[Safety is Param]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Also, read in newspaper that road work is going on NH47 near Alapuzha leading to congestion. Any update on this?

This update is from my personal experience on Monday, Apr 24.

1. Road work in progress after crossing Alleppey town, going towards Kochi.

2. Actual work happening on the Alleppey-Kochi lane, however, traffic being diverted is that of Kochi-Alleppey lane. The reason I believe - Mararikulam side is not as equipped to handle highway traffic as Muhamma is.

3. There is a BP bunk near Muhamma, take left after that bunk towards Muhamma, while coming from Kochi, then take a right (after moving in a few MMS) to reach Alleppey town, then join the highway from there and proceed towards Kollam.

As mentioned, this update is that of 4 days ago.

Thank you!

[sriturl]

How is the route to Thekkady from Dindigul ? Many years ago the road was being widened. Is it a 4 lane road? Any information about the road condition, facilities etc., would be useful.
thanks in advance

[Sree73]

Going back to Bangalore (from Thrissur) tomorrow. Will stick to normal route Palakkad - Coimbatore - Salem - Krishnagiri - Bangalore. Plan to start early morning.

[binand]

On International Workers' Day, Mathrubhumi has done a profile of the work that has gone into the twin tunnels at Kuthiran. Worth a dekko.

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/print-edi...nnel-1.1906695

Salient points for the non-Malayalees:

1. The Kochi-bound tunnel is hoped to be open to traffic in August, and the Coimbatore-bound tunnel in December.

2. The project was initiated 2004 and was nearly shelved in 2015.

3. Tunneling was completed in about 8 months, by 240 people with experience and expertise in tunneling, working in shifts all 24 hours a day.

5. It took about 1000 gelatin stick explosions, that generated 400,000 cu.m. of debris.

6. Cost is Rs. 200 crores.

[MinivanDriver]

Any updates on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum stretch? Is the flyover construction bottleneck so bad that I should consider taking the Thenmala route from Madurai?

Originally Posted by Safety is Param

Thank you, both! Started at 05:00 hrs from Bangalore and reached Kovalam by 18:00 hrs, with 4 breaks (Salem, Madurai, Capsi family restaurant and Nagercoil).

Please budget 90 mins of extra time due to the flyover construction. It was a royal mess despite reaching that section during off peak hours.

[Sree73]

Originally Posted by Sree73

Going back to Bangalore (from Thrissur) tomorrow. Will stick to normal route Palakkad - Coimbatore - Salem - Krishnagiri - Bangalore. Plan to start early morning.

Started at 6:15 AM from Karalam. Reached Whitefield at 2:15 PM (~500 KM). Had a break of 30 mins for the breakfast. Covered ECity - Whitefield in 35 mins.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by binand

On International Workers' Day, Mathrubhumi has done a profile of the work that has gone into the twin tunnels at Kuthiran. Worth a dekko.

Nice article

I tried to find out the end points on the map. From the work locations at both ends, the tunnel should to be fairly straight, going by the distance.

[enzo10]

Originally Posted by sriturl

How is the route to Thekkady from Dindigul ? Many years ago the road was being widened. Is it a 4 lane road? Any information about the road condition, facilities etc., would be useful.
thanks in advance

its 2 lane highway with sufficient shoulder on both side. With the Batlagundu byepass opening up travel time is slightly better. overall good roads all the way from Dindigul NH7 cross to Kumali/Thekkady. Near towns you can expect traffic police with speed trap vans and many metal barriers kept on the road, so slowing down is preferable in these areas.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

May have to make a week end trip towards Kozhikode side. Any updates on the above question? My plan was to take Kanakapura-Malavalli-Bannur-Mysore ORR-Bavali-Manathavadi early in the morning.

Originally Posted by arjithin

The Mysore - Gundlupet road is almost done and with that Kanakpura road is no more a better choice for early morning starts.

I am driving to CLT this saturday 4AM, and plan is to take Bangalore - Mysore - Gundlupet - Batheri - Kozhikode

How was your journey @arjithin ? We started at around 0430hours on the Kanakpura road. Problematic areas started from Kaggalipura and went on till Harohalli. The roads were getting widened, in some areas it was partially concreted etc. Driving was not a very good experience as it was also still dark. After Harohalli the roads were good till Halagur. That place as it is, is a "one street" town and the main road there is getting concreted. Very bad roads out there. From then on, roads again were smooth all the way to Malavalli (there is a new one way rule here, when going to Bannur) till Bannur. Bannur area again is the "one street town". During our onward journey we reached the Nanjangud Circle (Bandipette Market) in around 2 hours 40 mins.

I also figured out that the actual scenic route would be on the Manathavady road (Hand post, Kabini reservoir/catchment area etc.). Saw lots of deer and monkeys in the forest, and my daughter was really happy (she saw a monkey smiling at her ).

