[EV NXT]

Did Bangalore - Cochin this morning. Pointers for those travelling on this route:

1. The main ORR stretch from Marathahalli to Silk Board Junction was almost entirely closed with traffic diverted onto the miserable service road. This always happens on Sunday mornings if you start at 6am or earlier. The service road with humps and dips is designed to damage your suspension. In addition you will be stuck behind queues of buses and lorries ambling along and kicking up dust the entire way. The width of the service coupled witb the potholes ensure you do not have an opportunity to get in front of them. Not that it makes a difference as even if you do there will still be a lot more in front. A spotless car can be completely covered with dust by the time you reach Silk Board junction.

2. There are two deviations for flyover construction before Salem. These two usually land up slowing you down as it is occupied by loaded lorries ambling along.

3. The deviation from the end of the L&T bypass till Walayar is extremely hazardous for cars. Lorries and buses swing to the right and left to avoid bikes and pedestrians. The service lane is meant to be two lane but it cuts down to 1.5 in parts. It is difficult to overtake on this stretch if you’re caught behind a loaded lorry. In addition it is riddled with speed breakers all along the route. Lorries and other heavy vehicles swing onto the service road as they did earlier out of habit. Sunday traffic was enough to create blocks and chaos. Normal weekdays would be worse.

[rohitoasis]

Originally Posted by binand

Ha. It took me 35 minutes to clear this one yesterday. It starts as soon as the bypass ends and goes on for a couple of kilometres. The time (6.30pm-ish) didn't help, and neither did the RTO people doing their thing in the middle of this melee. Not to mention the idiots trying to go the other way in this mess.

That, plus a 15-minute delay caused by (what looked like a) serious accident on the bypass, meant that I lost about an hour clearing Coimbatore.

Originally Posted by EV NXT

3. The deviation from the end of the L&T bypass till Walayar is extremely hazardous for cars. Lorries and buses swing to the right and left to avoid bikes and pedestrians. The service lane is meant to be two lane but it cuts down to 1.5 in parts. It is difficult to overtake on this stretch if you’re caught behind a loaded lorry. In addition it is riddled with speed breakers all along the route. Lorries and other heavy vehicles swing onto the service road as they did earlier out of habit. Sunday traffic was enough to create blocks and chaos. Normal weekdays would be worse.

I empathised with you yesterday evening. Out of the stretch of 12 Km between L&T Bypass and Walayar. The diversion was for around 2 Km between end of bypass and KG Chavadi flyover. Being stuck behind a trailer was painful. To add to the woes were parked trucks hogging close to half a lane and traffic of trucks coming in the opposite direction. I had much easier time than rest because i was on bike. Seeing a Volvo V40 with its low ground clearance struggling on the speed bumps was heartbreaking. Even a Tucson was gingerly navigating these. Only guys in a Fortuner were able to bully this section of road into submission. But this stretch was just a trailer for trouble ahead.

As of yesterday they have completed scraping off the asphalt in the road leading to Kerala (Entire 12 km stretch) and started scraping off the return stretch. The traffic was negotiating this scraped off surface. The amount of dust being kicked off was causing low visibility last evening. If anybody is travelling by bike. Please be careful of this stretch.

I wanted to post this and advise anybody with low ground clearance or softer rubber. Even before i posted this today, i saw a bunch of superbikers riding towards Coimbatore today (Any bhpians in that group?? I saw a lovely W124, A blackbird, Quite a lot of Ninjas and an RSV4 if i am not wrong). I am heartbroken at the expensive rubber they might lose on this patch.

As of today morning, i did not see any equipment to start laying the new asphalt. So expect this stretch to be scary for a while. I will give update in this thread every weekend. If anybody wants update on intermediate days, do let me know.

