[FORTified]

I travelled this route as recent as 2 months ago and can confirm that the road is in excellent condition.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Folks
Here is the photo of karur-trichy road before and after

Wow! thats quite a transformation! Having been on the other side of Karur on the NH67, (Palladam-Kangeyam-Karur) streches I expected some thing like that to happen for sure !
Meanwhile Thuraiyur SH is also equally alluring to drive ! I can only think how it would be with rains and in winter.



Its about 90-100 km to north of Namakkal (Budhan Santhai via Alanganatham/Senthamangalam/Kanannur) It takes about 90-120 minutes for this 100km. NH67 to Karur and NH7 there on would add about 40 km to the distance. And that would mean you do about 140 km for the same distance and one would need to jack up average speed to reach the point. It may be possible owing to clear roads and a longer access to 4-lane. But still I would say its neck to neck in terms of timings even the full stretch is complete.

As @nfs mentioned, its all about where one is heading to. If its Trichy town may be NH67 is the way to go for a hassle free drive. If its beyond Trichy then may the Musiri or Thuraiyur option would be helpful.

[ramzsys]

Have they started to collect toll(Karur)?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by ampere

Wow! thats quite a transformation! Having been on the other side of Karur on the NH67, (Palladam-Kangeyam-Karur) streches I expected some thing like that to happen for sure !
Meanwhile Thuraiyur SH is also equally alluring to drive ! I can only think how it would be with rains and in winter.

I have enjoyed driving on Kangeyam-Palladam stretch. It is sheer bliss to drive. Hardly any traffic.

[Voyager-1]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its about 90-100 km to north of Namakkal (Budhan Santhai via Alanganatham/Senthamangalam/Kanannur) It takes about 90-120 minutes for this 100km. NH67 to Karur and NH7 there on would add about 40 km to the distance. And that would mean you do about 140 km for the same distance and one would need to jack up average speed to reach the point. It may be possible owing to clear roads and a longer access to 4-lane. But still I would say its neck to neck in terms of timings even the full stretch is complete.

As @nfs mentioned, its all about where one is heading to. If its Trichy town may be NH67 is the way to go for a hassle free drive. If its beyond Trichy then may the Musiri or Thuraiyur option would be helpful.

I did the Thuraiyur route (onwards) and the Karur route (return) this weekend.

The truck traffic in the 20 kms stretch from Budan Sandhai to Alanganatham is horrific and it took 40 minutes to cross this stretch. I would suggest going through Namakkal and then take the Thuraiyur road. Overall, it took 2 hrs 15 mins to reach Trichy from Budan Sandhai.

On the return, the Karur bye pass took the same time (for 40 extra kms) and it was effortless. I had to pay additional toll of Rs.100 though. I could reach Namakkal bye-pass in 2 hours. The first 16-18 kms of this road from Trichy is a narrow two-lane without any shoulder, over taking is difficult. After that the road widens to a wider two-lane with shoulder and I could breeze through it.

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Have they started to collect toll(Karur)?

The toll is Rs.22.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Voyager-1

The truck traffic in the 20 kms stretch from Budan Sandhai to Alanganatham is horrific and it took 40 minutes to cross this stretch. I would suggest going through Namakkal and then take the Thuraiyur road. Overall, it took 2 hrs 15 mins to reach Trichy from Budan Sandhai.

Yes the truck traffic is quite bad. But I found it bad mainly on the Vadugapatti-Alanganatham bypass. Apart from that Santhamangalam-Budhan Santhai was manageable. On a hot afternoon I could manage it under 2 hours. About 1:45/1:50 with sedate driving starting from toll gate. May be I was a bit more lucky on the truck traffic.

[nfsfreak]

Originally Posted by Voyager-1

The truck traffic in the 20 kms stretch from Budan Sandhai to Alanganatham is horrific and it took 40 minutes to cross this stretch.

Originally Posted by ampere

May be I was a bit more lucky on the truck traffic.

The truck traffic is mainly because there is a restriction to enter Namakkal town during day time and hence all the traffic diverted to Budhan Sandhai via Alanganatham Junction if it is heading towards Salem.

