[Seshadri Kannan]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Ongole hardly has any good places to stay,you can check out Kolas which is the best among the bad?!

Ranjit, Thanks for the suggestion. I'm only going to rest for a night so any decent place is ok. But my top priority would be the safety of my car. So im looking for a place with a safe parking facility.

[Seshadri Kannan]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Ongole hardly has any good places to stay,you can check out Kolas which is the best among the bad?!

Originally Posted by Maverick79

Guys,
I have done this route many times in the recent past, starting only after 4:00 pm most of the times(From East Tambaram). Was able to reach Dilshuknagar by 2.00~2.30 am, with family and few breaks for Dinner and nature calls.


Though I would not advocate driving in the night post midnight, with some preparation and calculated risk, you can easily accomplish this particular route/stretch. Never drove too fast unnecessarily. Avg speeds were always around 70 kmph for the total trips.

Thanks Maverick. I try to strictly avoid driving after sundown. Especially since this will be my first road trip on this particular road, I prefer doing in in daylight. Any thing i should keep in mind - like the right turn ppl tend to miss while driving from Hosur-Krishnagiri?

[Maverick79]

Guys,
Again planning to do this route on 11th June.
Any new updates about the road condition/ de touring requirements if any, pls update.

Thanks in advance.

Maverick79.

[qr20de]

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I are planning a road trip to Vijayawada on the first weekend of August.

Any ideas of what the road situation is currently from Chennai to Vijayawada?

@Maverick79: Did you manage to do it in June?

Any feedback would be awesome! Thanks so much

[Krishnan V G]

Hi, we had driven to Hyderabad from Chennai about a fortnight back via Ongole. The road conditions between Ongole and Chennai and very good except for few patches and diversions. No idea about the road conditions between Ongole and Vijayawada which is just 148 kms of the total distance of 450 kms between Vijayawada and Chennai.

[Seek]

Originally Posted by qr20de

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I are planning a road trip to Vijayawada on the first weekend of August.

Any ideas of what the road situation is currently from Chennai to Vijayawada?

@Maverick79: Did you manage to do it in June?

Any feedback would be awesome! Thanks so much

Hi, I had done this sector in the last week of may. The road is good with just a few diversions at that time. Took exactly 7 hours with a couple of short breaks.

[SKavuri]

I will have to drive alone from Hyderabad to SRM University main campus (kutankulathur I think it is called). I need to cross Chennai to reach SRM university. I need to be at SRM univ around 10AM ish the next day.

Assuming I start in the morning on a working day, could some one advise a good option between:

- Stay for the night just before Chennai (Northern outskirts) to avoid peak evening traffic, and go to SRM early morning. Any suggestions of a decent hotel at Chennai north outskirts? To my mind, this looks like the preferred option.

- Stay at Nellore instead of Chennai-outskirts. (So I can have a shorter and a relaxed drive?)

- Drive through Chennai, stay at Chennai southern outskirts. For me this is least preferred option, as i would be facing full brunt of peak traffic and it would be late night by the time I cross Chennai. By the way is there any by-pass to avoid driving through the city in this option?

[9tMax]

The much awaited good news for Chennai- Hyderabad travellers - the Miryalguda flyover is finally open for 2 & 4 wheelers - though may be only for traffic coming towards Hyderabad.
Came back from Chennai last night and when we were passing Miryalguda, just as I slowed down to get on to the broken part of the road below the flyover, noticed that there are no barricades set up on the entry to the flyover. Then saw a small board saying " 2 & 4 wheeler traffic is now allowed on flyover." Still I was hesitating, but then saw a local car zooming past me onto the flyover. So followed him and happily landed on the other side. There is little bit of rough concrete patch near the top of the bridge though.
Not sure whether it is open for just one way traffic, because five days back when we went towards Chennai, had to travel on the broken road below the flyover only.

