[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

Planning for a Guruvayoor, Mannarshala & Kutralam trip in January'18.

I have not recently traveled on the Kerala roads. So kindly suggest the best route from Chennai, along with the food & night breaks?

Chennai-Ulundurpet-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Vadakkencheri-Mannuthy-Thrissur-Kecheri-Choondal-Guruvayur
https://goo.gl/maps/jy3kWPNixgx(around 12hours)

Can be done

Guruvayur-Chettuva-Kodungallur-Edappally-Cherthala-Alleppey-Cheruvatta-Mannarshala
https://goo.gl/maps/GaBoCYxzGpB2 (around 5-6hours)


Mannarshala-Courtallam
Mannarshala-Haripad-Kayamkulam-Adoor-Punalur-Thenkasi-Courtallam
https://goo.gl/maps/gavvpGw93jR2 (around 4 hours)

Roads are all good.

You can also start in the opposite direction Chennai-Madurai-Rajapalayam-Ilanji-Courtallam-Mannarshala-Guruvayur-Chennai.

https://goo.gl/maps/6QkdJjk2xAB2

Srivar,Guruvayur Gateway,Kanoos are all good at Guruvayur.For Mannarshala,you can stay at Alleppey-there are a zillion hotels in Alleppey.
At Courtallam,you can check out Jiji's castle www.jijiscastle.com
Hayass is also a good place www.hayassresidency.com

[AshiqueS]

Originally Posted by glenmz

Cross posting from the FASTag thread, the Thrissur toll now has a dedicated tag lane!

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post4304225

I too got the below response on my query wrt Paliyekara,Thrissur and L&T,coimbatore toll.

Once, the Kuthiran stretch(vadakkanchery-mannuthy) and flyovers at Salem junctions are completed , drive from bangalore to Kochi will be smooth except for the L&T,coimbatore toll

[glenmz]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Which is the best way to get out of Bangalore towards Thrissur via Salem at 4 PM from Vydehi Hospital Whitefield?
Will that be Hope Farm ~ Thirumalshettyhalli ~ ChikkaThirupathi ~ Bagalur ~ Hosur or
Varathur ~ Gunjur ~ Sarjapur ~ Atiibele ~ Hosur or
Varathur ~ Gunjur ~ Sarjapur ~ Bagalur ~ Hosur.

Thank you in advance.
Cheers!

I stay near Bellandur and the Sarjapur - Bagalur - Hosur route had been my preferred one over the past few years. Avoids all the city traffic and 2 tolls.
I am told that the Bagalur road is wider than the Atibelle road.

Currently, there is road widening happening here till Sarjapur and the condition is not that great, though drivable. Now, if you are looking to enter this route while driving towards Bangalore, I look for the Claresta / Sarovar hotel on the right and then while passing on a flyover you will find an IndianOil petrol bunk on your left. Enter the service lane there and turn towards Bagalur at the next flyover.

Originally Posted by AshiqueS

I too got the below response on my query wrt Paliyekara,Thrissur and L&T,coimbatore toll.

Once, the Kuthiran stretch(vadakkanchery-mannuthy) and flyovers at Salem junctions are completed , drive from bangalore to Kochi will be smooth except for the L&T,coimbatore toll

Well, I drove back last Sunday and they still have barricaded the FASTag Lane, which is good. I suppose the Tag lanes are taken seriously now at all tolls, they are not allowing any non tag vehicles to enter the tag lanes now. Noticed this since Nov 1st. Guess there is some order in this regard. The last time I raised a grievance regarding the Trissur toll, the response I got was not encouraging.

Kuthiran work seems to be progressing now. This week, I saw the appoach roads towards Ernakulam side being worked on.

[sachinpk]

Folks - are there any decent places to stay (bachelor accommodation+safe car parking) available between Kozhikode & Pandikkad (when proceeding either through Areacode or via Kondotty route)?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Folks - are there any decent places to stay (bachelor accommodation+safe car parking) available between Kozhikode & Pandikkad (when proceeding either through Areacode or via Kondotty route)?

