[tharian]

It is surely surprising that the Coimbatore bypass is still single lane when the complete stretch from Bangalore to Ernakulam is 4/6 lane.
Thankfully when I drove via this road while returning from Ernakulam back to Bangalore on the 31st afternoon, traffic wasn't too bad and there were no blocks. But it was annoying to drive that long single lane stretch when coming from a nice 6 lane highway before it.

Roads in Kerala are in good condition too. I didn't encounter any bad stretches except for some road works on the way to Calicut after crossing Waynad ghats. The deviations between Calicut and Ernakulam for the expressway work were well paved too.

The only downside was the heavy traffic due to the holiday season throughout the journey. I lost count of the number of blocks we were in. The good part being hardly anyone honks in Kerala except of course the buses and except for a few people, everyone maintains a que on the single lane roads when there is a block.
The two wheelers are of a different breed too in Kerala. They ride oblivious to the speeding buses behind them. No honking won't affect them either.

The flyover work post Salem towards Thoppur created massive jams too, but thankfully the tolls upto Attibelle were more or less free. The Attibelle toll had a long jam almost upto the top of the flyover leading to it. And post that the E-city flyover was closed to traffic being New Year eve. All this would have added an hour to the overall journey time.
But realized that Bangalore - Ernakulam is a fast journey by road now if traveling during off season. I last did this journey more than 6 years ago.

[deathwalkr]

Did a weekend drive to Kochi and back for the new year. Left from Trivandrum on Saturday at 08.00 and reached Kochi at 13.00 and for the return leg, left at 10.00 and reached at 14.30.

Traffic was bad to say the least but no blocks and kept going along. Just wishing and praying for the expansion works to get completed soon.

[pms]

Did a BLR - Kollam round trip for the dates 22nd Dec (onward) and 31st Dec (return). Route taken was Salem-Karur-Dindigul-Tirumangalam-Shenkottai-Punalur. It was a smooth onward drive till Punalur post which heavy traffic all the way till Kollam which was expected. Took close to 1.5 hrs to traverse distance of last 40Kms. Road surface was good all the way. Started at 5:30AM and reached Kollam at 7PM.

Return journey on 31st Dec was tiring due to the massive blocks in Salem city (flyover constructions and an accident atop a flyover near Estanica hotel). Took close to 2 hours to cross Salem from the Madurai highway left to Omalur junction signal. Traffic was very heavy from Salem all the way till BLR. It was like Formula 1 racing from Thoppur till Electronic City with all pvt vehicles trying to beat the others to end up again together in the next tool booth :-) Attibele toll booth was crazy and finally BLR city traffic from Electronic City to my place near HAL. Started at 5:15AM and reached home at 7:15PM.

After a long time, I felt the drive was no longer relaxed, maybe due to the unexpected blocks in Salem, heavy traffic, vacation time etc. I normally prefer off seasons for the long drives. Nevertheless, the highway infra was good for most of the distance.

Also went for a 1 day return trip Kollam to Trivandrum, heavy traffic all the way. Becomes really bad from Kaniyapuram to Kazhakkoottam. Took around 1.45 hrs on both the directions for a distance of 60Kms (Kollam-Tvm). Similarly had a drive to Kochi from Kollam during the Xmas weekend. Heavy traffic all the way, very similar to driving from Hebbal to Silk Board via the ORR in BLR. Took around 4 hrs with a quick break in between. Land acquisition and expansion for 6 lane seems to be happening at a brisk pace between Kavanad (near Kollam by-pass) and Cherthala. Current road infra from Ekm to Tvm is far from adequate to handle the increased traffic. Hope 6 laning of this stretch with by-passes at bottleneck spots & junctions can help reduce driving stress.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by tharian

It is surely surprising that the Coimbatore bypass is still single lane when the complete stretch from Bangalore to Ernakulam is 4/6 lane.

Originally Posted by kavu75

When we will get a relief from this Coimbatore l&t bypass trouble?

2023, as per the post by @sachinpk (2017). L&T should wind up toll collection this year.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

I had figured this out through an RTI application filed around six months back. From what I could understand:-
1. This bye pass was built as a joint venture between NHAI, TN State Highway Dept & L.T (as contractor). NHAI's involvement seems to be bare minimum.
2. This was the first pilot study of a PPP (Public Private Partnership) model deal.
3. L&T would have the rights to levy toll till around 2023 (the RTI response has the exact date). The TN Highway & Roads dept. did not give a clear cut response on what they plan to do after this date. They also did not have a response for the question on why FasTag was not implemented here.

