Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolclouds (Post 3708705)

Krishnagiri-Coimbatore may take 3 hours and Coimbatore - Angamaly another 3 hours. If you leave Krishnagiri by 6am, you can reach Angamaly by noon and from there on the progress will be very slow due to Metro work/city traffic.

Thanks!
Destination is Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake. How long would it take from Angamaly if I stick to NH47?

Monday afternoon, since I'll possibly start from Vellore on that day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joecherian (Post 3707918)

I took this road on may 3 returnung5 from kottayam to chennai. Roads after kumili are not that good. It will slow you down,mostly around towns. But still manageable. Kerala side roads are very good.

Roads from Batlagudu to Gudalur were horendous in patches. Not going to take this road back. I decided to take this to save about 100kms. Not worth. Kerala side roads were were beautiful for a change. Well marked and widened.

Any idea on the Kottarakara-Punalur-Shencottai-Madurai roads?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mail4ajo (Post 3711551)

Were reasonably fine less than a month back. Btw, instead of the regular Thirumangalam-Rajapalyam route, I took the route via Kovilpatti-Sankarankovil as suggested earlier in this thread. This avoids the busy Rajapalayam and Srivilliputtur. Eventhough the route is longer (by ~25kms) and has a few speedbreakers, it is lot more peaceful to drive. Also this allows me to travel ~100kms more through four-lane NH7 instead of 2-lane NH208.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgginish (Post 3712393)

According to Mathrubhumi daily, toll collection will start at Walayar from tomorrow, 22nd May. One way charge for car is Rs. 45 and for return trip, its 70.

Looking at INR 45 as one way charge, will there be an another tool both somewhere around Alathur for the remaining stretch?
Even then, there is a high possibility that we may get one toll booth for Kuthiran since the contractor / tender for Kuthiran stretch is different.

Any one has any idea how this is going to come up?

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by treadmark (Post 3712997)

Looking at INR 45 as one way charge, will there be an another tool both somewhere around Alathur for the remaining stretch?

Already there are rumblings in Kerala that the Walayar toll setup is jumping the gun. Apparently the earliest the toll collection can start is 14/11/15, and that the works that need to be completed are nowhere near there. Let us see how this one pans out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 3713058)

Already there are rumblings in Kerala that the Walayar toll setup is jumping the gun.

As I expected - they had to stop toll collection at Walayar within hours of starting it. It is paused now after protests.

Link (in Malayalam): http://www.manoramaonline.com/news/just-in/walayar-vadakkancherry-toll-protest.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 3713679)

As I expected - they had to stop toll collection at Walayar within hours of starting it. It is paused now after protests.

I crossed Walayar toll today at about 11 am and protests were happening in the presence of large police force. Attached here is the toll rates as of now.

As usual, took Bangalore-Salem-Coimbatore-Trichur-Kochi route. There are two three small potholes appeared few kms after Krishnagiri and finishing works going on just before L&T. Turn of to Palakkad and Coimbatore is tarred now and well marked. Barring this, the road is excellent.

L&T exit to Walayar is bumpy and from there on good. Four lane work started till Walayar and looks like IVRCL is doing now. Also, road widening is going on at Kuthiran clap:

Alwaye to KIMS was easy but it took 25 mins to cross Edappally signal.

Spotted more than five cars with T Bhp stickers between Bangalore and Salem. Also spotted this swift just before Walayar who looked like a bhpian:)

Here is the new camera installed recently between Airport and Alwaye.

FYI - Kerala police is targeting drivers who don't stop in zebra crossing. I saw cops fining drivers who don't stop at zebra crossing for pedestrians in multiple places around Kozhikode city today and y'day ( and surprisingly many pedestrians using zebra crossing confidently expecting vehicles to stop!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by treadmark (Post 3712997)

Looking at INR 45 as one way charge, will there be an another tool both somewhere around Alathur for the remaining stretch?

Most probably the next toll booth towards Thrissur would be at Vadakkenchery.

About toll collection at Walayar, the District collector has ordered the toll collection be stopped for the time being.

Hi all am going to Athirapalli from Coimbatore tomorrow. The next day will be driving to kumarakom and the day after will be back to Coimbatore via Cochin. How are the roads in these sections? I'll be driving a XUV with RE70 films. Will that be a problem once am inside Kerala?

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I crossed Walayar toll today at about 11 am and protests were happening in the presence of large police force. Attached here is the toll rates as of now.

We might have missed each other by a few minutes then :). I had crossed Walayar at around 1045hrs last Saturday. By then the toll collection had stopped and there were more police men than vehicles or the toll booth staff. For some strange reason there was a massive traffic jam at Hosur town (before the RTO check post of TN). Other wise the journey was a pleasent experience.

I also did not see any much progress on four-laning between Walayar (Kerala border) all the way till L&T byepass. That stretch is still an irritating one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sansvk

I see a FastTag lane at Walayar which is really good news.

FastTag is becoming a reality. I could see many other toll booths also having some construction for enabling FastTag. Perhaps by end of this year, we would see FastTag fully operational?

I did a Bangalore - Kerala - Bangalore trip last week.

Onward journey was through Krishnagiri - Salem - LnT Bypass - Pollachi - Govindapuram - Vadakkenchery - Ollur - Irinjalakuda.

The roads were good, but took lot of time covering Govindapuram - Vadakkenchery section due to traffic and very less overtaking opportunities. Was initially planning to take the turn off towards Pollachi before reaching Coimbatore, and did take directions from NPV but failed to locate the turn off point, partially due to heavy rain and partially due to me forgetting the printout with detailed instructions at home :Frustrati

While at Kerala, did a trip to Shabarimala. The route taken was Angamaly-Perumbavoor-Muvattupuzha-Thodupuzha-Muttam-Eerattupetta-Kanjirapalli-26th Mile-Erumeli-Mukkoottuthara-Nilakkal-Pampa. The roads are good throughout.

While coming back to Bangalore, took the usual route - Ollur-Kuthiran-Palakkad-Valayaar-Salem-Krishnagiri-Bangalore. Thrissur - Vadakkenchery is still nerve wrecking at early morning hours, but the roads are good. Vadakkenchery - Palakkad was much better (almost 80% is 4 lane) and palakkad - walayar was a breeze. It was amazing to see the light up sections - the street lights did make the road look very beautiful. Walayar to Coimbatore is the worst stretch in terms of road condition. After that, it was all smooth sailing till Bangalore.

--Anoop

Am in the midst of a kerala trip from bangalore. Bangalore - Nagerhol wildlife park - Kutta - Calicut was the route. Decided to take this since I hated the Mysore road from Mysore to Gundlpet :banghead: and was hoping to see some wildlife as well. Saw some deer and a few wild boars (?)

Points to be noted:
Gates to Nagerhol sanct remain closed from 2100-0600.
That is one long forest road! Took about an hour to navigate with not so great roads!
Carry your camera. Yeah I forgot to take mine!
You may take longer than usual to travel since there are not so many stretches of open 4 lanes where you can hit the higher triple digits.

Currently I am at Guruvayur. Came here through the Calicut - Ponnani - Chavakkad roads.
Nice one but again, not so broad. Hit these roads very early in the morning and your eyes are treated to lush green on the roadside and less traffic.

I am still concerned on which route to take back to bangalore from calicut. Any suggestions bhpians? I drive a VW Polo GT TDI. Can't take the bad roads like an SUV :(