mysore around noon. I guess traffic should be OK then.

If you plan to hit south Bangalore, then the option via Chamarajanagar works very well. Low on traffic for most of 200km (as against Mysore road which sees quite high traffic) and good views all around. But if you are driving to Bangalore first time, then may be Mysore road is better. That's because NH209 (Chamarajanagar-Kollegal-Kanakpura-Bangalore) meanders quite a bit before Kollegal and passes through many small towns. You may tend to feel, you are a bit lost.

[HeisenBerg]

Originally Posted by ampere

If you plan to hit south Bangalore, then the option via Chamarajanagar works very well. Low on traffic for most of 200km (as against Mysore road which sees quite high traffic) and good views all around. But if you are driving to Bangalore first time, then may be Mysore road is better. That's because NH209 (Chamarajanagar-Kollegal-Kanakpura-Bangalore) meanders quite a bit before Kollegal and passes through many small towns. You may tend to feel, you are a bit lost.

Thank you. I took the Mysore Route. Wanted to visit that place anyways. I'll try the Kanakpura route next time for sure.

[NPV]

4 laning of Mysore-Nanjangud section to begin on June 7 2014.

Source:New Indian Express Bangalore Edition May 31 2014 - Link

This explains the tree cutting exercise we saw on this stretch on our recent trip.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by NPV

4 laning of Mysore-Nanjangud section to begin on June 7 2014.

Source:New Indian Express Bangalore Edition May 31 2014 - Link

This explains the tree cutting exercise we saw on this stretch on our recent trip.

Sometime back it was reported in the newspaper that NH209 would be 4 laned. Is the above news you posted same as what i am talking about

[NPV]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Sometime back it was reported in the newspaper that NH209 would be 4 laned. Is the above news you posted same as what i am talking about

I'm not too sure about what you are referring to but definitely there is also a plan to 4 lane parts of NH209 soon. The link I shared also mentions that Kollegal-Kerala border will be widened but not the forest road so I guess that it essentially means Kollegal-Chamarajnagar (and possibly Chamrajanagar-Gundlupet?), since NH209 from Chamrajangar then continues towards Sathyamangalam.

[binand]

Originally Posted by NPV

The link I shared also mentions that Kollegal-Kerala border will be widened but not the forest road so I guess that it essentially means Kollegal-Chamarajnagar (and possibly Chamrajanagar-Gundlupet?), since NH209 from Chamrajangar then continues towards Sathyamangalam.

Nope. NH 212 (Kollegal - Calicut) starts from NH 209 at the outskirts of Kollegal (Uttamballi - about 2-3 km after the very narrow bridge; NH 209 takes a 30-degree left turn and NH 212 goes straight). While NH 209 goes to Ch. Nagar and onwards to Coimbatore and Dindigul, NH 212 goes T. Narasipura > Mysore > Nanjangud > Gundlupet > S. Bathery > Calicut. This is the road that they are widening/4-laning (but 4-laning is planned only for Mysore-Nanjangud, right?)

[NPV]

Originally Posted by binand

Nope. NH 212 (Kollegal - Calicut) starts from NH 209 at the outskirts of Kollegal (Uttamballi - about 2-3 km after the very narrow bridge; NH 209 takes a 30-degree left turn and NH 212 goes straight). While NH 209 goes to Ch. Nagar and onwards to Coimbatore and Dindigul, NH 212 goes T. Narasipura > Mysore > Nanjangud > Gundlupet > S. Bathery > Calicut. This is the road that they are widening/4-laning (but 4-laning is planned only for Mysore-Nanjangud, right?)

Please read the article (link shared in earlier post) - it also mentions Kollegal-Kerala border also to be widened minus the forest road. It says National Highway from T Narasipura to Kollegal so it should be 212 as you mentioned.

[binand]

Originally Posted by NPV

Please read the article (link shared in earlier post) - it also mentions Kollegal-Kerala border also to be widened minus the forest road.

I did read that. It only means that the widening will stop at the point where the forest begins (I forgot the name of the place, but there is a boom gate and a rest point for Sabarimala-bound pilgrims; it is about 16 km from Gundlupet). Widening beyond that point requires a bunch of additional permissions, will get the conservationists going and likely even the judiciary too.

[deetjohn]

Drove from EKM to B'lore on Saturday. Took the usual route and found the road to be in great shape except for the following sections which were bad with potholes, gravel, deviations and very rough surface, but was not horrible.
- Around Palakkad and till L&T bypass. Walayar was in good shape.
- Just before Avinashi bypass
- Around Hosur

The Avinashi bypass was smooth but didn't have any lane markings throughout. I found it very hard to place the car on pitch dark tarmac at night. We passed through there after 9 PM. Had left Aluva by around 4 PM and reached MG Road by 2:30 AM.