PS: I put up this RTI application after hearing rumours that L&T had long lost the rights to levy the toll, but they are doing it on behalf of some political big wigs of TN.

What surprises me is the amount of construction that is happening along the road side, that too huge multi storeyed buildings without any set backs. Knowing that the road is going to be widened to 6 lane, and possibly same alignment, there are some serious scam happening there.

Originally Posted by pms

Return journey on 31st Dec was tiring due to the massive blocks in Salem city (flyover constructions and an accident atop a flyover near Estanica hotel). Took close to 2 hours to cross Salem from the Madurai highway left to Omalur junction signal. Traffic was very heavy from Salem all the way till BLR. It was like Formula 1 racing from Thoppur till Electronic City with all pvt vehicles trying to beat the others to end up again together in the next tool booth :-) Attibele toll booth was crazy and finally BLR city traffic from Electronic City to my place near HAL. Started at 5:15AM and reached home at 7:15PM.

I travelled at the same time from Kochi to Bangalore, and decided to take TN state highway instead and on hindsight it was a good decision. Took detour from Bhavani (Mettur - Mecheri) and joined at Thoppur, skipping Selam/Omalur. Again took detour before Dharmapuri (Palacode - Rayakkottai - Kelamangalam - Attibelle TVS Factory) and joined after Attibelle, skipping Krishnagiri. There is road widening happening on Bhavani Thoppur SH and can slow down progress a bit, but the traffic was very thin. The road is bad after TVS factory for a couple of KMs. Overall, it was a peaceful drive barring the sections on regular NH. Took 9 hours in total with a break in between.

[avk]

Originally Posted by avk

Did a Bangalore Trivandrum drive today. Noticed speed traps with cameras placed at 10 locations - after Madurai to Tirunelveli, over a rectangular arch with 2 cameras, 2 speed display screens and a speed detector.

Returned to Bangalore yesterday at 6 15 PM after a 6 25 AM start from Trivandrum. With two half-hour breaks for breakfast and lunch.

Took the Nagercoil bypass to Kavalkinaru which we missed to take during our onward trip to TVM.

Avoided the returning entry traffic to the city by taking the Hosur-Sarjapur-Whitefield route which turned out to be a time saving decision.

[AjinkyaP]

Hi folks,

We are on a road trip , route is as below-

Kolhapur, Maharashtra- Chitradurga - Madurai - Kanyakumari- Thiruvananthapuram - Wayanad.

We are staying at Thiruvananthapuram tonight, what route should we take to Wayanad from here ?
Any suggestions for route and tourist attractions along the way would be highly appreciated.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by AjinkyaP

Hi folks,

We are on a road trip , route is as below-

Kolhapur, Maharashtra- Chitradurga - Madurai - Kanyakumari- Thiruvananthapuram - Wayanad.

We are staying at Thiruvananthapuram tonight, what route should we take to Wayanad from here ?
Any suggestions for route and tourist attractions along the way would be highly appreciated.

There are loads of stops that you can do enroute.The route is straight-forward.There are internal roads that you can take but since you are not familiar with Kerala roads,suggest you stick to the highways.

TVM-Kollam-Alleppey-Edappally-Thrissur-Perumpilavu-Edappal-Ramanattukara-Koduvally-Thamarasserry ghats-Vythiri-Kalpetta. Vythiri onwards is Wayanad district.

TVM-Alleppey is a 4-5 hour drive
Alleppey-Thrissur is a 3hour drive
Thrissur-Vythiri is a 4-5 hour drive

You can stopover at Alleppey and do the backwaters or also go to Kumarakom.You can also stop by at Kochi and go see the kochi harbour,jew town,marine drive etc

At Thrissur you can visit the temples where the famous thrissur pooram is held (Vadakkumnathan),you could also do a short diversion and join Perumpilavu by going via Guruvayur temple.

https://goo.gl/maps/YVKYPA6AcrtALymR7

[rajivr1612]

Guys, anyone on the state of AC Road? I will be doing a MAS-TCR-Thiruvalla trip next week. Is the AC Road in good shape or should I take the Ambalapuzha route?

[silversteed]

Like many others, drove to Kerala and back during the last week of the last month.

The CBE bound stretch of 6-laned NH544 from Vijayamangalam to Neelambur has deteriorated a lot in terms of road surface - especially the expansion joints on the elevated sections. The Salem bound carriageway is better but I felt shortchanged for the toll levied.

On my return, I observed the NICE-road like behaviour on the L&T bypass, predominantly by KA registered cars. Tailgating, sneaking up through the shoulder to overtake and doing crazy speeds just to tailgate the next 18 wheeler slow-poke.