Originally Posted by binand

In the past I have taken Palakkad-Pattambi-Perumbilavu-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur, but those trips were early morning drives (5am-ish) and I don't think this is the optimal route. Palakkad-Thrissur-Guruvayur sounds like the best bet, but I think your time estimate is a bit out of the whack. If we assume 75 minutes for Palakkad-Thrissur and 75-90 minutes for Thrissur-Guruvayur (this includes time taken to traverse the city), you are cutting it too fine to reach for a presumed 10 AM "muhurtham" imo.

Thanks for the info. Yes we indeed did take Thrissur-Guruvaryoor route. We turned off right at Mannuthy and joined the road which leads to Museum/Zoo. The road quality in this stretch is far from the best i have seen in this stretch. My last trip to Guruvayoor might have been a decade back. There are stretches where an entire lane is blocked due to that stretch being dug up. Just 1 Km shy of Guruvayoor is a railway overbridge being constructed leading to a 3-4 Km diversion through a practically single lane road. So anyone a pilgrimage can plan time accordingly. We started at 7:30 AM and reached Guruvayoor at 9:45 AM.

[rohitoasis]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

I will give update in this thread every weekend. If anybody wants update on intermediate days, do let me know.

As promised weekend Update 2nd Dec 2022 for the same stretch of 12 Km between L&T Bypass and Walayar.

TLDR version is stretch is Navigable and there wont be any delays expected in this stretch.

Detailed description
They have completed the scraping of asphalt both ways. Few stretches are completely scraped off and that contributes to approx 50% of the length both ways. Traffic is now being allowed through these scraped off section and there is no diversion. Overnight rains have gotten rid of the dust. But left a gravelly slush on few sections. Be careful of braking distances in this stretch and if you are on a bike, please be extra careful.

As of today morning, did not see any equipment to lay the new Tar. If i notice anything, will update here.

[rsrnair80]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

As promised weekend Update 2nd Dec 2022 for the same stretch of 12 Km between L&T Bypass and Walayar.

As of today morning, did not see any equipment to lay the new Tar. If i notice anything, will update here.

Did a GVR - BLR run today morning. This stretch is still not tarred. Traffic is being allowed on the scrapped road.

[rohitoasis]

Nothing new to update this week on the Coimbatore-Palakkad stretch. Tar has not been laid yet. Drive carefully if you have low ground clearance. Ride even more carefully.

Mornings have low visibility due to fog for the last two days.
Slight drizzle today got rid of the fog. Nothing significantly troubling.

[jkrishnakj]

Dear friends - I have to drive to Kalady tomorrow. Fairly straightforward route.

Question to the experts - where in Kerala should I worry about speed cameras/interceptors? I know the Coimbatore-Palakkad route had poles with cameras every half KM. Do they report and capture liscence plates or just capture speed of vehicles passing?

Asking because I don’t want to end up paying any fines and would keep to 30/40 km/hour or whatever the Kerala traffic police wants me to.

[binand]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

where in Kerala should I worry about speed cameras/interceptors?

There are speed cameras everywhere - on NH, SH, MDR and even some smaller roads. As per statements by various officials over the years, these cameras not only record the instantaneous speeds but are also capable of deriving average speeds between two stations.

After my first (and only) automated speeding ticket in Kerala (Rs. 1500 for doing 105 kmph in a 90 kmph zone) I have been very careful to drive with cruise control engaged at 85 kmph. I do see local drivers doing a lot more than that but personally speaking - I like my bank balance the way it is.

Edit: I did see a recent press report that many of these cameras are now not functional due to age and lack of maintenance. I have not felt the urge to try my luck again, though.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Question to the experts - where in Kerala should I worry about speed cameras/interceptors? I know the Coimbatore-Palakkad route had poles with cameras every half KM. Do they report and capture liscence plates or just capture speed of vehicles passing?

They do report the violation and once the speeding event is captured, the notice will be sent to the registered address of the car by post. Vahan database is already integrated.

All those visible cameras after Walayar are functional, except a few. There may be interceptors a few kms after the border and also at the start of Thrissur bye pass, depending on the time of the day. Use Radarbot app to be on safe side.