You can check these out Malabar Heritage,Manjeri,City Palace Residency,Wandoor

[Gannu_1]

The first flyover in Salem after the bridge (coming from Erode side) is nearly ready. We were allowed to go through it when I was coming from Chennai last weekend but now they've kept the barricades. They may open it for traffic shortly.

Work is slowly and steadily progressing.

No Fastag for L&T bypass. Wonder why.

EDIT: Saw the response from NHAI above.

[roshithr]

Guys, any updates/advice on the condition of roads to Kerala(south) via Palakkad, Thrissur, Alapuzha considering the ongoing cyclone, "Ockhi"? Planning to drive to Pandalam tomorrow early morning(2nd Dec). Intial plan of taking the Dindigul, Kumily, Elrumeli route is dropped considering the current weather and Sabarimala season.

[SajiNSalin]

Trivandrum is having intermittent rain, but nothing very heavy. The Kanyakumari-Trivandrum road had several blockages due to excessive rain yesterday and many trees were uprooted and some blocked the roads. I think the interior parts of Kerala; Kumily. Erumeli and the northern parts Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha have some medium to heavy rain, but nothing stopping traffic. The heavy rain in and around Kanyakumari is due to a cyclone off the coast of Kanyakumari.

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by roshithr

Guys, any updates/advice on the condition of roads to Kerala(south) via Palakkad, Thrissur, Alapuzha considering the ongoing cyclone, "Ockhi"? Planning to drive to Pandalam tomorrow early morning(2nd Dec). Intial plan of taking the Dindigul, Kumily, Elrumeli route is dropped considering the current weather and Sabarimala season.

I am going to Alleppey tomorrow morning, I guess it's today morning now. Planning to leave at 5AM from Whitefield. Hopefully roads will be clear.

[roshithr]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

... but nothing stopping traffic...

Thanks, we took the Coimbatore - Palakkad route. Luckily the cyclone had moved away from Kerala cost sooner than anticipated and Saturday was mostly dry with the usual Kerala traffic chaos.

By the way, the 1st Salem flyover was opened on Saturday.

[sachinpk]

A quick update, after an even quicker trip to Kerala (North-Central & North districts)

Bangalore-Mysore-HD Kote/Hand Post-Bavali-Kattikulam-Manathavady-Perambra
----
1. Had thought of taking the Malavalli-Bannur route to Mysore, but Google Maps played spoil sport (I relied too much on the Google maps, who quite abruptly had decided to take the Mysore state highway). The state highway to Mysore was okay road condition wise, but there was higher traffic on that route (Saturday morning hours).
2. Excellent roads from Mysore to Hand Post/H.D Kote. Even the roads in the forest area were well laid and marked. The route was very much scenic, especially with dark clouds and slight rainfall. Reminded me of Wales (UK) and the English weather.
3. At the Karnataka forest outpost, they now give a printed receipt to every vehicle which crosses the check post. Vehicle #, Name of Driver, passenger numbers are logged into a tablet device. No money changed hands here.
4. On the Kerala side, roads between Kaattikulam & Mananthavady are not in good shape.
5. There is a small respite on the road condition from Mananthavady till 4th Mile. From 4th Mile till Niravilpuzha (Calicut Rural Dt. border), the roads are at its worst. Narrow roads, higher number of vehicles, plus craters all across the road. This would be my 10th year of travel on this route, and all across these 10 years, this section is having the most pathetic roads in place. Perhaps we should take the people, as well as people's representatives to some parts of KA and TN, to show them what a tarred road actually looks like. From Niravilpuzha till Perambra the road is in an excellent condition.