On the return stretch too we stuck to the Kanakpura road, and it was a very unpleasent journey. The road traffic was more, plus the roads under repair in many areas. Local Bikes/scooters just came up as gangs spread across the road. Then slow moving auto rickshaws, tractors added to the fun.

To summarise; till I get new updates I prefer to take the Mysore Road, Mysore Ring Road and then go towards Manathavady road (towards Bavali & beyond).

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by binand

On International Workers' Day, Mathrubhumi has done a profile of the work that has gone into the twin tunnels at Kuthiran. Worth a dekko.

Originally Posted by bejoy

I tried to find out the end points on the map. From the work locations at both ends, the tunnel should to be fairly straight, going by the distance.

This tunnel also had one casualty - a bulldozer driver :( . I guess that was also mentioned in the report. The report mentioned about the hazardous nature of this tunneling work, and the claustrophobic work environment.

The latest rumour is that the people who own & manage the "Dharmasastha Temple" at Kuthiran hill on the existing route, have managed to procure some land near one of the tunnel entry points. An "out post" of the temple may get built in the new location. This temple is a privately managed one, and for decades together the drivers used to thrown in some cash donation.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

The latest rumour is that the people who own & manage the "Dharmasastha Temple" at Kuthiran hill on the existing route, have managed to procure some land near one of the tunnel entry points. An "out post" of the temple may get built in the new location. This temple is a privately managed one, and for decades together the drivers used to thrown in some cash donation.

There are many stories about that privately managed temple, with some talking about connections to political outfits even. One of the (many) reasons for the delay in the tunnel construction was opposition by this group who would lose the revenue generated from the temple.

The ritual of throwing money from moving vehicles has caused many a casualty in the form of broken windshields to personal injuries. A neighbour in my hometown who used to work in Thrissur was seen walking with a bandage over one of his ears, after getting hit by a flying Rs.5 coin. This is from many years ago.

[Safety is Param]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Any updates on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum stretch? Is the flyover construction bottleneck so bad that I should consider taking the Thenmala route from Madurai?

My sincere apologies if this reply is too late, as I just drove back to Bangalore from Ernakulam.

Nagercoil to Trivandrum bottleneck is expected to last some time as there is still the basic drilling work in progress in certain areas. My take is - due to TNSRTC and private buses plying on that route, traffic pile up is expected all the time, except night.

One can work out deviations / alternate routes on desktop version of Google maps and then follow those on the cell phone.

[prkiran]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Any updates on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum stretch? Is the flyover construction bottleneck so bad that I should consider taking the Thenmala route from Madurai?

Apparently it is still bad and might continue so for some time. There is one more route you can consider other than the Thenmala route. After you turn off from NH7 at Kavalkinaru take the Aralvaimozhi-Bhoothapandi-Vellarara-Kattakkada route. I had taken this route for my chennai Trivandrum drive last saturday and was able to reach Pappanamcode in ~2.5 hours. There are a few broken patches but were manageable.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Any updates on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum stretch? Is the flyover construction bottleneck so bad that I should consider taking the Thenmala route from Madurai?

Avoid that stretch unless early morning or late night. Otherwise take the right at aralvaimozhi and get into kerala via vellarada-katakkada. You will pass Anantya resorts on Chitar lake on the way.

Narrow winding roads, scenic but bad roads at a few points.

But the best part is the sheer absence of traffic for almost 70% of the stretch.

Bliss.

Been taking this route to go to Tuticorin for the last 6 times in the past couple of months. Peace of mind.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

How was your journey @arjithin ? We started at around 0430hours on the Kanakpura road. Problematic areas started from Kaggalipura and went on till Harohalli. Driving was not a very good experience as it was also still dark. After Harohalli the roads were good till Halagur. That place as it is, is a "one street" town and the main road there is getting concreted. Very bad roads out there. From then on, roads again were smooth all the way to Malavalli (there is a new one way rule here, when going to Bannur) till Bannur. Bannur area again is the "one street town". During our onward journey we reached the Nanjangud Circle (Bandipette Market) in around 2 hours 40 mins.
.

Mine was fine.. we started from Whitefield at 4.30AM and took Mysore - Gundlupet - CLT. Took around 8.5 hours to cover, primarily because I was on a Nano and secondly because my wife drove from Gundlupet to Batheri. This trip was kind of a driving lesson for her

Return (yesterday) was horrible, took close to 3 hours for Columbia asia signal to NICE road entrance at midnight due to the long weekend traffic returning to Bangalore.

I am driving again to Kozhikode on May 5th. I can start only at 4PM from Bellandur. So still in two minds on which route to take to reach check post by 8:45

1. Mysore ORR - Gundlupet
2. Kanakpura - Bannur - T Narspura - Nanjagaud - Gundlupet.

Given your updates of 15+ km road work in route 2 above, I am inclined towards route 1 now.