[ravib]

Originally Posted by ampere

Last time I remember someone mentioning it to be bad because of bad Attur road. Now that section has cleaned up nicely, it might be worth a try. But that means you do a distance of 150+ km on 2-lanes.

Not really ampere. Between exit from NH7 till Trichy, its about 100 kms in 2L road, but in this alternate route, its around 110 kms after exiting NH68, which is just additional 10 kms, so no big difference in terms of distance. However, we need to know interms of traffic is this route better than Namakkal side truck traffic. I hope its not.

-Ravi

[jasonbourne]

Originally Posted by sunil_k_u

Hi All,

Planning to go on a road trip to Trichy from Bangalore next week. I am planning to take Hosur- Krishnagiri- Dharmapuri- Salem- Namakkal- Thottiyam- Musiri- Trichy- Thanjavur Road- BHEL (Trichy) route to reach the destination (BHEL).

Is there a better route compared to the above? Can someone who did a Bangalore - Trichy trip recently provide the latest update on road conditions?

Thanks in advance for the reply.

Originally Posted by nfsfreak

Did this route two weeks back and it was in very good condition all the way. Even bad sections between Thottiyam and Musiri has been done up. So, you can stick to this route.

Completed a trip to Trichy to visit our native temple at Ariyur near lalgudi last weekend. Most of the road conditions were really good except few bad patches. We had to go to Kanchipuram first for a pooja and from there proceeded to trichy and then back to Bangalore.

First Leg (12/12/2015): Electronic City - Hosur - Vellore - Kanchipuram (5:15 AM – 9:05 AM)

This whole route was a breeze since it was GQ. The only bad stretch was from Walaja toll till I took a detour to enter Kanchipuram (Here)

Second Leg (12/12/2015): Kanchipuram - Uthiramerur / Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Vizhupuram - Lalgudi (3:30 PM – 9:40 PM)

After finishing lunch at Saravana Bhavan and completing some local shopping started from kanchi at 3:30 PM. We planned to reach NH45 via Uthiramerur. The roads were of decent quality till we reached the Cheyar bridge where we were greeted by the unpleasant. The Cheyar bridge (Here)Connecting to uthiramerur was broken due to the recent floods and so we had make huge detour to reach Mangal Koot road and from then on proceed to vandavasi. (Detour)

The detour was tiresome since it went through lot of village roads. But surprisingly roads were really good throughout the detour except for some places where the roads were destroyed very badly by the recent floods. My Softie braved through all those potholes without bottoming anywhere. But the detour cost us almost 45 mins.

Roads were exceptionally good all through the way till we joined NH45 at tindivanam. Then on it was a breeze to drive once again.

We stopped for dinner at around 8 PM at a place called Aryas in Siruvachur. The food was amazing. Will definitely recommend this place for a quick stop. Their specialty was the different flavors of idly powder offered along with different types of chutneys.

Spent the night in the hotel which we have always used for the past 10 years in Samayapuram called Gold Coin. Very comfortable rooms as always with full blown AC and very neat toilet facilities.

Completed all our offerings and started back to Bangalore the next day at 4:40 PM from the hotel after a good nap of 1.5 hours post lunch!

Last Leg (13/12/2015): Samayapuram - Toll Gate - Musiri - Thottiyam - Namakkal - Salem - Hosur - Electronic City (4:45 PM - 10:30 PM)

The stretch till tottiyam was good to drive through very scenic lanscapes. Only downside was some bad potholes spread across throughout this stretch, coming up not very frequently but enough to keep a driver on the lookout for them. The stretch between Thottiyum and namakkal was decent (but watch out for lots of sand mafias). From namakkal it was again back to the 4 Lane highway that joins the GQ at Krishnagiri which was again a breeze to drive. Had good dinner at the A2B before Dharmapuri.

In all this, I had to come across hell of a traffic from Salem till Krishnagiri. Especially in Salem faced Bangalore like traffic Jam in two of its rountennas leading to the Bangalore road. Too many Lorries in this stretch; my bad luck that day I suppose. Most of the time one slow lorry trying to overtake another, It was testing time for my patience.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by jasonbourne

In all this, I had to come across hell of a traffic from Salem till Krishnagiri. Especially in Salem faced Bangalore like traffic Jam in two of its rountennas leading to the Bangalore road. Too many Lorries in this stretch; my bad luck that day I suppose. Most of the time one slow lorry trying to overtake another, It was testing time for my patience.

