[tharian]

Walyar has cleared up as of now. Left Cbe at 2p and reached thrissur by 5.
Roads are okay. Few pothole stretches, otherwise okay.
An hour from Thrissur, looked like we hit the check post stuck trucks, so traffic was slow.
Otherwise it's fine.

[sandeep3in]

I need to travel from Bangalore to Perumbavoor.Need to know the directions from Salem to Perumbavoor,I would like to avoid the Coimbatore/Palakkad/Thrissur section due to bad road and heavy traffic.Could some one let me know the waypoints on the Pollachi route and how does it fare compared to Coimbatore route .

Also please guide me on any eatouts on the Pollachi route for breakfast/rest room availability .

[Twiny]

Anybody has updates on Walayar Check Post Traffic situation ?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Twiny

Anybody has updates on Walayar Check Post Traffic situation ?

It has eased up and situation is on its way to being normal.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by sandeep3in

I need to travel from Bangalore to Perumbavoor.Need to know the directions from Salem to Perumbavoor,I would like to avoid the Coimbatore/Palakkad/Thrissur section due to bad road and heavy traffic.Could some one let me know the waypoints on the Pollachi route and how does it fare compared to Coimbatore route .

Also please guide me on any eatouts on the Pollachi route for breakfast/rest room availability .

Pollachi route any day imo.

Option 1: Salem-Perundurai-Kangayam-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Alathur-Wadakancheri-Thrissur-NH47. https://goo.gl/maps/jJ0s3

Option 2: If you want to take the NH47 from Vadakencheri,then the route would be Kollengode-Chittilancheri-Vadakkencheri-NH47 and onwards. https://goo.gl/maps/EH5Hs

Once you leave the NH47 at Perundurai,there are hardly any places to stop enroute.There is a Village County at Kollengode and a restaurant just after the turn off to Valparai after Pollachi.But nothing noteworthy.

At Vaikuntam toll,you have Sree Saravana Bhavan,then again Sree Saravana Bhavan at Sankari,then Chennis at Perundurai SIPCOT bypass,Annalakshmi and Aaryas on the Perundurai bypass (the last three only if you choose to take the SIPCOT route into Perundurai).

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Pollachi route any day imo.

Option 1: Salem-Perundurai-Kangayam-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Alathur-Wadakancheri-Thrissur-NH47. https://goo.gl/maps/jJ0s3

Ranjit, I think Pollachi-Palladam-Mangalam-Avinashi BP will be faster as the bridge is open now. I did this route last Friday and the road is in good condition.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Ranjit, I think Pollachi-Palladam-Mangalam-Avinashi BP will be faster as the bridge is open now. I did this route last Friday and the road is in good condition.

Ah wonderful-thanks.

the bridge over the Mangalalm RS?

[sandeep3in]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Ranjit, I think Pollachi-Palladam-Mangalam-Avinashi BP will be faster as the bridge is open now. I did this route last Friday and the road is in good condition.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Pollachi route any day imo.

Option 1: Salem-Perundurai-Kangayam-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Alathur-Wadakancheri-Thrissur-NH47. https://goo.gl/maps/jJ0s3

Option 2: If you want to take the NH47 from Vadakencheri,then the route would be Kollengode-Chittilancheri-Vadakkencheri-NH47 and onwards. https://goo.gl/maps/EH5Hs

.

Ranjit/Coolclouds - Thanks a lot , any idea about the route from Kollengode via Chittilancheri, the last time i heard the road was in a bad shape and the recommendation was to go to Alathur.

Can you also throw your suggestion on Avinashi/Manglam /Paladam route

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by sandeep3in

Ranjit/Coolclouds - Thanks a lot , any idea about the route from Kollengode via Chittilancheri, the last time i heard the road was in a bad shape and the recommendation was to go to Alathur.

Can you also throw your suggestion on Avinashi/Manglam /Paladam route

Since the bridge is complete now,stick to the Avinashi-Mangalam-Palladam route.Just be sure to stay below the flyovers on the Avinashi Bypass or else you would miss the turn off.IIRC you need to take the left towards Palladam below the second flyover.Asking around would be the best way,or CoolClouds might be able to pinpoint the precise the turnoff.

Kollengode Vadakkencheri is ok now,unless something has gone bad in the last one month.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Ah wonderful-thanks.

the bridge over the Mangalalm RS?

