[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by vw19d

Any recent updates on this route? I'm looking to do a road trip to Bangalore for the May 1st long weekend. Is it a good idea to consider this route or better to stick with the usual route via Vellore - Krishnagiri - Hosur?

In the last week of March this year, I went to Chennai from Bangalore via Chittoor, Sholinghur, Arakkonam, Thandalam and Sriperumbudur. Inside Arakkonam town some road repair work was going on. Otherwise Brilliant roads all the way. Pick of the lot was the wide 2 lane road from Sholinghur to Arakkonam

[vw19d]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

In the last week of March this year, I went to Chennai from Bangalore via Chittoor, Sholinghur, Arakkonam, Thandalam and Sriperumbudur. Inside Arakkonam town some road repair work was going on. Otherwise Brilliant roads all the way. Pick of the lot was the wide 2 lane road from Sholinghur to Arakkonam

Isn't this route longer than Chittoor - Ranipet - Chennai? Is the traffic on this route to Chittoor lesser than the Ranipet route?

[srvm]

Originally Posted by vw19d

Thank you for all the info. Having decided that I'll try this route this time, can you please let me how much time would it take to reach my hotel near Vidhana Sauda from Hoskote? Also let me know the route as it's completely new to me.

Hoskote toll plaza to Vidhana Soudha will take about 50-60 minutes in peak-hour traffic. Since the route is unfamiliar to you, it is best to stick to the straightforward route* which may not be the shortest in terms of time taken but has fewest number of turns.
* Follow Old Madras road from Hoskote- K R Puram Hanging Bridge - Swami Vievekananda Road Metro station- Halasuru Metro Station - Trinity circle - MG Road - Take right turn to Queens Road - Turn left at Minsk Square - Reach Hotel Capitol near Vidhana Soudha.

Originally Posted by vw19d

I'll be most likely starting from Velachery at 10 AM - an early start is ruled out as I have other appointments till then. Can I expect to reach before it gets dark assuming 2-3 stops on the way.

I'll give you my experience. Have driven in this route 4-5 times in the past year. End-to-end it takes about 7 hours at worst including breaks. (I'm a very sedate driver and my family takes lots of breaks). I think, with a 10am start, you will reach your destination well before sunset. Good luck.
Do share your experience in this thread after the trip.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by vw19d

Isn't this route longer than Chittoor - Ranipet - Chennai? Is the traffic on this route to Chittoor lesser than the Ranipet route?

I encountered very less traffic inside Chittoor, Sholinghur. Only in Arakkonam because of some road repair work, traffic was slightly high but nothing to worry about

Going by the route i mentioned connects you to the NH near Saveetha University. You get to avoid paying toll at Sriperumbudur.

[vw19d]

Originally Posted by srvm

Hoskote toll plaza to Vidhana Soudha will take about 50-60 minutes in peak-hour traffic. Since the route is unfamiliar to you, it is best to stick to the straightforward route* which may not be the shortest in terms of time taken but has fewest number of turns.
* Follow Old Madras road from Hoskote- K R Puram Hanging Bridge - Swami Vievekananda Road Metro station- Halasuru Metro Station - Trinity circle - MG Road - Take right turn to Queens Road - Turn left at Minsk Square - Reach Hotel Capitol near Vidhana Soudha.

Wow!! This is brilliant stuff mate. A treasure trove of info for me Don't mind it being slightly longer but definitely prefer the straightforward route.

I'll give you my experience. Have driven in this route 4-5 times in the past year. End-to-end it takes about 7 hours at worst including breaks. (I'm a very sedate driver and my family takes lots of breaks). I think, with a 10am start, you will reach your destination well before sunset. Good luck.
Do share your experience in this thread after the trip.

Hopefully I reach before sunset. Sure, will keep the thread updated once I'm back.

[vw19d]

Thanks to all the information shared on this thread before commencing my trip - They turned out to be the most useful!

A comparison of both the routes - via Chittoor vs via Hosur from my recent trip. Onward journey from Chennai was via Chittoor and the return was via Hosur.

Chittoor route:
Velachery - Tambaram - Sriperumbudur - Ranipet - Palamaner - Kolar
Start time @ Velachery: 10:00 AM
Reached hotel near Vidhana Saudha - 5:10 PM
No. of tolls: 4
Toll amount: Rs 150
No. of breaks: 4
Time spent in breaks (app.): 1 hour

Overall, the route was excellent. Totally loved the scenic drive and enjoyed manoeuvring those nicely laid curvy sections in many spots.

