[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by VeeTee

I tried this a couple of weeks back. Mulbagal to V Kota the road is really bad. Infact for most part there is hardly any road. Road from Gudiyattam to V Kota is quite good except the last few kms before V. Kota. My suggestion is avoid this route.

Satish

Thanks man, but I already took this route last Friday morning... I could reach MGM Beach resort from Kadugodi in about 5:15 hours with about 10mins of stops.
Road from Mulbagal to Agara to KGF road is actually not bad for most of the stretch. Only About 6-7 km starting a bit before Agara to the T on KGF road have big craters, and slow 1st gear progress in parts.
A part of it (a bit after Agara village) can be bypassed by side roads which I didn't take but the beginning and end of it seemed in good conditions.

The ghat road to and some distance after V.Kota is narrow and has broken and rocky shoulders which need cautious navigation. I passed it about 10AM, probably earlier in the morning would be less traffic.

[hiunni]

Did this route after a long time despite doing Blr Chennai every week ( almost ) -

The road is defiently much better now the andhra section is also done up
( remember it is a state high way with no median )

The Toll road from Kolar to Blr is excellent and empty ( speed tests )

The toll booths are now up but they let you pass stating its a dry run - left at 520 from Chennai and was in the office @ 1030 with two 10 min coffee breaks -



My current favorite route -- but for Ambur Biriyani on the Hosur road

[DWind]

@hiunni when did you do this route?
I tried this route on Sunday. Till VKota I did not have any issues but once I reached the KGF road, the route was closed on the border (due to Seemandara protests) and had to go via some village roads to reach Mulbagal. Had to loose an hour because of this. Started at 8:30PM from Medavakkam, Chennai and reached Banaswadi, Bangalore at 2:35PM (No time for Coffee breaks)

[hiunni]

Originally Posted by DWind

@hiunni when did you do this route?

hi dwind i did the route on 7th Monday - yeah there are a couple of villages on the way mostly intrusive , surprised that you lost an hour due to them - i have been doing the blr chennai every week for the last 7 years - distance wise it is 328 kms via chitoor road ( old madras exit @ blr ) and 356 kms via hosur road - so if there is no traffic it is usually shorter by about 40 mins for me on this route , but had switched over to hosur road given the road conditions earlier -

[rpads1]

Just did this route today (15-october), started bangalore at 4:30 pm. Was expecting some trouble in Chitoor with the Andhra protests but, luckily no issues. Road is good all the way and the Mulbagal bypass is also in decent condition.
After Chitoor half way to Ranipet, just after the railway crossing, there was a delay of 15 minutes due to a truck that had turned turtle in the middle of the road, which was slippery due to the light rains. Cops were there though and cleared things fast.
Not to mention, hardly any traffic due to the holidays maybe.

[hiunni]

Originally Posted by rpads1

Just did this route today (15-october), started bangalore at 4:30 pm. .

when did you get to MAA ( lets say from gopalan mall to chennai entry assuming that was in your route ) ?

[rpads1]

Originally Posted by hiunni

when did you get to MAA ( lets say from gopalan mall to chennai entry assuming that was in your route ) ?

I reached by 10:30pm, driving 80-100 kmph, with a single break @ Chittor for 15 mins. Starting around KR Puram, to Velachery in Chennai
Return I did the following day on the 16th, left at 2:00 , reached around 8:00pm , with two breaks one near Perungudi and then one at Chitoor 15 mins each. Return drive was also pleasant, with mild drizzle upto chitoor.

[informmaha]

Did this route on 31-Oct-13. The route is functional now, the toll from hoskote to kolar is opened with no person inside the counter. Previously a person used to sit inside, although you need not pay, but have to stop and go, but that is not there now. Road works were on from where this highway ends (after kolar), so its 1 lane for sometime although you can do a constant 60-70 kmph in this stretch. No changes after mulbagal, its as usual till chennai.

