[couswheels]

Originally Posted by DieselLover

Just returned from a Kochi-Bangalore-Bannerghatta-Kochi trip. Update on road conditions:


2. The section between Mannuthy and Vadakkenchery has some potholes. Need to be careful while driving at night. Some are really nasty.

How was the drive from Vadakkenchery to Mannuthy during night. Did you encounter lot of traffic and how did you manage high beams especially from trucks?

[murajith]

How's palakkad bypass junction (Chandra Nagar)? Is the flyover ready?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by murajith

How's palakkad bypass junction (Chandra Nagar)? Is the flyover ready?

Early April itself it was in final stages and even opened up for traffic, so it should be ready now.
Earlier post from April - here

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by murajith

How's palakkad bypass junction (Chandra Nagar)? Is the flyover ready?

The fly over is ready. My understanding is that it can only be used by vehicles coming in from Thrissur side, going towards Walayar side (and not in the opposite direction).

[sachinpk]

Folks with my "high range" journey coming up next week, just wanted to know the road condition of:-
Pala->Kanjirapally->Mundakkayam->Vandiperiyar->Cumbum->Theni route.

The drive would be most likely early in the morning. Understand that it is raining heavily in Kerala and the roads may be bad. If the road conditions are really poor, have to re-route the drive via the usual Thrissur->Palakkad->Coimbatore byepass route :(.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by murajith

How's palakkad bypass junction (Chandra Nagar)? Is the flyover ready?

The flyover is ready and so is the toll booth before Walayar, at Attappallam.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Folks with my "high range" journey coming up next week, just wanted to know the road condition of:-
Pala->Kanjirapally->Mundakkayam->Vandiperiyar->Cumbum->Theni route.

An acquaintance from Thodupuzha had cautioned travellers, through an FB post a couple of days back, against trying out the ghat areas as the incessant heavy rain can spell trouble at the wrong time. If I were you, I'd pick the "plain" route at this time of the year.

[DieselLover]

Originally Posted by couswheels

How was the drive from Vadakkenchery to Mannuthy during night. Did you encounter lot of traffic and how did you manage high beams especially from trucks?

Extremely difficult. Something I would like to avoid in future till they 4 lane the entire section. There was very little traffic towards Kochi (time was around 10 PM) but encountered heavy on coming traffic. Most of them were trucks driving on high beams. Also encountered few volvos who was driving on wrong lane most of the time. There were few private cars in between who will overtake multiple trucks blindly and either brake or swerve at last minute to get back into lane or avoid a pothole.

I was worried that I will either be pushed off the road or someone will ram me head on and decided to follow a decently driven truck all the way till Mannuthy. This worked well though it took around an hour to cover this stretch.

[hellstar]

Has anyone recently traveled on either of the below routes recently ? Any idea about the road condition till madurai ?

Trivandrum - Tenkasi - Madurai - Salem - Bangalore - Approx 670 KMS
Trivandrum - Nagercoil - Madurai - Salem - Bangalore - Approx 720 KMS

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hellstar

Has anyone recently traveled on either of the below routes recently ? Any idea about the road condition till madurai ?

Here is the thread

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...galore-23.html


- Mostly every one has been taking the Nagercoil option.
- Also many time their drives to beat the TVM-Nagercoil traffic.

[gkrishk]

Originally Posted by hellstar

Has anyone recently traveled on either of the below routes recently ? Any idea about the road condition till madurai ?

Trivandrum - Tenkasi - Madurai - Salem - Bangalore - Approx 670 KMS
Trivandrum - Nagercoil - Madurai - Salem - Bangalore - Approx 720 KMS

I drove from TVM to Palani and back this week via Nagercoil. Apart from the road works between Pappanamcode and Pravachambalam, TVM to Kavalkinar is now well surfaced. Traffic is as usual though.

[arjithin]

Update from a 'slow' drive:
Took my 20 yr old M800 to Bangalore yesterday from Chalakudy.
Started at 3:45AM from Chalakudy, Reached Whitefield at 1:30PM (9:45 hrs) with around 45 mts of breaks in between.
Mostly driven at 60-70 kmph, never crossed 70kmph. GPS log shows max speed was 72kmph
3:45 AM - Chalakudy
6:10 AM - CBE Bypass start
7:50 AM = Hotel Annalakshmi Perundurai
8:15 AM - Restart after breakfast
9:00 AM - turn left to Idappadi road (Salem bypass)
9:55 AM - Omalur, back in NH7
12:40 AM - Attibele Toll
1:30 PM - Whitefield

I normally cover this route in 8-8.25 hrs in bigger cars driving around 90-100 kmph. Only 1.5 hrs extra with substantial low speed was a surprise for me. Benefits include a much relaxed drive and 24 kmpl mileage returned (petrol). I am seriously thinking of reducing my speed to 80-85 kmph in future trips.

[hellstar]

well here is my update , this was a fast run.

Took the Nagercoil route , good roads all the way except for about 2 kms in nagercoil , and about 10 KMS of uneven roads near nammakal, and of course the messy traffic at Salem

Started at 0430 Hrs Reached E City by 1330 Hrs
Two Breaks one for fuelling at Nagercoil and B Fast at kovilpatti Saravana Bhavan

Overall Dist : 720 KMS
FE : 19 KMPL running with 50% AC all through

For a Bangalore TVM run, this should be the fastest and cleanest option.

[sachinpk]

Folks - just back after a long (??) road trip from Kerala. Route taken:-
Thrissur->Angamaly->Perumbavoor->Muvatupuzha->Ettumanoor
1. Thrissur to Angamaly, good roads. It is a tolled highway, so roads would not be really bad. But it did have a few uneven surfaces and pot-holes here and there.
2. Angamaly-Perumbavoor-Muvatupuzha. Roads were good.
3. Muvatupuzha-Ettumanoor. Pathetic roads. On a positive note, there is some major road repair happening in this sector so may be future travellers would benefit. But for the time being, it could be avoided. There were areas where small cars would see their bottoms hitting the ground.

Ettumanoor->Pala->Kanjirapally->Eeratupetta->Mundakkayam->Peerumedu
1. Good road, though the traffic density is very high (I drove this sector in the late afternoon).
2. Even sedans can easily drive through.

Peerumedu->Cumbum->Theni->Dindigul
1. Good road all the way till Cumbum.
2. Tamil Nadu government seems to have got some good amount of funds. After Cumbum pretty much every culvert, or road over-bridges are getting rebuilt. Due to this steady speed cannot be maintained. Every 1-2 kilometer, one such activity would be there and a vehicle have to take a very short detour (just enought to byepass the construction area but through muddy roads).
3. The roads were also not in very decent shape - compared to other state highways in TN.
4. Roads were much better in Dindigul district limits.
5. From Dindigul onwards it is the usual tolled highway, good roads.

[poloman]

Now that the Sarjapur bypass is completed, BHPians from East Bangalore proceeding to Kerala via Salem should go via Sarjapur -Bagalur-Hosur rather than crowding the usual Attibelle, EC route. NH207 is getting widened and once this is completed, this route will be a breeze.

I used this route yesterday and the only issue I encountered was the Varthur market logjam which is usual on Sunday evenings.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by poloman

Now that the Sarjapur bypass is completed, BHPians from East Bangalore proceeding to Kerala via Salem should go via Sarjapur -Bagalur-Hosur rather than crowding the usual Attibelle, EC route. NH207 is getting widened and once this is completed, this route will be a breeze.

Can you show the map depicting the sarjapur by pass. I was not able to locate the same on the map.