[s3va]

+1 to ^

One needs to be damn careful while driving thru this new bypass in Calicut as the road is infamous for fatal accidents on an everyday basis. Especially during night, one need to watchout for the small junctions where the road from small towns joins the bypass !!! Even the pedestrian can pose a big danger !

They are planning to now widen this 2 lane into a 4 lane.

[pramodpk]

I drove my Father's Ford Fiesta from Bangalore to Vaikom on June 21st.
The route taken was
Bangalore (AECS Layout Kundalahalli)
Silk Board (Did not take the elevated Highway)
Hosur
Krishnagiri
Thoppur
Salem (New By pass is open to connect to NH47)
Bhavani
Avinashi
Coimbatore L&T By Pass
Walayar
Palakkad By Pass
Thrissur By Pass
Chalakkudy
Angamaly
Aluva
Kalamassery (Took Left at HMT Junction and proceeded via Kakkanad through Airport Seaport Road)
Tripunithura
Vaikom

We started at 4:45 AM and reached home at 1:45 PM.
Total 583 KMS covered in 9 hours with around 40 mins break.
I was the only driver (Did not let my Father driver).

Potholes have started appearing between Palakkad and Thrissur. Expect the road conditions to deteriorate soon.

[gajadonga]

The new bypass you have mentioned for Salem is the same old bypass you are referring to or a new one after Omalur connecting NH47.

[gadadhar]

I am planning a trip from Bangalore to Vandenmedu. Option I am considering is Bangalore --Salem - Karur - Dindigul - Sembatti - Vattalagundu - Periakulam - Theni - Kambum - Kumaly -- Vandenmedu..Is this the best option? How are the roads from Salem till Vandenmedu?

-

[hvkumar]

You can cut your journey distance a little by turning off at Kumbam and going via Kambamedu, Nedumkandam and Puliyanmala to Vandanmedu.

All roads are fine.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You can cut your journey distance a little by turning off at Kumbam and going via Kambamedu, Nedumkandam and Puliyanmala to Vandanmedu.

All roads are fine.

+1 HVK sir, its the shortest and I did it sometime back during my Moolamattom trip. But if he is travelling in his Elantra, climb from Kumbam to Kambamedu would be little rough and slippery especially when it rains due to minor land slides.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You can cut your journey distance a little by turning off at Kumbam and going via Kambamedu, Nedumkandam and Puliyanmala to Vandanmedu.

All roads are fine.

Originally Posted by jacs

+1 HVK sir, its the shortest and I did it sometime back during my Moolamattom trip. But if he is travelling in his Elantra, climb from Kumbam to Kambamedu would be little rough and slippery especially when it rains due to minor land slides.

Thanks for the tips, will do a final check before starting on the landslides

[gadadhar]

I am driving from Kalady to Kozhenchery this Sunday, planning to take the NH47 till Allapuzha and then through Nedumudy to Changanachery and MC road till Kozhenchery. Please let me know whether this is the right choice. Advice on a good place for breakfast for a family group of 10 with kids is welcome.

[coolclouds]

Did Cochin-Bangalore today. Roads between Pattikkad (Trichur) and Vaniyampara is bad with lot of potholes and broken surfaces. Need to be very careful especially on night driving. Road between Vaniyampara & Palakkad is patched up. Else, roads are in good condition except for few small stretches where construction is going on (Chalakudy Jn etc)

[pramodkumar]

Did a trivandrum trichur round trip yesterday.

Roads are ok till Parippally, from parippally to kalluvadakkyal, ther roads are intermittently bad, This continues till kollam, then from kollam till neendakara the roads are bad, from there till karunagapally the roads are just about ok. The roads are worst in the harippad till alpy. Then the 4 lane highway from chertalla till EKM are in the worst state, the roads are good from EKM till Trichur.

Please avoid night driving in the affected stretches as the potholes are really big and might damage the suspension and the wheel.

Pramod

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Roads are ok till Parippally, from parippally to kalluvadakkyal, ther roads are intermittently bad, This continues till kollam, then from kollam till neendakara the roads are bad, from there till karunagapally the roads are just about ok. The roads are worst in the harippad till alpy. Then the 4 lane highway from chertalla till EKM are in the worst state, the roads are good from EKM till Trichur.

In a nutshell, NH47 from TVM till EKM is bad?

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by sbraj

In a nutshell, NH47 from TVM till EKM is bad?

Not yet. Some stretches are still good.

As per a Malayala Manorama report in today's newspaper, only 20000 potholes are to be repaired, with 60000 of them already attended to.

The number of potholes district wise still to be attended to:

Alleppey - 5359, Kollam - 1368, Trivandrum - 2018.

Just as Pramod mentioned, some are deathtraps.

[sv1976]

Did a B'lore-Calicut-B'lore last weekend. B'lore-Mysore is pretty much the same apart from some more new speed breakers closer to Mysore. Mysore-Nanjangode is back to its original bad shape

Nanjangode-Gudalpet is excellent. The Ghat section is also good till Muthanga check post. Muthanga-Sulthan Bathery has some new potholes but not that bad. Effect of rains is clearly visible in Wayanad ghats and hairpins with some of them really tough to handle.

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by sv1976

Did a B'lore-Calicut-B'lore last weekend. B'lore-Mysore is pretty much the same apart from some more new speed breakers closer to Mysore. Mysore-Nanjangode is back to its original bad shape

Nanjangode-Gudalpet is excellent. The Ghat section is also good till Muthanga check post. Muthanga-Sulthan Bathery has some new potholes but not that bad. Effect of rains is clearly visible in Wayanad ghats and hairpins with some of them really tough to handle.

Did a similar trip on 30th June -

Calicut - Vayittiri - Kalpetta - Sultan Batheri - Mulehole - Maddur - Gundlupet - Nanjangund - Mysore - Srirangapatna - Nagamangala - Nelligere - Kunigal - Hebbur - Tumkur.

As you said, the rains have made the Wayanad Ghats difficult to drive - the nine hair pin bends require plenty of caution in the rain, and the roads were broken. Otherwise, the road was OK.

Gundlupet onwards the road was good - except for the section where work was going on (between Nagamangala and Kunigal).

[sv1976]

Originally Posted by vrprabhu

As you said, the rains have made the Wayanad Ghats difficult to drive - the nine hair pin bends require plenty of caution in the rain, and the roads were broken. Otherwise, the road was OK.

The hair pin bends will only get worse in the next 3-4 weeks. Last year, I remember hair pin # 4 (or 5) was so bad that no sedan/small cars could handle it without some rough underbody hits