[sknair]

Planning a trip to Kerala/Chengannur from Bangalore in a week, leaving Bangalore at 5 am. what would be the best route to take considering the road conditions after the floods?
how is Kuthiran pass now? also hearing that there is a lot of road work in Kochi, so would it be better to go through MC road from Ankamali to Chengannur?
appreciate your help with route planning.
Thanks.

[sparky@home]

The work on the Kuthiran tunnel has been held up for more than 100 days, as the construction company is owed more or nearly 45 crores. Wonder when this block will be cleared. This Kuthiran stretch seems to be having one or another issue to get the work held up, waiting for the day when this will be a clear stretch.

Link : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...le25646188.ece

[vinuchel]

Made a drive from Trichur to Mangalore on 26th Nov.
Took the Trichur-Kechery-Akkikkavu-Kuttipuram-Thirunavaya-Puthanathani-Calicut bypass-Kannur-Bekkal-Kasargod-Mangalore route.
Started at around 11:30am. Reached around 10:15pm at Mangalore.
Drove sedately at maximum 70km/hr (as traffic allows you that much only )
Road condition is superb with the only bad stretch of road encountered after Nileswaram, then after Manjeshwaram, Uppala.

[kraken]

Originally Posted by sknair

Planning a trip to Kerala/Chengannur from Bangalore in a week, leaving Bangalore at 5 am. what would be the best route to take considering the road conditions after the floods?
how is Kuthiran pass now? also hearing that there is a lot of road work in Kochi, so would it be better to go through MC road from Ankamali to Chengannur?
appreciate your help with route planning.
Thanks.

MC road right now is a good option. There may be not be bad roads but slow moving traffic is a concern. Or you can take the NH till Alleppey and move via Alleppey Changanachery road and towards Chengannur. The aforementioned AC road is being tarred but you'll have good roads with medians right till Cherthala.
Hope this helps !

[sknair]

Originally Posted by kraken

MC road right now is a good option. There may be not be bad roads but slow moving traffic is a concern. Or you can take the NH till Alleppey and move via Alleppey Changanachery road and towards Chengannur. The aforementioned AC road is being tarred but you'll have good roads with medians right till Cherthala.
Hope this helps !

Thanks. Is there some roadworks/flyover constructions happening in Kochi? would that hold up the traffic about 3 PM when passing through there?

[TSIboy]

Originally Posted by sknair

Planning a trip to Kerala/Chengannur from Bangalore in a week, leaving Bangalore at 5 am. what would be the best route to take considering the road conditions after the floods?
how is Kuthiran pass now? also hearing that there is a lot of road work in Kochi, so would it be better to go through MC road from Ankamali to Chengannur?
appreciate your help with route planning.
Thanks.

Kuthiran work seems to be going nowhere. Did Kochi - Kottayam runs on both MC road and the Alapuzha route last week. Flyover construction going on at Vytilla and Kundanoor so MC road from Angamali is the better option. That road is a delight to drive plus you can save on that little toll at Kumbalam.
Cheers!

[sknair]

Originally Posted by TSIboy

Kuthiran work seems to be going nowhere. Did Kochi - Kottayam runs on both MC road and the Alapuzha route last week. Flyover construction going on at Vytilla and Kundanoor so MC road from Angamali is the better option. That road is a delight to drive plus you can save on that little toll at Kumbalam.
Cheers!

Thanks for the details. How was the traffic on MC road? and what time where you driving through MC road?
Should we still go through Kuthiran or is there a way to bypass?

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by sknair

Thanks. Is there some roadworks/flyover constructions happening in Kochi? would that hold up the traffic about 3 PM when passing through there?

yes, mega. Avoid kochi if you are just passing through. Anytime of day, vyttila and kundannoor are at bangalore-esque levels these days. PLus aleppey town is in perpetual logjam through the day. NH47 from mannuthy till cherthala has traffic signals every 4-5km on average. Daytime is horrible.

Despite the obvious daytime traffic and towns in MC road, atleast signals will only be inside towns and not between them. My vote is for you to take MC road.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by sknair

Thanks. Is there some roadworks/flyover constructions happening in Kochi? would that hold up the traffic about 3 PM when passing through there?