[jkrishnakj]

Thank you binand and bijoy. I plan to depart Bangalore at 5 am and will probably cross walayar around 12 noon or so. Given it’s a weekend, I’m sure there will be active interceptors. I’ll make sure I’m inside the prescribed limits on the Kerala roads. Will have to ask the wife to keep looking at the round speed limit boards, just in case I miss attention to those.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Thank you binand and bijoy. I plan to depart Bangalore at 5 am and will probably cross walayar around 12 noon or so. Given it’s a weekend, I’m sure there will be active interceptors. I’ll make sure I’m inside the prescribed limits on the Kerala roads. Will have to ask the wife to keep looking at the round speed limit boards, just in case I miss attention to those.

Just keep it under 90 kmph. I understand that’s now the revised speed limit (which used to be 80 kmph before) on the 4/6 lane roads in the state. As bejoy remarked, out-of-state cars found speeding will be fined. Moderator ajmat had earlier shared an instance wherein his KA registered, chauffeur driven Polo was fined in excess of 10k in one trip for a Bangalore - Cochin - Bangalore drive.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Thank you binand and bijoy. I plan to depart Bangalore at 5 am and will probably cross walayar around 12 noon or so. Given it’s a weekend, I’m sure there will be active interceptors. I’ll make sure I’m inside the prescribed limits on the Kerala roads. Will have to ask the wife to keep looking at the round speed limit boards, just in case I miss attention to those.

Would recommend you download the Radarbot App on your smartphone. It will very accurately point out the camera's and the speed limit with sufficient warning. Only at a few areas between Walayar and Vadakkanchery I noticed a difference between the signboards and the radarbot alerts.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Just keep it under 90 kmph. I understand that’s now the revised speed limit (which used to be 80 kmph before) on the 4/6 lane roads in the state. As bejoy remarked, out-of-state cars found speeding will be fined. Moderator ajmat had earlier shared an instance wherein his KA registered, chauffeur driven Polo was fined in excess of 10k in one trip for a Bangalore - Cochin - Bangalore drive.

Immediately after the TN / Kerala border at Walayar the speed limit is 50. Many stretches on the Walayar - Vadakkanchery stretch are also less than 90. Vadakkachery - Thrissur stretch has areas where the speed limit is 100.

[naveen.raju]

Many of cameras along MC road are not functioning from the look. And the new cameras installed in city limit will not only capture speed but also check for mobile phone usage, seating belt/helmet violation etc.

Just keep the speed below 90 kmph. Anyways, you will find it difficult to even reach 90 on 2 lane roads in Kerala.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Bailey

Immediately after the TN / Kerala border at Walayar the speed limit is 50. Many stretches on the Walayar - Vadakkanchery stretch are also less than 90. Vadakkachery - Thrissur stretch has areas where the speed limit is 100.

Depending on who installed these, they might not be implemented. The limits enforced via the cameras are as per the MVD website:

https://mvd.kerala.gov.in/en/roadsaf...-limits-kerala

Other agencies (LSG, police etc.) install speed limit boards but don't have the infrastructure or workforce to enforce such limits consistently.

So in Kerala, you need to worry only about the MVD cameras and MVD limits.

Having said that - once you cross into Kerala, NH 544 is perhaps 80%+ through some municipality or corporation limits. :-)

[Keeleri_Achu]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

And the new cameras installed in city limit will not only capture speed but also check for mobile phone usage, seating belt/helmet violation etc.

As per this report, they look for everything else except speed . Moreover, they're yet to start functioning as MVD haven't finalized the agreement with Keltron for maintenance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3nORahvOSc

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by Bailey

Would recommend you download the Radarbot App on your smartphone. It will very accurately point out the camera's and the speed limit with sufficient warning.

Can the app be used alongside Google maps? I am not sure how the app functions, but it would be great if it just supplements info from Google maps with a small window.