[silversteed]

Originally Posted by bejoy

This traffic was too stressful and became unbearable...

A lot of people found it more economical to drive rather than pay obscene amounts for public transport options, for a small family. And they all hit the roads like they go on a weekend outing in the city, with the same driving manners.

Originally Posted by bejoy

Luckily the truck traffic was less, may be that is the reason why the toll booths were relatively fast moving

Another observation - heavy vehicles were clearing the tolls faster than cars

Originally Posted by bejoy

Took Bhavani-Mettur-Thoppur-Palacode-Kelamangalam-TVS Factory-Attibelle (KA).

Did you observe any new family friendly options for food and bio breaks, with safe parking, on this stretch?

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Did you observe any new family friendly options for food and bio breaks, with safe parking, on this stretch?

Nope. That is still the bane of this route. One has to plan the time of entry/exit this route for breaks. I got into Thoppur-Dharmapuri stretch at 1PM.

The four laning of the NH844 Dharmapuri-Hosur road is happening in full swing. Supposed to cut down 25kms to Bangalore.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/sta...d-2429589.html

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by NPV

Veg restaurants in Palakkad? Anything new or should I stick to my tried and tested usual suspects Kapilavasthu, Hariharaputhra, Ashok Bhavan?

Originally Posted by silversteed

Le Sky Dine ... They also have a separate section for vegetarians that gives an A2B or Saravana Bhavan like ambience.

Originally Posted by NPV

Similarly, any recommendations for lunch (Veg) on the way back ? Planning for a quick visit to Tex Valley Erode enroute, so some place after that would be good.

Saravana Bhavan Classic before Sankari bypass is now renovated.

[ajitsank]

Hi Please do let me know the route to take from Hyderabad to Kerala. Shortest and easiest to get from Hyderabad - Bangalore (Side) to Hosur? Thanks

[JohnnyBoss]

Originally Posted by ajitsank

Hi Please do let me know the route to take from Hyderabad to Kerala. Shortest and easiest to get from Hyderabad - Bangalore (Side) to Hosur? Thanks

I drove to Hyderabad from Kochi in last September. We stayed at Hosur and next day started at 6 am and cut thru Bangalore city and was at Devanahalli at 8 am. No issues faced. Similarly you can stay in the outskirts of Bangalore and start early morning on the next day.

[mpksuhas]

A very late update.

On 25 Dec, did Chennai - Calicut.

Route taken - Chennai - Chengalpattu- Tindivanam - Vilippuram- Ulundurpet - Salem - Palakkad - Calicut.

Started from Chennai (Vadapalani) at 07,45 AM. It was raining on and off till Salem, with slightly heavy rains while near to coast. Traffic was manageable once out of Chennai city limits.

Stopped at Ulundurpet BPCOCO for topping up and bio break at 11.15 AM.

Past Salem, rains stopped, however for a Christmas + Sunday drive, traffic was bit high. Reached Palakkad town and stopped at Indraprastha around 3.55 PM.

Palakkad - Calicut was showing very slow moving traffic in all routes (4+ hours) and Google was throwing different route combination, had a slow meal break thinking any one of the route may become easier comparatively, but that didn't happen unfortunately. So thought of taking the mix of routes which Google was throwing up, just to have a comparatively non regular route drive.

Started at 04.35 PM from Palakkad, the route taken was Ottapalam - Then towards Pattambi, but a diversion to Vallapuzha - Koppam - Valancherry - This section was good, but narrow country roads hence slow. However, thankfully devoid of any traffic.

From Valancherry, it was the regular NH17/ NH66 till Calicut. This section, has lot many diversions due to ongoing road widening work, however its marked properly and road conditions are good. Heavy traffic, but no jams as such till reaching Calicut Byepass - HiLite mall, lost around 10 mins there due to a jam caused by huge amount of vehicles trying to enter the mall.

This last/ Palakkad - Calicut (Civil Station) section took around 3hours 44 mins. In that around an hour was after entering Calicut bye-pass (Ramanatukara - Malaparamba).

Total time taken from Chennai including breaks was 11 hours 41 mins. Around 2 hours slower than my previous trip I did few months back on same route. Mainly due to additional time taken inside KL and also due to slow driving soon after Chennai due to rain.

[motorsan]

Any updates on the road conditions from Pattambi to Mannarkkad ?

