[HappyWheels]

Travelling to Trichy today afternoon from Bangalore @ around 2PM (hopefully).

Anyone else doing this stretch today?

[pgginish]

Originally Posted by subbusos

I generally prefer this route instead of dharmapuri-krishnagiri-hosur route since:
1. Good scenic road instead of dry routes.
2. Less traffic
3. OK roads with predictable pot holes instead of the unpredictable potholes/diversion enroute to Krishnagiri.

However, Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri route is quite ok now after opening the new roads.

Thanks & Regards
Subbu

Recently I have tried this route. Its very scenic and in good condition. Lots of trees are there in both sides. I would say A/c usage was less compared to Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri route. And distance was also less.

[lancersfx]

Hi Guys. My native is Trichy and I visit there quite often. and the roads have improved A LOT..... in the last one yr. The roads are good all the way till trichy. Just a stretch of about 10-15 kms is yet to be re-'tarred' between salem and namakkal. But work is in progress.

1 word of caution. When at high speeds u may not notice sometimes the road level increases by an inch/2 and ur car takes a hit... But the road conditions have become a lot better. So have fun driving...and safe driving.

[suvi]

The road condition is quite good. I did Trichy - Bangalore on 12th Oct in 7 hours without exceeding 80kph. Namakkal - Salem surface is smooth but occasional difference in height of surface (upto 2 inches) several times.
I missed the highway to Krishnagiri at Dharmapuri by-pass inspite of being forewarned by team-bhp post.
The road from Dharmapuri - Hosur via Royakottah is very scenic with good tree cover.

[MAS]

Hi guys,

I just reached Trichy from Chennai and would be taking a trip from Trichy to Bangalore tomorrow morning.

After going thro the thread, i would like to take the following route

Trichy - Kulithalai - Musiri - Thottiyam - Namakkal - Salem - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore

Few questions
a. Where should i take a right in Kulithalai. I have done several trips from Trichy to Erode via Karur, but dont seem to remember any right turn to Musiri. Kindly let me know if there are any "boards" on the highway showing the direction.

b. Few team-bhpians have missed the route, but still made it to Bangalore. Kindly let me know if there is enough direction markers on the highway to take us to Bangalore? Or should we keep asking for directions on the way

c. Rains in South India have been very active and any news on the health of the roads.

Your urgent replies would be of great help

Car - Ford Fusion TDCI.. Done 36,000 kms in 12 months

[subbusos]

Originally Posted by MAS

Hi guys,

I just reached Trichy from Chennai and would be taking a trip from Trichy to Bangalore tomorrow morning.

After going thro the thread, i would like to take the following route

Trichy - Kulithalai - Musiri - Thottiyam - Namakkal - Salem - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore

Few questions
a. Where should i take a right in Kulithalai. I have done several trips from Trichy to Erode via Karur, but dont seem to remember any right turn to Musiri. Kindly let me know if there are any "boards" on the highway showing the direction.

b. Few team-bhpians have missed the route, but still made it to Bangalore. Kindly let me know if there is enough direction markers on the highway to take us to Bangalore? Or should we keep asking for directions on the way

c. Rains in South India have been very active and any news on the health of the roads.

Your urgent replies would be of great help

Car - Ford Fusion TDCI.. Done 36,000 kms in 12 months

Hi MAS,

[Where should i take a right in Kulithalai. I have done several trips from Trichy to Erode via Karur, but dont seem to remember any right turn to Musiri. Kindly let me know if there are any "boards" on the highway showing the direction.] - Cross the Kulithalai Bus Stand (which will come on your left...), proceed further till you see a petrol bunk on your left and roundabout. Take right here, which will take you to the bridge over Cauvery. Immediately after bridge, take left, which will make you to join the Namakkal Road.

[Few team-bhpians have missed the route, but still made it to Bangalore. Kindly let me know if there is enough direction markers on the highway to take us to Bangalore? Or should we keep asking for directions on the way] - Yes, There are enough markers on the way. However, till Salem, look for markers for Salem and after reaching Salem byepass, look for markers for Bangalore.

[c. Rains in South India have been very active and any news on the health of the roads.] - I am not sure, since I didn't visit Tamilnady in recent past.

Please let me know if you need any more help.

Thanks & Regards
Subbu

[MAS]

Hi Subbu,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I did the trip from Trichy to Bangalore on Monday (27th). The route was pretty straight forward.

I expected the roads to be non-existent considering the heavy rains. The road conditions were as follows

Trichy - Kulithalai : Okay. Potholes appear out of nowhere and some emergency braking was required to save the suspension

Kulithalai - Namakkal: Very good. Except for some speed breakers which are not visible.

Namakkal - Salem : Not good. Lot of potholes, diversions, etc. Could not really go fast and i had to work on the gears all the time.

Salem - Dharmapuri : Good. Just one confusion after taking the salem by-pass. There is a four road junction with no direction boards immediately after we take the salem by-pass. I took a left instead of going straight and had to stop to ask for directions

Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri : Very good: Ghat section was really nice with a lot of high speed corners. Very enjoyable ride

Krishnagiri - Hosur : Very good with the GQ already under operation for few years now

Hosur - Bangalore : The worst section in terms of roads, traffic and people with no road-sense.

