[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

Fordmanchau, you are saying "Comes before Suryapet on the left side of the highway" and you are 100% wrong. Actually, "7" comes after Suryapet and on the right side of the highway.

I agree, you are right. I realised my mistake of not quoting the direction of travel, but it was too late for edit.

So when travelling Hyd-Suraypet, "7" will come before Suryapet and on left side of the highway, while the reverse is true when travelling from Suryapet to Hyderabad.

[racer_ash]

Guys. Travelled from Hyd-Chennai over the weekend and with great regret and anger I am writing that this was one of the worst trips for my car. Poor soul had to endure rim breaking roads for a good part of the journey. The route taken by me was Hyd-Nalgonda-Piduguralla-Addanki-Ongole-Chennai. Had to choose this route as I had to pick my dad from Nalgonda.

Some vital stats:
Car: 2011 Hyundai i20 Sportz (P)
Total distance covered in the trip:1385kms
Total driving time: 23hrs (excluding breaks)
Avg Speed: 60.2kmph
Total fuel consumed: ~86ltrs
Fuel efficieny: 16kmpl
Top speed reached: 135kmph
Heart stopping moments: 2
Best Stretch: Hyderabad - Narketpalli.
Worst Stretch: Narketpalli - Piduguralla.
Complains from me: Many.
Complains from the car: None .

Since it was a last minute trip, I started from Hyd at 3pm on Saturday. Picked up dad at around 5pm from Nlg. We reached Chennai at 4am on Sunday. Started back at 10am the same day and reached Hyd by around 930PM. Return was little better because we covered all the bad stretches during daylight.

Now the road condition:

Hyd-Narketpalli: Awesome road: Covered this 85 km strecth in an hour. Even the lane markings on this road is almost done.

Narketpalli-Piduguralla: Approx 120kms: The worst part of the journey. Since most of it was done after daylight, it was even more difficult. Extremely bad roads, no 'Take diversion' signs. Found myself clueless about where I am driving. Bottomless potholes at random places. You swerve to avoid one and you end up inside another one. Huge speedbreakers that scrape the underbody even if taken at 0kmph. Lorry drivers who dont give way and driving with high beams. Bikers who swerve right and left without caring two hoots to what is coming behind. Tractors carrying huge sacks running parallely covering the entire road. Rashly driven Piaggio autos. Adding to the woes was heavy rain. Cannot make out whether its a 2 way or 4 way of half way lane. Took close to 4.5 hrs on this stretch.

Piduguralla-Addanki: 80km: Good roads. Widening work going on in full swing. Its a 4 way lane. Most of this strecth is complete but towards the end, for the last 3kms before this raod meets the NH5, the road is almost non-existant. Can cover this stretch in an hour and half. Need to watch out for buffaloes walking aimlessly along the road.

Addanki-Ongole: At places, the road resembles like it has been ploughed and its really dangerous because the car tends to steer on its own due to the plough lines that run along the length of the road. Was really surprised and shocked to find NH5 like this. These conditions prevailed for a good 10 km. After that its a breeze. Need to watch out for 10-15 continuous small speed breakers at 3-4 places especially near Ongole.

Ongole-Chennai: Really good road: No problems whatsoever. However I rate the NH9 between Hyd and Narketpalli as better. Need to watch out for diversions right from the border until Chennai. But they are all well marked.

The trip was really taxing for my white beauty. But she took it all in her stride. No complains. Today when I am driving her, there is hardly any rattle. Butter smooth as always. She needs a good shampoo bath though after all the slush she went through. Plan to get alignment done as I have a feeling that she started pulling towards the left and she has anyway done ~4k kms after her last alignment.

[gajadonga]

Good review of the road conditions,
Nice to know that Hyderabad-Narketpalli is complete.
Pidugurala-Addanki was a nightmare previously.Is the four lane complete in this stretch?
Are there diversions.
Medarmettla-Ongole six laning is going on that was the reason probably the road conditions are bad.

It seems better to take the Hyderabad-Ibrahimpatnam-N.Sagar-Macherla-Piduguralla route to Addanki

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Good review of the road conditions,
Nice to know that Hyderabad-Narketpalli is complete.

Well there is still a portion of the road before chityal (while coming towards narketpalli) where only one lane is open. But even in this place you can safely maintain good speeds.

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Pidugurala-Addanki was a nightmare previously.Is the four lane complete in this stretch?
Are there diversions.

As I said, 4 laning is complete for 80% of the distance. But there are still some frightening roads (if u can call them that) that need immediate attention.