Wondering which of the following options is preferable:

1. Pattambi - Cherupulassery - Sreekrishnapuram - Mannarkkad.

2. Pattambi - Koppam - Pulamanthole - Perinthalmanna - Mannarkkad.

[rex_varghese]

Hearing about traffic pileup at Walayr for past week or so. Is that true? If so, what is the reason? Is it due to increased checks by food and safety department?

Regards
Rex

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by rex_varghese

Hearing about traffic pileup at Walayr for past week or so. Is that true? If so, what is the reason? Is it due to increased checks by food and safety department?

Regards
Rex

I crossed into Walayar on 13th evening. It was a smooth affair. Would be returning on 26th, so interested to know about any potential bottleneck.

[rex_varghese]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

I crossed into Walayar on 13th evening. It was a smooth affair. Would be returning on 26th, so interested to know about any potential bottleneck.

@rajivr1612, i did this stretch this morning and the drive was more or less uneventful, except slight traffic build up towards Palakkad where a good distance is single lane due to some repair work. We started from Coimbatore around 6am and crossed this place pretty early, so it was ok. This single laning stretch has the potential to cause a pile up during peak hours/weekends.

Regards
Rex

[motorsan]

Originally Posted by motorsan

Any updates on the road conditions from Pattambi to Mannarkkad ?

Took the Pattambi - Cherupulassery - Sreekrishnapuram - Mannarkkad route. Except for the road construction happening in a stretch of a few kms around Thiruvazhiyodu, the roads are mostly fine, albeit narrow.

Traffic was sparse (Travelled on Sunday afternoon).

[W@SIM]

Did Thrissur-sankari-eddapadi-mecheri-palacode-rayakottai -kelamangalam-attibele-BLR yesterday.
Left Thrissur at 245pm and was in BLR at midnight. breaks totaled 1.5 hr.
Didn't like the NH544 stretch from Thrissur to Sankari because of signals, traffic, Coimbatore bypass and queues at toll gates. this rightly pushed me to non-tolled stress free road post sankari which was superb with very low traffic. Just a bad patch of 2kms or so around KA TN border post TVS factory. Sankari to BLR took close to 4.5 hrs.
HP COCO on sankari bypass was good place for Fuel + restroom + tea break
https://goo.gl/maps/6JzNysCo5MVqovAc9
thanks

[Pequod]

Planning an Aurangabad-Goa drive from Kollam sometime during Apr-May. The tentative route chart is as below:

Kollam-Hosur-Solapur-Aurangabad-Pune-Madgaon-Hosur-Kollam

The idea is to visit Ajanta/Ellora, experience a drive on the Samruddhi Mahamarg, meet up with friends in Pune, annual meet up with even more friends in Goa, and return home.

The drive to Goa is an annual pilgrimage so know all the routes and pitfalls and/or advantages. Solapur - Aurangabad is first time, so the idea is to take the NH50 from Chitradurga to Solapur-Aurangabad, and then drive from Aurangabad via Shirdi to Pune.

Does this plan look alright in general? Suggestions please, thank you!

[EV NXT]

Cross posting from another thread:

Heard there is stone pelting and vehicles damaged in Krishnagiri on account of the jallikettu ban. Travelling on the Salem - Bangalore stretch om Sunday and on the Coimbatore - Salem stretch tomorrow. Would that be advisable?

Thanks in advance.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...ttu-172787?amp

[gurminder_81]

Team,

I need help with planning of my upcoming trip to Kochi from BLR. Here is the tentative plan:

Thursday, 16th Feb: 5:00 PM: Start from Bangalore (E. City Toll end) after completing office hours. BLR(5:00 PM) -> Coimbatore bypass (11:30 PM) --> Radisson Blu Kochi (3:00 AM) with a single break for dinner and any bio breaks as per need. These timings are purely based on Gmaps timings.

Queries: I have been till Coimbatore and know the route well, however beyond Coimbatore I do not have any information about the road conditions and whether they are suitable for such late night drives. Please help me with the following queries.
1. All roads from Coimbatore till Kochi city are at least 4/6 lanes and there are no single lane roads all across. Gmaps seems to showcase that it is indeed the case, but would rely on information here.

2. Anything that I should be careful about driving this late on Coimbatore-Kochi stretch: bad road conditions, or any other threat of anti-social elements being active there. I will be travelling with my wife and daughter.

Based on the above, I can make a decision to either halt at Coimbatore or make the full run to Kochi as a preferable option.