In Musiri-Namakkal road, 10 kms before Namakkal there is a right turn which leads to Alanganatham Junction and there is a board from Traffic police asking all lorries to take that route if they have to go Salem. It's longer by around 10 kms I guess, but still lorries used to take that route.

So, you would find the lorry traffic more on the BudhanSandhai-Alanganatham Jn stretch while going via Thuraiyur and nothing after that.

It should be much better in the night as all the lorries would go via Namakkal town only to save the extra kms.

[Voyager-1]

Originally Posted by nfsfreak

The truck traffic is mainly because there is a restriction to enter Namakkal town during day time and hence all the traffic diverted to Budhan Sandhai via Alanganatham Junction if it is heading towards Salem.
It should be much better in the night as all the lorries would go via Namakkal town only to save the extra kms.

Thanks for the useful information. Even if the lorry traffic is less in the night, I personally do not prefer to drive in this route at night. I would prefer the Karur bye-pass route in the night.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Voyager-1

Thanks for the useful information. Even if the lorry traffic is less in the night, I personally do not prefer to drive in this route at night. I would prefer the Karur bye-pass route in the night.

+1. I wont advice this route for night drives either. Simply because the Alanganathm bypass road has lots of sharp curves and also runs on quite many bunds. Once can easily miss a maneuver. And as blanket comment, I would like to avoid interior roads for night drives.

[nfsfreak]

Originally Posted by Voyager-1

Even if the lorry traffic is less in the night, I personally do not prefer to drive in this route at night. I would prefer the Karur bye-pass route in the night.

Originally Posted by ampere

I wont advice this route for night drives either.

Agreed. But when I do the night drive from BLR, I normally cross these places at dawn (around 6 ish) and found it comfortable.
Anyways during night, you can cross Namakkal town within minutes. no need for this bypass (for any route that you may take).

[ampere]

Originally Posted by nfsfreak

Agreed. But when I do the night drive from BLR, I normally cross these places at dawn (around 6 ish) and found it comfortable.
Anyways during night, you can cross Namakkal town within minutes. no need for this bypass (for any route that you may take).

In general for late afternoon and early evening drives; I think its a very good option. Basically hit the Thuraiyur road before dark. Now even the Kannanur-Pagavalvadi road has been widened. And yes overall the route is surely a pleasure to drive with minimal traffic. I really would love to see how it is during rains with those trees fully covered in green.

[ramzsys]

NH 67 between Karur and Trichy is now in a better state; no need to take Kulithalai-Musiri-Toll gate road for going to Srirangam. Only a short, 1 km stretch is having the old road. Nicely tarred till Kudamuruti river too!

There's 2 places to pay toll: after Karur bypass(~Rs.40) and somewhere near Jeeyapuram(Rs.22).

Drove on it last monday.

[RGK]

Karur - Trichy was completed and fine with two toll plazas. If one have to reach Karur from Trichy, take right after the second toll booth and go via puliyur. Drive down till the Karur-Dindigul - NH 7 intersection and take right under the flyover to go to Tirupur, Kangeyam, Erode, Coimbatore and Dharapuram.

A note of caution:

- No Medians at certain stretches.
- Sand lorries.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by RGK

Karur - Trichy was completed and fine with two toll plazas. If one have to reach Karur from Trichy, take right after the second toll booth and go via puliyur. Drive down till the Karur-Dindigul - NH 7 intersection and take right under the flyover to go to Tirupur, Kangeyam, Erode, Coimbatore and Dharapuram.

A note of caution:

- No Medians at certain stretches.
- Sand lorries.

Any idea where the 2 toll plazas are located. It is bit weird that for a distance of approx 67 kms, we have 2 toll plazas in operation.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Any idea where the 2 toll plazas are located. It is bit weird that for a distance of approx 67 kms, we have 2 toll plazas in operation.

I: after Karur bypass towards Trichy.

II:after Thirupalaithurai(Vivekananda Ashram/school). This one has 2 speed breakers that can break the engine sumps too.