Thanks for the detailed update on road conditions!
Salem town (it's a city now!) has been like this now for the last 2-3 years so best thing is to time it well. Usually, the heavy traffic starts after 4.30-5pm and its best to cross Salem by that time.
Similarly, in the mornings between 8-10am it is a pain to cross Salem, so most of our onward journeys from Bangalore we start by 4am

[jasonbourne]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks for the detailed update on road conditions!
Salem town (it's a city now!) has been like this now for the last 2-3 years so best thing is to time it well. Usually, the heavy traffic starts after 4.30-5pm and its best to cross Salem by that time.
Similarly, in the mornings between 8-10am it is a pain to cross Salem, so most of our onward journeys from Bangalore we start by 4am

Unfortunately I crossed salem around 6:45 - 7 PM. While coming from Trichy one has to start at 1:30 PM to cross salem before 4:30 PM.

In my case most of the time it will take 1 PM for the rituals to be completed. So I am left no other option rather than to live by fire, in this case live with the Salem traffic by the time I cross salem.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by jasonbourne

Second Leg (12/12/2015): Kanchipuram - Uthiramerur / Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Vizhupuram - Lalgudi (3:30 PM – 9:40 PM)

Kanchi to Chengalpet is about 45-50km. And its in a very good condition. And you join 4-lane GST right there! You could have done that as well! Its hardly a 20km detour.

[jasonbourne]

Originally Posted by ampere

Kanchi to Chengalpet is about 45-50km. And its in a very good condition. And you join 4-lane GST right there! You could have done that as well! Its hardly a 20km detour.

I thought the same initially but was a bit skeptical to take that route since parts of in and around Chengalpet were devastated by the recent floods. Since I have driven through the uthiramerur route many a times before selected that. Alas, god had different plans, could not escape the aftermath of the floods! Never expected the bridge to have broken like it did. The funny part was, after my detour I did cross the same river through another bridge on the Vandavasi road which was very much fine unlike the other one.

[csateesh]

Dear BHPians,

Did BLR -> Trichy and back for the XMAS holidays and here is an update from my end

BLR - Trichy

Time of Dep : 5:30am

Route Taken : BLR -> Hosur -> Salem -> Namakkal -> Thuraiyur - Trichy

BLR to Salem is still good except for the traffic jam at Salem these days.

Salem to Namakkal - Witnessed reasonable traffic and hence was forced to keep the speeds modest.

But the Thuraiyur option was a bad decision - The roads are in very bad shape and seriously could damage the car's suspension especially where ever the culverts are being constructed

Trichy - BLR

Time of Dep : 7:00am

Route Taken Trichy -> NH 67 -> Musri - Thottiyam -> Namakkal -> Bangalore

The toll Road between Trichy and Musri (NH 67) was good with a not too much of lorry traffic. The roads are good and I think going forward this will be the preferred choice of route for me.

Post Namakkal it is NH 7 which was a breeze as usual and luckily didn't have to encounter traffic at Salem too

Hope folks find it useful

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Route Taken Trichy -> NH 67 -> Musri - Thottiyam -> Namakkal -> Bangalore

The toll Road between Trichy and Musri (NH 67) was good with a not too much of lorry traffic. The roads are good and I think going forward this will be the preferred choice of route for me.

Post Namakkal it is NH 7 which was a breeze as usual and luckily didn't have to encounter traffic at Salem too

Hope folks find it useful

I came via Musiri, Namakkal while driving from Trichy to Bangalore on 1st Jan. The Musiri-Namakkal road has been relaid at many places. I faced no issues driving in the night except for the lorry traffic occasionally and the high beam menace from the on coming vehicles.

[nfsfreak]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Hope folks find it useful

Thuraiyur stretch was OKayish (not good) when I travelled around a month back before Diwali. Guess, it turned even worse after the recent rains.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I faced no issues driving in the night except for the lorry traffic occasionally and the high beam menace from the on coming vehicles.

Trichy-Musiri stretch was relaid around three months back. The only bad stretch in Namakkal-Trichy route at that time was around Musiri (near Kulithalai deviation) which was also relaid recently.

The entire Trichy-Gunaseelam-Musiri-Namakkal is in very good shape now. We can stick to this route or Trichy-Kulithalai-Musiri-Namakkal depending on where you stay in Trichy.

Only problem in this stretch is crossing Namakkal during peak hours (mornings/evenings especially during festivals) & lorry traffic during night.

So, at times, I used to take Trichy-Karur-Namakkal. It takes almost the same time like Trichy-Musiri-Namakkal though it's longer by around 40+ kms and costlier by Rs 68 (two tolls) but the drive is entirely stress free.