Yes, the bridge just after Mangalam.

Originally Posted by sandeep3in

Ranjit/Coolclouds - Thanks a lot , any idea about the route from Kollengode via Chittilancheri, the last time i heard the road was in a bad shape and the recommendation was to go to Alathur.

Can you also throw your suggestion on Avinashi/Manglam /Paladam route

While coming from Pollachi, continue straight at Palladam (at signal, right goes to Kangayam and left to Coimbatore). Continue on main road till you see Avinashi BP. Go below flyover and take right to join NH.

[sandeep3in]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Yes, the bridge just after Mangalam.



While coming from Pollachi, continue straight at Palladam (at signal, right goes to Kangayam and left to Coimbatore). Continue on main road till you see Avinashi BP. Go below flyover and take right to join NH.

Thanks coolclouds for the info, would you be able to tell, where from NH47 (coming from Salem) i need to take a deviation to go to Palladam. Any land marks that can give me a hint.

[Twiny]

Just to update - My friends came via Walayar CheckPost without any traffic issues, yesterday night.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sandeep3in

Thanks coolclouds for the info, would you be able to tell, where from NH47 (coming from Salem) i need to take a deviation to go to Palladam. Any land marks that can give me a hint.

From Salem first you have to deviate towards Perundurai. Then proceed towards Kangeyam and to palladam.

[Rajeevraj]

Returned to Bangalore from Calicut on Sunday. Took my usual Bathery-Gundlepet-Ch.Nagar-Kollegala-Kanakpura-Bangalore Route. Road conditions continue to be excellent. But noticed a couple of sections where road conditions are deteriorating.

• While coming from Calicut-Immediately after the ghat section, there are a couple of reasonably big pot holes. The subsequent few KM till Vythiri have also started developing some rough sections and pot holes. Nothing significant for now, but can become a concern as the rains continue.
  
• Gundlepet-Ch.Nagar: Continues to be a mix of relaid sections, rough patches and pot holes. Again nothing major, but just when you think you have reached a consistent smooth section, a bad patch pops up. So always need to watch out
  
• Yelandur-Kollegala- Seems to be deteriorating. Couple of the narrow stretches through the villages have developed pot holes and road surface also seems to have become rough in some sections.

Again, I noticed the above since I have been regularly driving this route this year. Overall still remains a great drive. Left home at 6.30am and entered nice road at 1.45pm with a 45min break at Nijaguna. Felt the breakfast items slightly better this time in Nijaguna

My drive to Calicut a couple of weeks back was planned as a 2 stage drive. First to Tirupur and then to Calicut. I had planned this out with valuable inputs from bhpians ampere, silversteed, NPV. Based on that I had started from Silk Board ~5.45 am. Someway into the journey, there was a change of plan and I had to go directly to Tirur. So ended up taking Salem-L&T Bypass-Kuzhalmannam-Kottayi-Mankara-Pattambi-Koppam-Valanchery-Tirur. The Kottayi route is a great option to completely bypass Palakkad and get onto the Ottapalam-Pattambi road. Great Roads and minimal traffic.

Although the distance to Tirur was 500+ km with this route, I feel this is a good alternative for folks heading to places in the Tirur/Malappuram region. I reached Tirur at ~3.20PM with around 1 hour breaks. So that's 9.5 hrs. Coming to Tirur via Calicut is ~410KM and will also take ~9hrs in total. The standard option via Gudalur-Nilambur is ~380KM but may still take 8-9hrs due to the humps and bad stretches in the forest.

With this route, you get the benefit of 4L till CBE, generally lower traffic on the Kerala stretch, no worry about innumerable humps and also the option to travel at night.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

So ended up taking Salem-L&T Bypass-Kuzhalmannam-Kottayi-Mankara-Pattambi-Koppam-Valanchery-Tirur. The Kottayi route is a great option to completely bypass Palakkad and get onto the Ottapalam-Pattambi road. Great Roads and minimal traffic.

Thanks. The bypass to Ottapalam road from Kuzhalmannam is really a very good piece of data. It also helps people driving to Guruvayur as now they can bypass both Palakkad and Trichur.

Palakkad bypass - Kuzhalmannam - Ottapalam road - Ottapalam - Shornur - Wadakancherry - Kunnumkulam - Guruvayur.