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Old 7th March 2016, 15:10   #9346
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Thanks. Driving to TCR this Friday night and coming back on Monday. Will try this route.
Drove Chalakudy - Bangalore today morning. Started at 5 AM. Took 7 hour 20 mt with one food and another fuel break. I was really surprised to reach Palakad from Chalakudy in just 1 hour 5 minute.

Thanks to Pramod, took the Edappadi road to bypass Salem. Took 48 minutes to rejoin NH at Omalur. Roads are good all the way.

Here is the route I took.

All Roads to Kerala-idappadi.png

Looks like Police searches for black money already started post the election date announcement yesterday. My car was searched (and videographed as usual) right after Thoppur toll booth. Officers were very polite.
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Old 7th March 2016, 15:25   #9347
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Did a coimbatore - palakkad - pallassena - velanthavalam - coimbatore trip. Hopeless and completely confusing road near chavady. Infact we missed the left to go via kozhinjampara-nelleypally-chittur. Complete chaos from the point where the road joins L&T highway. Some guys going on left. KSRTC busses going over rubble, some guys going on the right lane.
Sense returns after reaching walayar. Anyway - better to avoid this stretch if possible. There is a left service road one needs to take right after Ettimadai (near Amrita vidyapeetham). That would take you eventually through a half constructed underpass. This would lead you to the chittur road.
on NH47, if you need to go to Koduvayur/chittur etc - look for signs where you need to get off the highway to the service lane. Else you could easily miss these smaller deviations.
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Old 7th March 2016, 20:44   #9348
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by arjithin View Post
Thanks to Pramod, took the Edappadi road to bypass Salem. Took 48 minutes to rejoin NH at Omalur. Roads are good all the way.

Looks like Police searches for black money already started post the election date announcement yesterday. My car was searched (and videographed as usual) right after Thoppur toll booth. Officers were very polite.
@arjithin, thanks for the update! Had couple of queries. Regarding the Edappadi road, do you think it would save time while driving to Kerala with a 5 AM start from Bangalore? Regarding the police check, was it it the Tamilnadu police or paramilitary forces? Also was it random or all vehicles were being checked? During a previous election, we were checked by different sets of forces almost 9 or 10 times during the course of the journey. Would really like to avoid that. Although they were polite, it was really cumbersome with family and full luggage.
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Old 7th March 2016, 21:10   #9349
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by MinivanDriver View Post
@arjithin, thanks for the update! Had couple of queries. Regarding the Edappadi road, do you think it would save time while driving to Kerala with a 5 AM start from Bangalore? Regarding the police check, was it it the Tamilnadu police or paramilitary forces? Also was it random or all vehicles were being checked? During a previous election, we were checked by different sets of forces almost 9 or 10 times during the course of the journey. Would really like to avoid that. Although they were polite, it was really cumbersome with family and full luggage.
Edappadi road time saving - Probably not. May be this route will take 5-10 minutes extra depending on how fast you drive on the highway. For me both routes takes almost same time, but the advantage of this route being saving 2 tolls and 5-10 kilometers. I sometimes stop at Tharamangalam market to buy vegetables for the week

Police check - All cars towards Bangalore side were checked by a team of Policemen and some other officials in civilian dress. This is a regular show every election time and done to prevent black money transport. You will see a lot more checks on the interior roads/state highways than national highways. Only way out here is to reduce/avoid travel close to election date and travel with light luggage.

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Complete chaos from the point where the road joins L&T highway. Some guys going on left. KSRTC busses going over rubble, some guys going on the right lane. Sense returns after reaching walayar.
Agree. Majority of the time the right service lane (while going towards Palakkad) is used and is in decent shape. Looks like there is a better parallel road which locals are using to bypass the WIP road. While going to TCR, there was an Amby which was just infront of me and he went straight after the half done underpass where everyone including me turned left to the service road. I spotted same Amby again infront me near Walayar on the 4 lane.

Also noticed that road widening is happening at many places of Wadakkaenchery - Kuthiran section.

Last edited by arjithin : 7th March 2016 at 21:22.
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Old 8th March 2016, 10:17   #9350
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Regarding the Edappadi road, do you think it would save time while driving to Kerala with a 5 AM start from Bangalore?
For a 5:00 AM start from Bangalore, going via Salem would be faster. You can take the Edappadi route if you want to save 2 tolls and around 10 KMs.
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Old 8th March 2016, 10:27   #9351
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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You can take the Edappadi route if you want to save 2 tolls and around 10 KMs.
This may be a good option to take during long weekends/holidays to avoid the rush at the toll plazas
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Old 10th March 2016, 16:13   #9352
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by reignofchaos View Post
Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Salem-Madurai-Tirumangalam-Nallathinputhur-Kalugumalai-Sankarankovil-Chintamani-Shenkottai-Thenmala-Pariapally-Varkala

Does anyone have a clue about SH76 between Nallathinputhur and Chintamani?
Didn't see a reply to this query. I too would like a response, hence quoting the post.

I suppose distance wise, the Rajapalayam-Srivilliputhur route is the shortest, but when I drove through that stretch a couple of months back, the surface was real bad.

I am planning a BLR-ATL night drive tomorrow with family, so would like to know the safety aspect too.

@reignofchaos, I only have doubts about the Tirumangalam-Shenkottai section of your proposed route. The rest of the route looks like the one I would take/suggest.

