[gadadhar]

[quote=pariwar;2888497]do look at the option of using NH 209 on the routing Bangalore - Kanakapura - Chamarajnagar - Sathyamangalam - Coimbatore.

Pariwar, It's a good suggestion, especially with the time lost at all toll booths on crowded days + Money saved, but planning to save this for next trip since I plan to hit the road early morning. In the odd hours I would prefer to be on the familiar route and also need some eateries on the way.

[mallumowgli]

There are quite a few craters forming on the hitherto good stretch between Walayar and Palakkad. Some of them are quite nasty - take care while going on this stretch. Walayar check post is totally broken, theh there are potholes after check post, craters near Walayar Police station, BEML junction, a huge one on the bridge after United Breweries, another huge one just before Pudussery and another one just after also

Originally Posted by pariwar

do look at the option of using NH 209 on the routing Bangalore - Kanakapura - Chamarajnagar - Sathyamangalam - Coimbatore.

Whoa!! Go easy on the smileys, pariwar. only two per post allowed!!

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Thanks agains. I did Truchur - Ottapalam route to Palghat 2 weeks back on Sunday morning, traffic was not heavy but the average that can be maintained is considerably less compared to the NH (got a speeding ticket also on the Ottapalam stretch)

Where did you get the speeding ticket? What was your recorded speed? I was maintaining my speed below 75 KM/H through out Kerala. In fact there are only very few occasions where you can attain that speed and be sure that there willl be interceptors in such places.

There is no doubt that the NH 47 route is the fastest even if you have to crawl through Kuthiran at 15 KM/h but if there are road blocks, it will be disaster.

The NH 209 route also has the risk of blockages due to truck break downs.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

There are quite a few craters forming on the hitherto good stretch between Walayar and Palakkad. Some of them are quite nasty - take care while going on this stretch. Walayar check post is totally broken, theh there are potholes after check post, craters near Walayar Police station, BEML junction, a huge one on the bridge after United Breweries, another huge one just before Pudussery and another one just after also

Thanks, that helps a lot, was assuming that the Kerala stretch is in decent shape, will keep this in mind while driving

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Where did you get the speeding ticket? What was your recorded speed? I was maintaining my speed below 75 KM/H through out Kerala. In fact there are only very few occasions where you can attain that speed and be sure that there willl be interceptors in such places.

There is no doubt that the NH 47 route is the fastest even if you have to crawl through Kuthiran at 15 KM/h but if there are road blocks, it will be disaster.

The NH 209 route also has the risk of blockages due to truck break downs.

I am not quite sure about the place name, would have been around 15 kms before Palghat. It was a straight stretch of around 250 mts with a small climb after a right turn and at the foot of the climb is a bus stop. I was doing 87 km/h in the radar, BTW I got another one in Vytilla bypass near whitefort hotel, was doing 85 then, planning not to cross 70 km/h this time

[poloman]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Coming via Palladam-Pollachi route would mean landing up at Kuthiran again, or traveling through narrow roads around Alathur. I certainly do not think its worth that. Taking the regular route i.e., via Perundurai-Avinashi bypass-Coimbatore bypass-Palakkad is better, IMHO.

Could not agree more. Some of the alternate routes mentioned here should be taken only if you know the route very well. Unfortunately I took this route last Saturday and got royally lost in small towns like Palladam, Pollachi, Kollengode etc. These towns are quite congested with no proper bypasses and sign boards. And the icing on the cake was the royal mess from Alathur to Pattikkad. It took 2 hours to cover this 20 odd kms. On whole it was a total nightmare. On return I stuck to my regular Kunnamkulam-Pattambi-Kulapully-Palakkad-Avinashi route. This was a breeze with acceptable road conditions barring may be 2-3 km between Palakkad and Avinashi.

The L&T Thoppur toll road towards Bangalore is again in pretty bad state. L&T as usual shamelessly collecting hefty toll for such a horrible road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by poloman

Unfortunately I took this route last Saturday and got royally lost in small towns like Palladam, Pollachi, Kollengode etc. These towns are quite congested with no proper bypasses and sign boards.