MC road is the best option although Vytilla is that bad now. It's slow moving but better than before. Kundanoor will be slow as there are more potholes when compared to Vytilla. Also, the NH from Aroor to Cherthala is patched up but don't expect a smooth ride. Same with AC road (it had many potholes when I had gone last month).

So if Kochi isn't in your radar, avoid it.

[TSIboy]

Originally Posted by sknair

Thanks for the details. How was the traffic on MC road? and what time where you driving through MC road?
Should we still go through Kuthiran or is there a way to bypass?

It was after 1pm. Traffic is almost non existant between Muvatupuzha and Ettumanoor after noon until about 4pm.
I have no idea about a way to bypass Kuthiran though... but you should be fine unless you're going to be there in peak hours.

[ike]

Originally Posted by mithun

Thanks for the info.

Yes, I'm going via that route

Any advices?

Originally Posted by sujithsidhardha

eciable.



How long it took from Chennai to Thrissur?

I do the Chennai - Ulundurpet - Salem - Coimbatore - Thrissur route regularly(Just reached chennai an hour back from Thrissur). It usually takes around 10 Hrs during the day. The surface is good throughout, the only hiccup being the L&T bypass in coimbatore which you can't help if you are driving during the day as it doesn't make sense entering the city during the day. The other thing to watch-out for is the road between Salem & Kallaikurichi that abruptly keeps becoming a 2 lane road from a dual carriageway every now and then. This is an irritant but not a show stopper but one has to be careful especially during the night.

Our mod Gannu is a veteran on the other route via Vellore - Krishnagiri - Thoppur - Salem and since his drives are mostly at night he doesn't use the L&T bypass road anymore and enters the city in Coimbatore.

[shivasi]

Hello,
I am driving from Trivandrum to Goa in a week's time. Plan to start at 4am, reach Mangalore before 11pm and drive again the next day.
Is this feasible and is the route fine (trivandrum-Kochi-Kozikode-Mangalore). Or should I consider going via Bangalore (adds another 300kms).

From another link found out a route. Can someone please help confirm this?
Link

[binand]

Originally Posted by shivasi

Hello,
I am driving from Trivandrum to Goa in a week's time. Plan to start at 4am, reach Mangalore before 11pm and drive again the next day.
Is this feasible and is the route fine (trivandrum-Kochi-Kozikode-Mangalore). Or should I consider going via Bangalore (adds another 300kms).

I think that 300km extra is still OK and you might end up taking less time, since you'll be on GQ quality roads from Madurai till Hubli which is about 70% of the route. I don't know about the first part, but Kochi-Kozhikode-Kannur (about 300 km via NH 66) is extremely exhausting due to the narrow roads, frequent towns and horrible traffic (not to mention the private bus menace).

[SajiNSalin]

I did the Trivandrum-Goa drive in Dec 2015 using the Kozhikode- Mangalore route on the way to Goa and returned via Jog Falls-Hassan-Bangalore-Madurai-Trivandrum on the return. The drive through Kerala was very tiring with all the heavy traffic and narrow roads as well as the insane private bus drivers. We halted for the night at about 10pm in Kanhangad. The return drive was smooth sailing as they are quality highways. I would definitely recommend taking the Trivandrum-Mahedragiri-Madurai-Bangalore route to Goa.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by shivasi

Hello,
I am driving from Trivandrum to Goa in a week's time. Plan to start at 4am, reach Mangalore before 11pm and drive again the next day.
Is this feasible and is the route fine (trivandrum-Kochi-Kozikode-Mangalore). Or should I consider going via Bangalore (adds another 300kms).

unless you want to traverse the entire length of kerala like parasuram express, madurai-bangalore-tumkur route always. The 300km extra will be covered in 4hrs. In this time, you may cover 120km through the KL route in daytime. Even then, google says the TN route is 2h20m shorter than the KL route. Only if its night driving (not recommended) , and only if you are not ready to pay toll charges (really?) , is it worth considering the KL route, provided you use one of the Minnal buses as a sweeper in front of you. IMHO, not worth the risk.