Last edited by darklord : 10th March 2016 at 16:23.
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Old 10th March 2016, 19:51   #9353
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by arjithin View Post
Drove Chalakudy - Bangalore today morning. Started at 5 AM. Took 7 hour 20 mt with one food and another fuel break. I was really surprised to reach Palakad from Chalakudy in just 1 hour 5 minute.

Thanks to Pramod, took the Edappadi road to bypass Salem. Took 48 minutes to rejoin NH at Omalur. Roads are good all the way.

Looks like Police searches for black money already started post the election date announcement yesterday. My car was searched (and videographed as usual) right after Thoppur toll booth. Officers were very polite.
Hi Arijithn,

How did You find the Trichur-Wadakkenchery stretch, specially the Kuthiran area? Are they good enough? Am planning to take the route on Saturday morning on a return trip to Bangalore.

Also how much time could You save via the Edappadi route? Are the roads single lane and in good condition all the way ?
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Old 10th March 2016, 20:21   #9354
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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I am planning a BLR-ATL night drive tomorrow with family, so would like to know the safety aspect too.
I have taken Tirumangalam-Nallathinputhur-Kalugumalai-Sankarankovil-Shenkottai route many times, but all my drives were in daytime.
Few stretches in this route will be very lonely during night, traveling with family may not be a good idea.
Better stick to Tirumangalam - Rajapalayam - Shenkottai route. I have taken this route last December, agreeing with what you mentioned about the road condition. At the time it started deteriorating, if they haven't done any maintenance this stretch will slow you down.
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Old 11th March 2016, 00:13   #9355
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by unni246 View Post
Hi Arijithn,

How did You find the Trichur-Wadakkenchery stretch, specially the Kuthiran area? Are they good enough? Am planning to take the route on Saturday morning on a return trip to Bangalore.

Also how much time could You save via the Edappadi route? Are the roads single lane and in good condition all the way ?
Kuthiran - rough surface here and there, but nothing to complain.

Edappadi route - read few posts above for road conditions. All your questions are answered already.
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Old 11th March 2016, 07:26   #9356
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by NPV View Post
This may be a good option to take during long weekends/holidays to avoid the rush at the toll plazas
I have been on the below mentioned route before:
Via Mecheri, Nangavalli, Jalakandapuram to Sankagiri. Very good roads all the way.
The road condition from Thoppur to Mecheri needs to be looked into.
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Old 11th March 2016, 09:41   #9357
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by arjithin View Post
Wadakkaenchery
Quote:
Originally Posted by unni246 View Post
Wadakkenchery
Vadakkenchery (വടക്കഞ്ചേരി) is a place in Palakkad district and has a KSRTC Sub-depot (VDCY) but no railway station
Wadakkancheri (വടക്കാഞ്ചേരി) is a place in Thrissur district and has a railway station (WKI) but no KSRTC depot/sub-depot/operating centre

The former, Vadakkenchery (വടക്കഞ്ചേരി) is located on NH47 (NH544) between Alathur and Kurhiran, while the latter, Wadakkanchery (വടക്കാഞ്ചേരി) is a place between Chelakkara and Thrissur on SH-22 (Shornur-Thrissur road)

All Roads to Kerala-wki_vdcy.jpg

There, I fixed it
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Old 11th March 2016, 10:38   #9358
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

I am planning to travel to Wayanad district from BLR, had a query regarding the Muthanga Forest Checkpost which I will pass after Gundlupet.

Does the checkpost check cars for anything? I remember when I was crossing through the TN side towards ooty, they scrutinized my car.

So was wondering is this is case at Muthanga also?

Last edited by Aditya : 12th March 2016 at 08:10. Reason: See Rule #11
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Old 11th March 2016, 10:57   #9359
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by superutp View Post
Does the checkpost check cars for anything? I remember when I was crossing through the TN side towards ooty, they scrutinized my car. So was wondering is this is case at Muthanga also?
I am a regular on the Bangalore-Calicut route (one trip on average every two months), and here is my experience:

- Commercial Taxes: rarely
- Excise: search. Frequency increased recently. Seems like non-KL, private (expensive) cars are a preferred.
- RTO: rarely at the border, but often within the first 25 km inside KL. They check vehicle documents thoroughly, but no car check.
- Forest: Only when there is an alert. Twice I have been checked, once when some antisocial elements set fire to the forest near Muthanga, and another time when Maoists attacked a forest department office (this latter was a joint operation with police).

Further, now that elections have been announced, expect ECI-authorized checks (usually conducted by various reserve police forces). These guys are thorough and painstaking in their checks; so if checked expect at least 15-20 minutes delay.

Last edited by Aditya : 12th March 2016 at 08:12. Reason: See Rule #11
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Old 11th March 2016, 11:02   #9360
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Quote:
Originally Posted by superutp View Post
I am planning to travel to Wayanad district from BLR, had a query regarding the Muthanga Forest Checkpost which I will pass after Gundlupet.

Does the checkpost check cars for anything? I remember when I was crossing through the TN side towards ooty, they scrutinized my car.

So was wondering is this is case at Muthanga also?
Usually when you are travelling with family including kids, they let you through without checking. When you are travelling as a group of gents only, expect to be checked thoroughly especially at the excise check post. This is from my experience.

Last edited by Aditya : 12th March 2016 at 08:13. Reason: Quoted text edited
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