[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

The forest route from Alangayam is via KAVALUR AND JAMUNAMARATHUR. I will not say anything rather the roads will speak for themselves.

Suresh, the photos that you attached in your post are not viewable

[suresh_gs]

Folks

Had been on a short trip to Polur just to enjoy the drive through the forest. The route is shown below.
The route is simply AMAZING and the roads are BRILLIANT. This is an alternate route to Puducherry.

Route options would be via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Vaniyambadi, Alangayam, Kavalur, Jamunamarathur, Polur, T V Malai and Villupuram or via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Vaniyambadi, Alangayam, Kavalur, Jamunamarathur, Polur, Chetpet, Vandavasi and Tindivanam


The forest route from Alangayam is via KAVALUR AND JAMUNAMARATHUR. I will not say anything rather the roads will speak for themselves.



ALANGAYAM TO KAVALUR







KAVALUR TO JAMUNAMARATHUR







JAMUNAMARATHUR TO POLUR







Mods: Please delete post no. 451 of mine

JAMUNAMARATHUR TO POLUR

[suresh_gs]

As regards the above route I took, did notice quite a no. of 2 wheelers and rare TNSTC buses (may be about 2). Otherwise no issues on this route and in general traffic is sparse.

[strawhat]

Travelled by bus to Tiruvannamalai yesterday.

Road condition from Krishnagiri turn-off till Uthangarai outer is rough in patches but not horrible, which is exactly what Uthangarai-Singarapettai Lake stretch is. Our wobbly Puducherry RTC bus made it intolerable and the driver was riding like a boss. I couldn't spot the road among the innumerable potholes.

After Singarapettai lake, it felt like we were on a magic carpet. The patchwork done in June/July is holding up well.

[temala]

Guys - I see the last update on this route is in Jan.

I got a plan from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai next week. Looking for suggestions on route. Going through this thread, feel like Karaimangalam - harur route is better than Mathur - Singarapettai.

Is this still hold good?

[temala]

All - Did an Bangalore - Tiruvannamalai - Trichy trip 3 days back.

Bangalore - Tiruvannamalai

After lot of considerations and research, decided to take Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Tirupathur - Singarapettai - Tiruvannamalai

After have finalized the travel plan, had to hear about the Cyclone which had hit the coast on same day.

Had lot of hesitation whether to go on with the trip or should I cancel because I am travelling with my elders and kid.

We did go on with the trip and it was pretty smooth. I had to drive in rain till Krishnagiri and after that, it was not much rain and the road condition was pretty good. I would suggest this route any time.

Tiruvannamalai - Trichy

Again because of cyclone, I thought of getting into highway as soon as possible and took

Tiruvannamalai - Villpuram - Trichy.

Again pretty smooth road. Its a little longer route but I eventually saw no drop of rain.

Total of 8+ Hr Drive .. Tiring mainly because of rain in initial phase and single road in between.

[prasi55]

I went to Tiruvannamalai on Sunday. Took the ECity - Karimangalam - Morappur - Harur - Tiruvannamalai route. Excellent route with hardly any potholes. Recommend this route.

[jkrishnakj]

The Uthangarai - Chengam stretch continues to be bad or what?

If so, it must be more than 11 years that this stretch of the road has been ignored. Wonder why that stretch continues to be bad.

It was just once that I had taken that route and gosh, the abuse that the car took that day was so bad. Ever since, it has always been a bit of a round about to TVM/Pondicherry.

[adisan]

From 2017 till mid of this year, the roads from Krishnagiri to Singarapettai through Uthangarai were in good shape, barring a few stretches.

On a drive in July this year I found that road widening works are in progress on this route. The roads were completely dug up in some stretches, whereas in some places there was just one side of the road for both directions of traffic.

It would be better to take one of the other routes discussed in this forum from Krishnagiri to Singarapettai for the time being.

[easyrider]

I am frequent user of this route from Krishnagiri to Pondicherry, however past decade it has been really a nightmare to drive on NH77.

Being a national highway, the plight of it is pathetic. The work to do a 2 laning started in 2010 and was supposed to complete by 2012. But, just got stuck with no progress for different reasons.

No hope, if we can ever see this project being completed at the earliest.

Recently, I raised an RTI on the project progress and got this reply. The target completion date is always keeps moving.

[adisan]

Anyone tried the NH recently? Any updates on the road condition between Krishnagiri and Singarapettai? It has been 6 months since I drove through that and the road was in very bad condition.

[ant_vas]

Originally Posted by easyrider

I am frequent user of this route from Krishnagiri to Pondicherry, however past decade it has been really a nightmare to drive on NH77.

Being a national highway, the plight of it is pathetic. The work to do a 2 laning started in 2010 and was supposed to complete by 2012. But, just got stuck with no progress for different reasons.

No hope, if we can ever see this project being completed at the earliest.

Recently, I raised an RTI on the project progress and got this reply. The target completion date is always keeps moving.

Do you have a better quality photo of the route alignment?

[kayvwar]

Travelled from Bangalore to Thiruvannamalai on 24th and returned on 25th December. First halt at Sri Krishna Inn Shoolagiri. Extremely crowded. Hotel does a terrific job of clearing crowds. Breakfast was amazing. Decent washrooms. From Shoolagiri proceeded towards Krishnagiri. Took left at Krishnagiri. This is where our horror started. I took NH 77.

This road goes via Uthangarai - Singarapetai - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai. It is an understatement if I called it National Horror 77 instead of NH77. There are no roads at all. Initially I was apprehensive that I took a village or panchayat road. However all the KSRTC and TNSTC buses from Bangalore/Hosur to Thiruvanammalai were travelling in this route. Total distance from Krishnagiri to Thiruvannamalai is 127 Kms. The road is good for the last 35 kms. Rest of 90 kms can be classified as bad roads/worst roads/no roads. There are hardly any hotels or vehicle repair shops. Only saving grace is there are a few Essar fuel stations. It took me 4 and half hours to do this 127 kms stretch.

After having learnt our lessons I took a different or rather an extremely different route.
Return route:
Thiruvannamalai - Vellore - Ambur - Vaniyambadi - Krishnagiri. Excellent route.
100 kms more than the one that we took the previous day. We did the return trip in 6 hours which included a 45 minute break for coffee.

My sincere request to people, avoid NH77 stretch between Krishnagiri and Uthangarai. This is very bad road, this isn't getting fixed anytime soon.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by kayvwar

From Shoolagiri proceeded towards Krishnagiri. Took left at Krishnagiri. This is where our horror started. I took NH 77

If you read back on this thread, this highway has been horrible most of the time but also had short good stretches intermittently. Overall, for a decade (or even more) you will find people recommended against taking the route. You will find a similar overlap of posts in the Bangalore-Pondicherry route thread as well. Back in 2019 I took this route partially by going via Bargur-Tirupattur which was manageable, but I took the entire route to Krishnagiri on the way back and I regretted it.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by kayvwar

After having learnt our lessons I took a different or rather an extremely different route.

Thanks for the update.

There are other shorter routes to avoid the segment between Krishnagiri and Singarapettai. Please see previous posts in this thread.