[gajadonga]

Traveled to Trichy and back yesterday.

Onwards was via Karur.
Karur bypass and for about 10kms is four lane
After that it the regular wide dual carriage way bypassing most of the towns never knew when I crossed Kulithalai.
From Jeyarpuram to Trichy the roads are the same narrow but well marked with road reflectors .


Return was via Pagalavadi- Puthansandai to avoid Namakkal city traffic.

Nochiyam to Pagalavadi road work is going on and lots of culvert work which slows down.

Pagalavadi-Kannanur
Lots of potholes but manageable.

From Kannaur cross roads improve .

From Alanganatham pirivu to Puthansandhai roads are fairly good .

[gajadonga]

Traveled to Trichy and back yesterday.

Update between Namakkal and Trichy.

Namakkal to Thottiyam

Good roads throughout.

Thottityam- Musiri

Small stretch of about 4-5kms towards Musiri is rough no potholes.

Musiri- Toll Gate- Srirangam

Good condition.The new bridge over Kollidam is open after Toll gate towards Srirangam

Took me 1.15 mins both ways

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Onwards was via Karur.

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Update between Namakkal and Trichy.

Namakkal to Thottiyam
Good roads throughout.
Thottityam- Musiri
Small stretch of about 4-5kms towards Musiri is rough no potholes.

Hello Gajadonga - You could be my saviour and the person who could answer my query below

Would you recommend BLR -> Karur -> Trichy over BLR -> Namakkal -> Trichy for someone departing early in the day. I somehow don't like Musri stretch as you are caught unawares when a sudden stretch of bad roads presents itself -

The only criteria would be stress free relaxed driving

Thanks

[maheshramaling]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Hello Gajadonga - You could be my saviour and the person who could answer my query below

Would you recommend BLR -> Karur -> Trichy over BLR -> Namakkal -> Trichy for someone departing early in the day. I somehow don't like Musri stretch as you are caught unawares when a sudden stretch of bad roads presents itself -

The only criteria would be stress free relaxed driving

Thanks

While I cannot answer which route is better/ stress free - but thought of responding to this because I just came back from a trip to Trichy last week.

I took both onwards and return via Namakkal and Musiri. I was in fact were surprised with the road condition both 4 Laned or the single carriage way between Namakkal and Trichy. Started from Bangalore around 11 AM and with relaxed pace and 2 breaks (fuel and lunch) - was able to reach Srirangam temple around 4:15pm. So - would recommend this stretch. The single carriage way stretch hardly had any traffic and most folks (be in lorry or bus) were very sensible in giving way.

[gajadonga]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Hello Gajadonga -

Would you recommend BLR -> Karur -> Trichy over BLR -> Namakkal -> Trichy for someone departing early in the day. I somehow don't like Musri stretch as you are caught unawares when a sudden stretch of bad roads presents itself -

If you go via Karur might take about half an hour extra than by the route through Musiri.

If you are going to Trichy town then you can as well through Karur.

If you are going to Sirangam or Thanjavur the Musiri route is better.

Even if you are travelling the Musiri route after Thottiyam you have a bridge across Cauvery to cross over towards Kulithalai if you feel the roads are not good.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Hello Gajadonga - You could be my saviour and the person who could answer my query below

Would you recommend BLR -> Karur -> Trichy over BLR -> Namakkal -> Trichy for someone departing early in the day. I somehow don't like Musri stretch as you are caught unawares when a sudden stretch of bad roads presents itself -

The only criteria would be stress free relaxed driving

Thanks

If your criteria is stress free driving, certainly i would recommend you to take Thuraiyur road after Namakkal Bus stand and go via Thattayangarpettai, Kannanur , Pagalavadi and Manachanallur. Absolutely no traffic in all times of the day.

Originally Posted by gajadonga

If you go via Karur might take about half an hour extra than by the route through Musiri.

If you are going to Trichy town then you can as well through Karur.

If you are going to Sirangam or Thanjavur the Musiri route is better.

Even if you are travelling the Musiri route after Thottiyam you have a bridge across Cauvery to cross over towards Kulithalai if you feel the roads are not good.

Agree with @gajadonga. You can take Musiri or via Karur route, but beware that it depends on the time you travel in this sector. If you are lucky, you can escape from hundreds of Sand lorry trucks which is highly irritating and shower sand in your windshield. Since both Musiri route and via Karur route are heavy in Bus traffic and truck traffic as well, you have to time well when you leave Bangalore.

My 2 cents...

-Ravi