What usually takes 6.5-7 hours from Palakkad to Bangalore (door to door) took us 8.5 hours on the 31st. The under-construction stretch near Omalur took up almost an hour. Surprisingly, the Thoppur ghat was relatively free and so was Attibele toll.

Hotel recommendations - Le Sky Dine and NMR's Crossroads. Le Sky Dine is more up-market. Their steaks are done well. They also have a separate section for vegetarians that gives an A2B or Saravana Bhavan like ambience.

[kavu75]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Guys, anyone on the state of AC Road? I will be doing a MAS-TCR-Thiruvalla trip next week. Is the AC Road in good shape or should I take the Ambalapuzha route?

Take Ambalapuzha route, AC road still work is going on. Through out roads are good barring a very small wip stretch near to railway crossing.

[alexgv]

I need to go from Kochi (Lulu Mall) to Meenadom in Kottayam, Google maps show some alternate routes.
- via SH15
- via SH15 and Pattithanam - Manarcadu Byp Rd
- via NH66
Apart from travel distance any other factor to consider and hence to prefer ? Planning to go around 9 AM on Sunday and return by 2 or 3 pm.
Thanks in Advance!

[blorebuddy]

Originally Posted by silversteed

On my return, I observed the NICE-road like behaviour on the L&T bypass, predominantly by KA registered cars. Tailgating, sneaking up through the shoulder to overtake and doing crazy speeds just to tailgate the next 18 wheeler slow-poke.

This is my observation also - rash driving by KA vehicles. Driving in highways becoming more stressful with this Bangalore traffic like behavior. I do not understand why people are so aggressive while driving in highways at high speeds. It's neither good for them nor for fellow users. Dangerous lane cutting, trying to overtake where barricades are placed and all sort of things

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by bejoy

I travelled at the same time from Kochi to Bangalore, and decided to take TN state highway instead and on hindsight it was a good decision.

Would you mind charting the same on google maps?

Originally Posted by silversteed

Hotel recommendations - Le Sky Dine and NMR's Crossroads. Le Sky Dine is more up-market. Their steaks are done well. They also have a separate section for vegetarians that gives an A2B or Saravana Bhavan like ambience.

Le Sky Dine, the restaurant is good, ample parking space, i felt the menu is very limited, at least when i visited 3 months back. Avoid the Pasta at all cost, never had Pasta that was so spicy, felt my innards were on fire, ended up with a bad stomach.
NMR Crossroads- Loved the Biriyani there, NMR has multiple outlets in Palakkad, the other one at Chandranagar.

Another recommended place to stop between Coimbatore and Palakkad: Adayar Ananda Bhavan A2B.
Decent stop over with good parking space.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by silversteed

On my return, I observed the NICE-road like behaviour on the L&T bypass, predominantly by KA registered cars. Tailgating, sneaking up through the shoulder to overtake and doing crazy speeds just to tailgate the next 18 wheeler slow-poke.

Originally Posted by blorebuddy

This is my observation also - rash driving by KA vehicles. Driving in highways becoming more stressful with this Bangalore traffic like behavior. I do not understand why people are so aggressive while driving in highways at high speeds. It's neither good for them nor for fellow users. Dangerous lane cutting, trying to overtake where barricades are placed and all sort of things

This traffic was too stressful and became unbearable as soon as we entered Coimbatore byepass.Witnessed an accident also after Vijayamangalam, were three vehicles (two KA regd brand new cars and a TN99 Duster) were involved in a rear ending with all vehicles airbags popped. Ambulance was on the spot but didn't look like there were any causalities. Traffic started piling up and I wanted to get off the NH at the earliest. Luckily the truck traffic was less, may be that is the reason why the toll booths were relatively fast moving. Took Bhavani-Mettur-Thoppur-Palacode-Kelamangalam-TVS Factory-Attibelle (KA). Entered Bhavani at 11AM and joined below Attibelle flyover at 3PM.

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Would you mind charting the same on google maps?

Here you go.
https://goo.gl/maps/2JqeBYCnrg1RJYzJ8

[JohnnyBoss]

Originally Posted by alexgv

I need to go from Kochi (Lulu Mall) to Meenadom in Kottayam, Google maps show some alternate routes.
- via SH15
- via SH15 and Pattithanam - Manarcadu Byp Rd
- via NH66
Apart from travel distance any other factor to consider and hence to prefer ? Planning to go around 9 AM on Sunday and return by 2 or 3 pm.
Thanks in Advance!

i would suggest to take the second option, i.e., via SH15 and Pattithanam - Manarcadu.