I left Trichy at 1 pm and reached Bangalore (KR Puram - which is all the way on the other side - Old Madras Road) at 7 pm;
Time Taken - 6 hours
Distance - 345 kms.
Returned to Chennai yesterday evening and filled the tank.
Mileage - 20.04 kmpl of Diesel

[akroy]

Originally Posted by MAS

Hosur - Bangalore : The worst section in terms of roads, traffic and people with no road-sense.

Since you are going to KRpuram. Next time pls take the following route:

Hosur - Attibele (take right here and off NH7) - Sarjapur - Varthur - Marathahalli - KRPuram

This route will save you from time and distance and traffic sense as well.

BTW, thats a great FE for Fusion D on the highway

Abhi

[hrag]

Originally Posted by akroy

Since you are going to KRpuram. Next time pls take the following route:

Hosur - Attibele (take right here and off NH7) - Sarjapur - Varthur - Marathahalli - KRPuram

This route will save you from time and distance and traffic sense as well.

Some more info: The Attibele junction is exactly 1.3 km from the TN - KA border. Some dividers have been removed before the junction but please don't be misled by this. You need to take the right turn after the Attibele BS.

You could, depending on day of the week and time of day, also proceed straight down Varthur Road (coming from Sarjapura Road) until the traffic light and turn left onto Whitefield Main Road which will will lead you straight to Krishnarajapuram.

At this traffic light,
Left: ITPL - Hoodi - Mahadevapura - Krishnarajapuram
Straight: NH207 continues - Kadugodi PS - Whitefield RS - Brindavan (Sai Baba Ashram) via a diversion since the flyover is incomplete - join NH4 before Hosakote
Right: Channasandra Main Road - turn left at the fork to reach Hosakote - right towards Channasandra. The left reaches Hosakote at a traffic light where regulars on NH4 would know the right turn indicates Sarjapura.

If you want to reach Krishnarajapuram BS (not the bridge or RS), I'm told there is a way via Hoodi Main Road and Kodagihalli Road - will try this out once and report.
Legend: BS - Bus Stand, PS - Police Station, RS - Railway Station

[HappyWheels]

I did this stretch over the last weekend and I found it rather pleasant, so to speak.

Took the four-laned stretch (route) all the way till Salem and never realized that I reached Salem. By-passed Cavery Patanam & Dharmapuri (thank God for that - always hated the drive thru Dharmapuri). Yes, the stretch is far from over, but there are quite a long distance which has both sides open or atleast one side open. I would say this is much better than the state highway.

Salem to Namakkal - expected really bad roads with all the rain and water, but it was maintaining its standard. I have seen these road in really bad condition, so the current condition is something I would rate 'good'. After Namakkal, it is the same story as always.

Over all:

Bangalore to Bangalore outer (Hosur) - worst stretch in the entire journey. Bad roads, bad road sense to most of the user and will really test the patience level and energy.

Bangalore outer to Salem - Good; but be careful of the diversions. In some places you just need to wait for some blessed soul to lead the way. This was during day time; at night, it is anyones guess on where the detour starts and ends!!!

Salem to Namakkal - ok roads; again four laning work and the woes.

Namakkal to Trichy (thru Kullithalai) - as usual. Good road with good pot holes. Just keep an eye out for them.

[MAS]

@Akroy: Thank you for the route. Would try it the next time i go to Bangalore. The mileage is really cool in the Fusion apart from it being very comfortable to drive. This mileage was with speeds of 90 - 100 kmph on smooth road, 90% AC ON with gear shifts at 2K rpm.

@hrag : Thanks dude for such indepth information. You should consider being a serious competition to Google Earth or Yahoo Maps..

[akroy]

Originally Posted by MAS

@hrag : Thanks dude for such indepth information. You should consider being a serious competition to Google Earth or Yahoo Maps..

MAS, Whenever Blr - Chennai - Blr route is concerned no one is in competition with hrag (Yahoo / Google was not even born then).

He is doing this route since more than 15 years now and in all kind of road condition and vehicles (RX100, Omni what not) be it NH4 / PreGQ NH7 / present GQ etc etc.

Just blindly follow hrag's advice on this route, you will have a great drive to and from Chennai.

Abhi

[suvi]

Any idea how much distance is Attibele from ITPL? is it doable in < 1hr on a friday evening around 4pm ( I want to reach chennai around 10pm)

[hrag]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I travel very frequently between these 2 cities at all times of the day / night and keeping track of any development on this route / alternate routes is very important to me. I'm glad my information is helpful to others.

Edit:
suvi, Attibele Junction is exactly 30 km from ITPL. If you are new to this route (ITPL - Varthur - Sarjapura - Attibele), please watch out for the unmarked speedbreakers. With a 4 pm start from ITPL, you can be at or beyond Hosur by 5 pm.

Note: The thread for BLR - CHN queries / updates is
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...e-old-new.html

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by suvi

Any idea how much distance is Attibele from ITPL? is it doable in < 1hr on a friday evening around 4pm ( I want to reach chennai around 10pm)

The only stretch you will have issue is the Varthur market. Its just 100meters. But can get worst if any traffic jam. Apart from this, there is not issue on these roads. But still 1 hour is little tough to make, but possible. Keep a buffer of 20-30min