[ravib]

Originally Posted by ampere

While browsing through google maps, I came across the following route:

Unknown road to Trichy - Chennai Trunk Rd - Google Maps

This avoids Musiri. And I am sure, there wont be any trucks. But how is this route? Has anyone tried it? (Distance wise, google says on 12Km more; 78 versus 90).

Hey ampere, since we had bad experience while going to trichy, on the way back, we enquired for alternate route and the locals said, the route via Thuraiyur is equally bad, and is also longer, so no big savings in any way and not worth it to drive additional kilometers in bad roads !

-Ravi

[gajadonga]

Thanks for the update ravib.I am planning to go to Trichy in January.I hope things can change by that time on the Thottiam-Musri route.
How did you cross Namakkal is the flyover has been completed in the town?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ravib

Hey ampere, since we had bad experience while going to trichy, on the way back, we enquired for alternate route and the locals said, the route via Thuraiyur is equally bad, and is also longer, so no big savings in any way and not worth it to drive additional kilometers in bad roads !

-Ravi

Thanks Ravi for that update.

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Thanks for the update ravib.I am planning to go to Trichy in January.I hope things can change by that time on the Thottiam-Musri route.
How did you cross Namakkal is the flyover has been completed in the town?

It would remain the same till govt. decides to upgrade NH67. Till then I dont see any improvements. (And NH67 upgrade is next to impossible!)

[csentil]

Best bet to go to Tiruchi is by train. If u can get a ticket!!

As everyone says the road between Thottiam-Musri is virtually non-existent. My friends came back yesterday night and he had a few choice words to describe the road.

There is heavy sand quarrying happening in that area and the road has been stripped. Joke is that there's a speedbreaker on the non existent road and its actually quicker over the speedbreaker than on the normal road!!

The only other option is via Tiruvannamalai and Thirukovilur onto the Chennai - Tiruchi highway.. But the road from Krishnagiri to Tvmalai is equally bad. Though the road exists there are deep craters hidden in the darkest spots on the road. (Good news is a lot of money has been sanctioned for re-laying the road between Dindivanam to Krishnagiri. Good news for the politicians/contractors that is... )

[ampere]

No second thoughts! Mayavaram train is the best!

[ravib]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Thanks for the update ravib.I am planning to go to Trichy in January.I hope things can change by that time on the Thottiam-Musri route.
How did you cross Namakkal is the flyover has been completed in the town?

Hi @gajadonga,
I don't expect things can change dramatically in one month, with the NE monsoon rains still continuing. As ampere said, until govt. thinks or some VIP travels in that route, the route is not going to see limelight in near future.

I don't get what you meant by Namakkal flyover? When you travel from Salem, in NH7, you have to exit left side for Namakkal town and keep continuing towards Trichy direction. Atleast, i didn't see any flyover construction to cross Namakkal town. All we have is the Namakkal bye-pass in NH7 towards Dindigul/Madurai, but thats not for people who travel to Trichy.

-Ravi

[pypkmsrikanth]

I remember reading about the road to Karur via Thogamalai, Palayam, has anyone tried it. If it is good then the additional distance would not matter so much as once you reach Karur it is 4 lane all the way.

[gajadonga]

Originally Posted by ravib

Hi @gajadonga,
I don't expect things can change dramatically in one month, with the NE monsoon rains still continuing. As ampere said, until govt. thinks or some VIP travels in that route, the route is not going to see limelight in near future.

I don't get what you meant by Namakkal flyover? When you travel from Salem, in NH7, you have to exit left side for Namakkal town and keep continuing towards Trichy direction. Atleast, i didn't see any flyover construction to cross Namakkal town. All we have is the Namakkal bye-pass in NH7 towards Dindigul/Madurai, but thats not for people who travel to Trichy.