Crossing Palladam is easy. In fact I dont think we dont even need to get into the town.
Pollachi is a real problem. Even if we have a navigator, its still problem, thanks to many one ways.

[/quote]
And the icing on the cake was the royal mess from Alathur to Pattikkad. It took 2 hours to cover this 20 odd kms. On whole it was a total nightmare. On return I stuck to my regular Kunnamkulam-Pattambi-Kulapully-Palakkad-Avinashi route. [/quote]
[/quote]


True Kuthiran is a real problem. Pollachi option does not help much. I used favor this route mainly due to avoidance of long jams at Walayar and CBE bypass. Now if Vadakkacherry Trichur is a problem, then its surely not worth it. But I hope issues at Walayar dont delay one further.

[narayan]

Guys
Pls help with the route from Palakkad to Trithala in ottapalam dt. What's the condition of roads ? Also from the above feedback I guess its better to avoid the kangeyam- palladam-pollachi route to Palakkad ?

[kala]

Originally Posted by narayan

Pls help with the route from Palakkad to Trithala in ottapalam dt. What's the condition of roads ?

The State Highway between Palakkad and Pattambi is in excellent condition. Not sure about the Pattambi-Thrithala stretch, but that being a continuation of the same road I'd expect it to be good as well (and in any case that distance is hardly 10 kms, so it shouldn't be too much of a bother).

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by narayan

Guys
Pls help with the route from Palakkad to Trithala in ottapalam dt. What's the condition of roads ?

Palakkad-Ottapalam-Kulapully-Pattambi-Trithala

Palakkad to Kulapully is brilliant
Kulapully to Pattambi is good, but relatively narrow with lots of blind curves
Pattambi to Trithala is average, typical panchayat type undulating road, but surface is not broken and there are no alarming potholes

PS : Trithala and Ottappalam - both are in Palakkad district

[RajeshK]

All,
How about Palakkad - Alathur - Pazhayannur - Chelakkara - Vadakkaancherry - Thrissur route..?? Is this better than Palakkad - Ottappalam - Shoranur - Vadakkaancherry -Thrissur?? I will be travelling during day time, please let me know which will be the most preferred.

I hope there is no improvement at Kuthiran

Thanks
Rajesh

[rajeshchand]

I have taken the coimbatore sathyamangalam Bangalore route, starting from Coimbatore late afternoon and reached Bangalore midnight, this was done couple of years back when the roads were not that great, everything looked good and nothing to worry

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by poloman

Could not agree more. Some of the alternate routes mentioned here should be taken only if you know the route very well. Unfortunately I took this route last Saturday and got royally lost in small towns like Palladam, Pollachi, Kollengode etc. These towns are quite congested with no proper bypasses and sign boards. And the icing on the cake was the royal mess from Alathur to Pattikkad. It took 2 hours to cover this 20 odd kms. On whole it was a total nightmare.

Since I was aware of this problem what I did was to feed into my navigator the next destination and before reaching the destination feed the next destination, there by the navigator kept taking me through the best available route and I never faced any problems, MMI even took me through the one way routes in Pollachi, not quite sure whether they had the one ways marked or it was just sheer chance that the route shown in MMI was one ways.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

All,
How about Palakkad - Alathur - Pazhayannur - Chelakkara - Vadakkaancherry - Thrissur route..?? Is this better than Palakkad - Ottappalam - Shoranur - Vadakkaancherry -Thrissur?? I will be travelling during day time, please let me know which will be the most preferred.

Alathur-Pazhayannur-Chelakkara-Wadakanchery is a very narrow road. It would cause a lot of time loss, and it would crowded as well (since a lot of KeSRTC buses now take this route).

IMHO, Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shoranur-Wadakanchery-Thrissur is any day better. You can try Palakkad-Ottapalam-Mayannur-Chelakkara-Wadakkanchery, but the problem is narrow roads from Mayannur onwards. Traffic is light upto Chelakkara, though.

[deetjohn]

How is the stretch between the L&T bypass and Walayar now?

It was quite bad when I drove about 3 months back.

[coolclouds]

Did Coimbatore-Ernakulam today through regular NH47 itself. The road was bad but very little traffic!!

Hope all are looking for alternate routes!