The situation was not the same 2 months back, when I was coming from chennai to bangalore on 19-Aug-13 when there was a road block just after the coffeeday near Chitoor (intersection of Tirupati and old madras road), my thought was once we clear this, then I was good to go, but I was totally wrong, after going through some village, I rejoined OMR, but again a block and requested those people protesting and they showed an alternate route and after that, again a block, that was the worst of all, I had to do a mountain rally all the way on an alto (if it had been some other sedan or hatch, it would have got stuck on those stones, luckily it was an alto) and joined OMR and again a block at palmaner, I was totally exhausted, so did not want to look for diversions, so searched for alternate route to reach hosur, so I had to do almost a 30kms to gudiyattam, then to pallikonda, then the usual AH45 to hosur. I lost lots of time in this since all these routes were not so great. By the time I reached Chitoor, it was 7 AM, and the time I reached AH45, it was 11.30 so anyone can guess the distance covered in this 4 hours for this little stretch from wallajabad to pallikonda which can be covered in 1 or 1.5 hrs, rather than the time, it was the pain to pass through all those villages. So from next time on, if there is a diversion near chittoor, don't even try to negotiate believing that you can pass this stretch and then the path would be smooth, if you find a road block, don't hesitate to go back to wallajah and continue on AH45. From then on I made 5 trips to chennai, all via hosur road. Heard that this route does not have any issues recently from this thread, so thought of trying and was relieved to pass this time without any problems. I was afraid to even take a break this time before chitoor, so crossed chitoor and then only took a break

[denver85]

I am planning to drive Chennai from Bangalore today starting after Lunch. My office location is near ITPL(Whitefield) and so i always prefer the Old Madras Road(NH4) than the GQ(NH7/NH46) route. I have never done the Bangalore-Chennai route after the Telangana issues started.
It will great if anyone can give inputs about the current situation in Chittur route.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by denver85

I am planning to drive Chennai from Bangalore today starting after Lunch. My office location is near ITPL(Whitefield) and so i always prefer the Old Madras Road(NH4) than the GQ(NH7/NH46) route. I have never done the Bangalore-Chennai route after the Telangana issues started.
It will great if anyone can give inputs about the current situation in Chittur route.

@denver85,
I drove up & down to Madras via chittoor route last weekend. I returned back to bangalore last monday 4th Nov evening and absolutely there are no problems. You can happily drive as there are no protests in AP currently due to Telangana.

Only one word of caution. Drive bit more carefully between Mulbagal & Palamaner as the road widening work is in progress and they have dugged in both the sides of the road. Watch out for KSRTC/APSRTC buses which push you to corners when they overtake in opposite direction.

-Ravi

[denver85]

Originally Posted by ravib

@denver85,
I drove up & down to Madras via chittoor route last weekend. I returned back to bangalore last monday 4th Nov evening and absolutely there are no problems. You can happily drive as there are no protests in AP currently due to Telangana.
Only one word of caution. Drive bit more carefully between Mulbagal & Palamaner as the road widening work is in progress and they have dugged in both the sides of the road. Watch out for KSRTC/APSRTC buses which push you to corners when they overtake in opposite direction.
-Ravi

Thank you so much Ravi, for the update The reply was a little late as I started around 2.45 PM from Bangalore. Took the GQ route and reached my sister's place at Velachery safely at 7.55 PM. I will try Chitoor route while returning.

Drove Chennai-Chittoor-Kolar-Bangalore last night. The details are here. My Linea's average speed at this 2-laned NH 4 freeway of Chittoor to Mulabagilu was more and stress-free than that in the stretch from Poonamallee to Ranipet of tolled, 4-laned, potholed NH 4. It's a sin to pay toll for this stretch.

[CorollaDude]

All,
Drove from Bangalore (HSR Layout) to Madras (Teynampet Signal) and back in the past week. The route was through Marthahalli, Kadugodi, Hoskote, Kolar, Mulbagal, Palamner, Chittoor, Ranipet, Sriperumpudur, Manimangalam, Tambaram, Guindy, Saidapet.

Absolutely wonderful drive. Superb roads all the way through, except for a 25 Km stretch from Mulbagal to Andhra border, where construction is in progress and the surface is a bit uneven. Drive carefully in this stretch. Road condition improves dramatically as soon as you enter (within 10 meters) AP from KA.

Toll is now being collected on NH4. I paid Rs.15 (Hoskote), Rs.61 (Mulbagal) and Rs.30 (Walajah). Total Rs.106 for 333.5 Km is a bargain.

[pramodh]

Hi, I plan to drive to Chennai this weekend. I have in thepast used teh Old MAdras road route via Chittor and Ranipet . Ever since they started upgrading the roads I have been using teh Krishnagiri route which is good but the only bother being the return traffic at Hosur.

Can anybody tell me if the four laning work on the Old Madras Road route is complete and can we keep the same speeds as we do on the Krishnagiri route.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by pramodh

Can anybody tell me if the four laning work on the Old Madras Road route is complete and can we keep the same speeds as we do on the Krishnagiri route.

4lanes only till Mulbagal, about 100 km from KR Puram. After that it is good 2 lane till you join the krishnagiri-chennai highway at Ranipet/Walajah. The 4 laning post Mulbagal until KA border is still work-in-progress, but it is a non-deterrant.