-Ravi

I have travelled thrice from Hyderabad after crossing Namakkal bypass I used to take the road which is coming from Karur and go into the town to avoid traffic and once into the town I used to get regulated into small lanes and get on to the highway again because of some road work I suppose, last time I asked the cop he said a flyover is being constructed.
Bad news I have to take on the Musiri-Thottiyam stretch.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

I have travelled thrice from Hyderabad after crossing Namakkal bypass I used to take the road which is coming from Karur and go into the town to avoid traffic and once into the town I used to get regulated into small lanes and get on to the highway again because of some road work I suppose, last time I asked the cop he said a flyover is being constructed.
Bad news I have to take on the Musiri-Thottiyam stretch.

There was a flyover construction and it is complete now. This is just outside the Namakkal town on the Trichy road. I was there last week and even the Namakkal-Thottiyam stretch is now ridden with potholes, thanks to rains.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

I remember reading about the road to Karur via Thogamalai, Palayam, has anyone tried it. If it is good then the additional distance would not matter so much as once you reach Karur it is 4 lane all the way.

yes this road was good when I travelled early this year. But I'm waiting for the latest condition update.

[k149in]

I travelled from Trichy to Bangalore yesterday via Musiri-> Thotiyam. Now feeling very bad why I didnt read this log before. I have never seen a road much horrible than this Thotiyam->Musiri road. I never imagined such important road could go so bad.

Anyways, I did take the Namakkal->Thuraiyur-> Trichy stretch last month. It was way better than the Musiri route. But my observation was the road was not laid perfectly and the road could get eroded very easily in heavy rain. So not sure what has happened to that road now because of heavy rains in the district. It took one hour and 15 minutes from Namakkal to Thuraiyur and then 45 minutes to Trichy. This route in my guess, will add 20-30 odd KMs.

In this route, there is one another diversion to Musiri. Since we were travelling in the night, we decided to avoid it.

Another alternative is to take the Rasipuram-> Thammampatti-> Thuraiyur route. The roads have always been good in this stretch. It may take one hour from Rasipuram to Thammampati and 1 hour 45 minutes from Thammampati to Trichy. One can easily do this stretch at 80KM/hour. I did travel in this route couple of months back. The roads were pretty good. But you may end up driving additional 40-50KMs.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by k149in

Another alternative is to take the Rasipuram-> Thammampatti-> Thuraiyur route. The roads have always been good in this stretch. It may take one hour from Rasipuram to Thammampati and 1 hour 45 minutes from Thammampati to Trichy. One can easily do this stretch at 80KM/hour. I did travel in this route couple of months back. The roads were pretty good. But you may end up driving additional 40-50KMs.

Seems to be a good option. Only thing is one should know,when to exit NH7.Can easily miss it in the night, unless one has a GPS.

[gajadonga]

I was thinking of one more option from Salem-Vazhapadi -Thammampatti- Thuraiyur- Trichy.
I do not know the road conditions but as the road from Thammampatti- Thuraiyur- Trichy seems to be good as per k149in I think I will give it a try this time.

[blorebuddy]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

I remember reading about the road to Karur via Thogamalai, Palayam, has anyone tried it. If it is good then the additional distance would not matter so much as once you reach Karur it is 4 lane all the way.

I have taken this route. It is a 2 lane road without much traffic.
You have 2 options when you are coming from Trichy.
1) From Trichy go towards Vayalur and before Vayalur take the deviation to Thogamalai
2) From Trichy go towards Manaparai (NH to Dindugal) and take a right to Thogamalai

Definitely a good alternative for people who wants to avoid Trichy - Karur NH road.

[k149in]

I did another trip to Trichy. I again took the Namakkal-> Thuraiyur-> Trichy route. Total distance in this route between Namakkal to Trichy Central Bus Stand came to 100KM (which is approx 10-15KMs more than Namakkal-> Trichy direct route) and it took exactly two hours from 22:00 till 12:00AM.
I would suggest trying this route. But one should be cautious about speedbreakers between Namakkal and Thuraiyur; rough roads here and there.