[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by MithunSathianat

Travelled from Kochi to Mysore via Perinthalmanna - Nilambur - Gudalur - Mudumalai Tiger Reserve- Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
Till Mudumalai, roads are in pretty bad condition.
.

Could you specify which sections in the route are bad? Last I heard, the KL section of Nadugani ghats were in good condition and the TN side was broken. How is the Nilambur-Vazhikadavu stretch? There was road widening in progress a year ago.

[kavu75]

Planning make a quick trip to Pandalam tomorrow.

This time looking to take
Bangalore - Dindigul - Kumily - Mundakayam - Ranni - Pandalam
Or
Bangalore - Rajapalayam - Punalur - Pandalam
Any recent updates on these routes?


It will be hectic to do day time drive between Palghat to Pandalam.

[Yatra Moksha]

Travelled from Shornur to Mumbai last week.
2A+1C(15 years old)+Our 4 year old pet dog. All fully vaccinated
Roads were good & no checking of any sorts, anywhere along the route.
Took the Shornur-Palakkad-Coimbatore-Salem-Hosur-Tumkur-Hubli-Belgavi-Kolhapur-Pune-Mumbai route.

[kavu75]

Originally Posted by kavu75

Bangalore - Dindigul - Kumily - Mundakayam - Ranni - Pandalam
Or
Bangalore - Rajapalayam - Punalur - Pandalam

I took first option on Saturday and it was a relaxed drive.
Truck traffic was more till Salem and after it's thinned out. Took the diversion at Dindigul and after a long I was taking Dindigul - Kumily stretch.
Many of small towns have bypass except Theni and Periyakulam and it took around 10- 15 minutes to cross Theni.
It's beautiful to drive few sections in Main Eastern Highway (between Plachery and Pathanamthitta), the work is still going on at few places.
Overall road conditions are excellent all the way.
Started from Bangalore at 4.50am and reached home at 3.30pm with a short breakfast and lunch break.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

Planning a trip from Bangalore - stop over at some town on the way probably Palakkad- Alleppey - Kochi- stop over at some town on the way back probably Coimbatore - Bangalore. Traveling with kids so trying to restrict drives to within 6-8 hrs in a day.

What is the best route (if there are more than one)?

How are road conditions? Anything to watch out since this is first time I'll be driving down all the way to Kochi/Alleppey?

Also any recommendation for sightseeing in and around these places. Deliberately left out Munnar from the plan as I intend to cover it some other time.

Did you do this trip? How are the roads? I am planning for Alleppey this month from Bangalore.

KK

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Did you do this trip? How are the roads? I am planning for Alleppey this month from Bangalore.

KK

Not yet. Planning in early April.

[amods]

Originally Posted by kavu75

I took first option on Saturday and it was a relaxed drive.
Truck traffic was more till Salem and after it's thinned out. Took the diversion at Dindigul and after a long I was taking Dindigul - Kumily stretch.
Many of small towns have bypass except Theni and Periyakulam and it took around 10- 15 minutes to cross Theni.
It's beautiful to drive few sections in Main Eastern Highway (between Plachery and Pathanamthitta), the work is still going on at few places.
Overall road conditions are excellent all the way.
Started from Bangalore at 4.50am and reached home at 3.30pm with a short breakfast and lunch break.

Is there any e-pass required/checking being done to cross TN from Bangalore? Thanks in advance.

[kavu75]

Originally Posted by amods

Is there any e-pass required/checking being done to cross TN from Bangalore? Thanks in advance.

No sorts of checking in Tamilnadu or Kerala borders.

[binand]

Mathrubhumi is reporting that toll collection at Panniyankara (about 10 km before the Kuthiran tunnels when going to Kochi) has started from today early morning. They don't specify the toll amount, only that the total toll to reach Kochi from Walayar is Rs. 235 (but given that Pampampallam is 65 and Paliyekkara is 80, we can calculate this one to be 90).

Exact location of the toll booth: https://goo.gl/maps/ynRL7d6qf4k13QdEA

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by binand

Mathrubhumi is reporting that toll collection at Panniyankara (about 10 km before the Kuthiran tunnels when going to Kochi) has started from today early morning.

But are both the tunnels opened to the public? If not, I'm expecting some protests for starting the tolls before completion of work.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

But are both the tunnels opened to the public? If not, I'm expecting some protests for starting the tolls before completion of work.

Yes. It's been a few weeks now. I think we had a report posted here on the thread too?

And this is Kerala. Protests will anyway happen (and as per the report, has already happened).

The report (in Malayalam - it says BJP and AIYF protested at the toll plaza for various reasons): https://newspaper.mathrubhumi.com/pa...kkad-1.7326936

[rakesh.rvn]

Travelled from Bangalore to Thrissur on 13-Mar-2022.
Started from Whitefield at 1:30 PM and reached home at 11:00 PM with a 45 minute dinner break.

L&T bypass works seem to have been completed.

No covid checks at TN or KL borders.

[amods]

Originally Posted by amods

Is there any e-pass required/checking being done to cross TN from Bangalore? Thanks in advance.

Traveled on 12th March from Budigere-Trivandrum. Took Outer ring road - E city flyover-Salem-Nagercoil-Tvm.

Missed the turn to Nagercoil from kanyakumari highway 6km before Kanyakumari, realised this and took detour through village roads - through Nagercoil city.

Roads in Nagercoil city are always a mess, this time it was even worse. Covered 780Kms in 12hr40mins with 30km detour and 1 hour food break included. Highways in TN are as always brilliant.

No pass/covid checks anywhere.

[naveen.raju]

Salem police set up speed radar guns to check overspeeding on highways.

The Salem District Police have introduced speed radar guns to check overspeeding of vehicles on national highways.. The district police is aiming to reduce vehicle speed and thereby avert road accidents.

According to the police, the four-lane national highway runs for a stretch of 265 km in Salem rural limits. Several fatal accidents occur in the NH stretches due to overspeeding, police said. Since speed-breakers or barricades could not be set up on the NH roads, the rural police have introduced speed radar guns to control speed of vehicles and avert accidents.

Police officials said that the rural police have procured two speed guns at a cost ₹16 lakh initially and these would be stationed at various places along the highways to check speeding of vehicles. The speed radar guns would be stationed at different points on each day, hence, motorists would not be able to trick the system by slowing down at places where surveillance cameras are permanently installed and increase speed again once out of the camera range, police said.

Police said that speed limits for different types of vehicles at different locations could be set on the device and the motorists violating the speed limit would receive an SMS message about the violation. Offenders would have the facility to pay the fine at court or through online, police said.

According to the police officials, the radar guns could also automatically capture images of speeding vehicles along with registration plate details.

Source - The Hindu

A good move if their intention is really to stop rashly driven vehicles and not to mint money. Looks like Kochi to Bangalore will be a slow drive from now on.

[binand]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

[h3]
A good move if their intention is really to stop rashly driven vehicles and not to mint money. Looks like Kochi to Bangalore will be a slow drive from now on.

Of course the intention is revenue augmentation, just like it is in Kerala:

the motorists violating the speed limit would receive an SMS message about the violation. Offenders would have the facility to pay the fine at court or through online

If there were a genuine concern for overspeeding the action would have involved stopping the offending driver immediately (before they could cause an accident) and ensuring they don't continue doing so.