[Maverick79]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

The much awaited good news for Chennai- Hyderabad travellers - the Miryalguda flyover is finally open for 2 & 4 wheelers - though may be only for traffic coming towards Hyderabad.
Came back from Chennai last night and when we were passing Miryalguda, just as I slowed down to get on to the broken part of the road below the flyover, noticed that there are no barricades set up on the entry to the flyover. Then saw a small board saying " 2 & 4 wheeler traffic is now allowed on flyover." Still I was hesitating, but then saw a local car zooming past me onto the flyover. So followed him and happily landed on the other side. There is little bit of rough concrete patch near the top of the bridge though.
Not sure whether it is open for just one way traffic, because five days back when we went towards Chennai, had to travel on the broken road below the flyover only.

Vow Good News!

Originally Posted by qr20de

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I are planning a road trip to Vijayawada on the first weekend of August.

Any ideas of what the road situation is currently from Chennai to Vijayawada?

@Maverick79: Did you manage to do it in June?

Any feedback would be awesome! Thanks so much

Sorry, was doing my Ladakh trip. Couldn't get connected. Hence missed your post.

The road is just fantastic from Ongole to Vijayawada. Hope you might have enjoyed it.
Also, from Chennai to Ongole is a pretty good stretch. Except few diversions and some patches.

Went to Tuni via Vijayawada and Eluru on 12th Aug evening. Of course took a break in Eluru on 12th night. Didn't want to risk with my 2.5 year old son.


Regards,
Maverick79

[Maverick79]

Dear Fellow travelers in this route,

Pls find the photographs of the below mentioned flyover in Miriyalguda.
Its now open. Photos were taken on 31st Aug'16 around 9.00 am. Old route is highlighted in red. New flyover in green.
Also, pls note the precaution for not allowing heavy traffic in the 3rd snap.

Apologies for the poor quality of snaps as they were taken in rain hurriedly, while I was stopping regularly in that stretch to take snaps.











It was raining pretty badly.
Not sure how I will travel back to night.
Starting again today evening around 4.30 pm to Hyd.

[bblost]

During a drive from Hyderabad to Chennai last year in December, I encountered very heavy fog around Narketpally.

The advantage of leaving early was completely lost because of this.

[Harshavarthan]

Has any one done Vellore - Chittoor - Kadapa - Kurnool recently? How is the road and proximate travel time? As Bangalore route is risky i'll be driving through this route tomorrow to Hyderabad from Madurai.

[hyd_traveller]

Originally Posted by Harshavarthan

Has any one done Vellore - Chittoor - Kadapa - Kurnool recently? How is the road and proximate travel time? As Bangalore route is risky i'll be driving through this route tomorrow to Hyderabad from Madurai.

I did it last October. I would prefer to do Vellore - Chittoor - Kolar - Hoskote - Davanahalli - Kurnool but seeing the volatile situation, do not hesitate to use the proposed route. Travel time is the same and it is not that bad.

[Harshavarthan]

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

I did it last October. I would prefer to do Vellore - Chittoor - Kolar - Hoskote - Davanahalli - Kurnool but seeing the volatile situation, do not hesitate to use the proposed route. Travel time is the same and it is not that bad.

Thank you hyd_traveller. I hope Vellore - Kurnool section and other parts of Telangana are safe and no agitations going on right now.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Harshavarthan

Has any one done Vellore - Chittoor - Kadapa - Kurnool recently? How is the road and proximate travel time? As Bangalore route is risky i'll be driving through this route tomorrow to Hyderabad from Madurai.

Why Vellore. You could take Madurai-Tindivanam/Sothupakkam-Vandavasi-Arcot-Ranipet-Chittoor.

Have done Kadapa-Tadipatri-Gooty which took about 3 hrs few years back. Its a totally empty road without any facilities, you can do upto 100 at places. Some bridges are not so well made, so back off when negotiating minor bridges and you should be fine.

I had done Renigunta-Koduru-Rajampeta-Kadapa which took an additional 2.5 hrs. You probably have to do Pileru-Rayachoty from Chittoor to reach Kadapa.

There's another route Ranipet-Chittoor-Palamaner-Punganuru-Madanapalle-Anantapur-NH7.

Kadapa-Nandyal-Kurnool 4-laning was going on for a long time, not sure of current condition.

If you are a 4-lane lover, you can go with the much longer Madurai-Vandalur-Madras bypass-NH5-SH2-NH9 route to Hyderabad too.

A minor annoyance is that, you can expect a customary speed breaker on either side of an AP village on whichever 2-lane route you take