Melattur-Nilambur-Vazhikkadavu-Gudallur-Gundlupet-Chamrajnagar-Kollegal-Kanakpura-Bangalore
----
1. Roads are good all the way till Vazhikadavu. But there are more vehicles on the road, and like any typical road in Kerala there are shops or housing areas on both sides of the roads. Towns like Nilambur also gave me a "Varthur"-like feeling.
2. At the Nadugani ghat, roads are in a fairly good condition but there was also major renovation works happening. At the Nadugani town (TN), I had to pay Rs.30 as some "toll". A receipt was given, but don't know if this is official or not.
3. Nadugani-Gudallur-Mudumalai-Bandipur was also well laid helping in a smooth drive. The forest area had the mandatory speed breakers etc. but that was okay. The best part was the roads after the forest all the way to Gundlupet. My last trip on this road was around 8 years back, and I remember the narrow roads and the very many "under construction" areas. But today, the roads are wide, well marked and I could just zoom on.
4. Gundlupet town had some road construction happening, but the roads were good (and empty) all the way through Teraknambi etc.
5. Chamrajnagar town is seeing a major repair/construction, so the main road through the town is dusty, crowded, narrow and slow. I think there is a byepass for this town.
6. After Chamrajnagar roads are good till Kollegal. In Kollegal town also there is a major repair/construction activity going on. Expect to lose some time there.
7. Kollegal-Malavalli-Halaguru stretch is good. By this time the vehicles on the road would also increase.
8. Halaguru village was crowded, Kanakpura town also had its usual crowd. The next set of slow moving traffic was at Harohalli and then at another village/small town near the "Art of Living" Ashram.

[mpksuhas]

Bangalore - Cochin - Bangalore update.

Had to visit Cochin & Thrissur for the weekend. Since a friend was driving back on Sunday, decided to take day train to Thrissur on Sat and return with friend in his Creta on Sunday afternoon.

Booked chair car through Tatkal option, costed around 1K. Train reached CRLM station some one hour and maintained that delay all across the trip. Reached Thrissur around 04:15 PM. Quiet annoying since with an early morning start we can reach Thrissur in around 06:30 hours from Bangalore.

From there drove down to Cochin in friends car and returned yesterday afternoon to Bangalore.


Paliyekara toll as mentioned above has a dedicated Fastag lane. Saw few private buses using Fastag. In the pic below you can see the over-smart Swift being turned away, the private bus behind this has Fastag and went through.

This pic was taken from a low-floor KURTC volvo.







Road work around Kuthiran looks to be progressing very slow. In this pace, it will easily take around a year for it to be completed.

Past that till Salem it was smooth, apart from the usual Coimbatore bye-pass.

One flyover at Salem is open both sides, the one North of Salem town junction is still ongoing. However, the flyover was bit narrow, with considerable two wheeler traffic around Salem town it is going to be a dangerous thing I feel.





Past that there was traffic at usual spots - Thoppur, Shoolagiri, Krishagiri toll, Attibelle toll.

Dedicated Fastag toll lane at Thoppur was jammed due to non detection tag of some truck, hence took the lane next to Fastag lane since last month security manning the barricade had asked me to do the same. Tag got detected in the adjacent lane too, though it took few additional seconds. I guess there is some issue with their readers.

Past that, at Krishnagiri & Attibele there was no substantial difference in cash & tag lanes due to long line of tagged vehicles.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Road work around Kuthiran looks to be progressing very slow.

One flyover at Salem is open both sides, the one North of Salem town junction is still ongoing.

How is the condition of existing road at Kuthiran?

How many flyovers are yet to be completed at Salem. Have been avoiding Salem for almost 2 years now due to congestion and flyover work.

Also, what is the update on barricades on the highway?

Thanks.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

How is the condition of existing road at Kuthiran?

How many flyovers are yet to be completed at Salem. Have been avoiding Salem for almost 2 years now due to congestion and flyover work.

Also, what is the update on barricades on the highway?

Thanks.

Kuthiran is in good shape, nothing to be concerned about apart from the usual slow moving trucks.

Regarding flyover at Salem. South of the turn off in to Salem city is done. North side is still pending, my guess the entire North side will be a single flyover. From the progress, I feel it will be atleast Feb / Mar for it to be completed.

Yes, barricades are a regular feature now. First one I recollect was somewhere between Salem - Vaikundam toll. Past Salem, its present in multiple locations.

The worst was at Hosur, it had caused a traffic block of few hundred meters. Initially I was thinking it may be due to some accident.


However, there is no need to stop traveling on this route due to any of the above issues. Just make sure you avoid ending up in peak time.

[sudsan]

Guys,

Have the following queries

Has anyone been to Thalassery from Bangalore recently or the other way around and what is the recommended route, considering road condition, distance etc.

Thanks in advance for a quick reply, since planning a trip this weekend.