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Good review of the road conditions,

It seems better to take the Hyderabad-Ibrahimpatnam-N.Sagar-Macherla-Piduguralla route to Addanki

Folks, I would say the best route to take to Chennai is the Hyderabad - Vijaywada - Chennai route. Although it might be a bit longer (~80 kms), the surface is smooth till Vijaywada with 4-laning almost complete and then onwards the GQ part to Chennai.

Hyderabad - Vijaywada: 5 hours max
Vijaywada - Chennai: 6 hours (averaging 100 km/hour)

It's a stress free drive and one does not have to bother about potholes and unruly traffic.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

the surface is smooth till Vijaywada with 4-laning almost complete and then onwards the GQ part to Chennai.

Thanks for the update. When you say it is almost complete, can you give any percentage of completion? Are there still diversions? If so, how will be the diversion roads?

[hyd_traveller]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

Hyderabad - Vijaywada: 5 hours max

It's a stress free drive and one does not have to bother about potholes and unruly traffic.

Are you sure?

Feedbacks from people who frequent this route are still talking 6 odd hours and not even one has said 5 hours max.

[gajadonga]

I think 5hrs to Vijayawada is pretty tough target.
With the diversions and wrong side driving and it is a tough task for overtaking
for a drive that is time bound.
5.30-6hrs is a comfortable drive from Hyderabad-Vijayawada.
If the four laning is complete probably 4-5 hrs might be the running time.
The four laning is to complete by October.I would hit the highway once completed as a
lot of my memories are attached to this stretch of highway.

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Thanks for the update. When you say it is almost complete, can you give any percentage of completion? Are there still diversions? If so, how will be the diversion roads?

Hi Ramesh,

I am headed to 7 at Suryapet tomorrow. I will give the real time details once am back from there.

Although Suryapet is half way to Vijaywada, the road further from Suryapet to Vijaywada is excellent quality and the diversions are runways, as they are the either side of the 4-lane.

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

Are you sure?

Feedbacks from people who frequent this route are still talking 6 odd hours and not even one has said 5 hours max.

Well, I did the stretch on a Sunday and traffic was sparse apart from some in Suryapet and some in Choutuppal.

I left Vijaywada at 9 am and reached home at 3 pm. Took an hour's break on the way

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

Hi Ramesh,

I am headed to 7 at Suryapet tomorrow. I will give the real time details once am back from there.

Although Suryapet is half way to Vijaywada, the road further from Suryapet to Vijaywada is excellent quality and the diversions are runways, as they are the either side of the 4-lane.

Hi Ramesh,

I am back from Suryapet and review for the same is on the following link:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...es-home-4.html

Hope this helps in your drive to Vijaywada.

[ranjitp1]

Just for information sakes:A friend visitng came via Chittoor-Anantpur in 13hrs and it was fast and safe.This can be a good alternative to the NH5 route.Chennai-Chitoor-Palamaner-Madanapalle-Kadiri-Anantpur and join NH7 at A'pur.Yes an extra distance for sure,but compensated by good roads.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...mra=ls&t=m&z=7

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

Hi Ramesh,

I am back from Suryapet and review for the same is on the following link:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...es-home-4.html

Hope this helps in your drive to Vijaywada.

I think the narketpalli by-pass too will be completed soon as the last time I drove on this road, they were laying the top layer. If that comes up, then the haphazard and busy narketpalli town stretch can be bypassed as well.

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

I think the narketpalli by-pass too will be completed soon as the last time I drove on this road, they were laying the top layer. If that comes up, then the haphazard and busy narketpalli town stretch can be bypassed as well.

That is right racer_ash. I forgot to mention that they were giving finishing touches to the bye-pass which shall save us another 7 mins of crossing the town, added to it the rough surface.

The bye-pass is a 4-lane runway as far as I could see. Actually thought of going on it to check how much of it is complete, then dropped the idea as there was a dumper doing some activity.

[narayans80]

Is it possible to reach Anantapur by midnight, if I start from Madras at 4pm via Chittoor,Madanapalle ? Would I run into lot of traffic for my start timing ? The destination is actually Mantralayam, the idea is to cover much ground on day 1. The only concern is traffic on Ranipet-Palamaner and Palamaner-Anantapur. Any inputs?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Is it possible to reach Anantapur by midnight, if I start from Madras at 4pm via Chittoor,Madanapalle ? Would I run into lot of traffic for my start timing ? The destination is actually Mantralayam, the idea is to cover much ground on day 1. The only concern is traffic on Ranipet-Palamaner and Palamaner-Anantapur. Any inputs?

8hrs from chennai to anantpur is more than sufficient.