Hosur route:
Bull Temple - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Ranipet - Sriperumbudur
Start time @ Bull Temple: 2:00 PM
Reached home - 9.45 PM
No. of tolls: 6
Toll amount: Rs 345
No. of breaks: 3
Time spent in breaks (app.): 1.5 hours

Spent half an hour each in Krishnagiri and Chennasamudram tolls - which caused a significant delay in the total time.

I personally liked the Chittoor route, thanks to minimal tolls and some splendid views all along!

[srvm]

Originally Posted by vw19d

......
I personally liked the Chittoor route, thanks to minimal tolls and some splendid views all along!

. Glad to know that you had a wonderful trip.
Yes, this route offers nice views and is more engaging to drive. I find the other route through NH via Krishnagiri-Arcot too boring and uninteresting to drive. Not to mention the horrible queues at the tolls.
Did you find any interesting or new places for food/bio break in the Chittoor route?

[vw19d]

Originally Posted by srvm

Did you find any interesting or new places for food/bio break in the Chittoor route?

Nothing interesting to write about but a word of caution I can provide is - Avoid Star Biriyani on the left hand side a few kms before Kanchipuram. We decided to do a take away from this place due to its reputation. But sadly, the biriyani was terrible - was simply too spicy that we could hardly feel any other taste in it.

Another spot where we stopped for a tea break - don't remember the name; but a few kms before Nandi Food Plaza in Bangarupalayam on the left hand side - would recommend this for a small tea & bio break.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by vw19d

Nothing interesting to write about but a word of caution I can provide is - Avoid Star Biriyani on the left hand side a few kms before Kanchipuram. We decided to do a take away from this place due to its reputation. But sadly, the biriyani was terrible - was simply too spicy that we could hardly feel any other taste in it.

Another spot where we stopped for a tea break - don't remember the name; but a few kms before Nandi Food Plaza in Bangarupalayam on the left hand side - would recommend this for a small tea & bio break.

Another place to break for food would be Highway Star before Mulbagal. This complex has Maiyas restaurant and lots of other shops as well. The lavatories are also very clean and the complex is maintained very well.
I would suggest this as an option to break for food.

[baskarv90]

I did return journey from KR Puram to Chennai today. Toll road ends a little after Mulbagal and the single road till reaching TN border near Ranipet is 100km. This stretch is bad now. Moderate slow moving lorry traffic plus lot of bad mannered 2 wheeler drivers and bad patches & potholes make the journey a tiring one for you and your car. Unexpected and unnoticebale spead breakers/rumbles are a big pain. You always have a tradeoff between safety and overtaking.
On the whole no point in taking this road over the Hosur Krishnagiri one as at best we save just Rs. 105 . but we lose on comfort, peace of mind and a little bit of safety due to erratic bus/MCV driving you encounter intermittently.
A big NO to this route for drive plan after 6PM or before 6AM

[car love]

I went through this route last weekend so this would be the latest update. The route is generally excellent except for a small section of 20km or so where 4 laneing work is on going. Here you will be slowed down quite a bit. This begins near chittoor near the turn off point towards Tirupathi.
The whole route until this point is fast, 4 lane divided road. After this bad patch, it becomes a two lane undivided road till Ranipet. Ranipet and Walajah are no longer very small towns and at times have lots of traffic. Take the Ranipet bypass to skip the town. There is no proper sign board except that it is next to a BP petrol bunk. After Ranipet, this road joins the other road coming from Hosur and is the usual 4 lane divided road.
People living in east bangalore can take this road while others in south bangalore are better off taking the hosur road side. Time wise its all but the same.

[Bsimhan]

Update on the Chennai-Bangalore route via Chittoor :

I travelled on this route while heading back from Chennai a couple of days ago. It was a Sunday and there was low traffic. Got stopped at the border by the TN guys asking for an epass. I showed them the pass that I had taken while going to Chennai and that was good enough. The rough portions start from that point. The 4 laning is taking a bit of time with the worst patch around the Chittoor area.

A couple of new toll points have been added recently on the stretch after Chittoor. Though the work is new, the road is not as good as the route via Hosur. Large portions of the road have been done compared to last year. The new road is not complete parallelly but it is done one side at a time. So there is considerable amount of 2 way traffic on one side of the road. The way things are going, I think it will be well into next year by the time the road is fully complete. The joins between the road and the culvert points needs to be improved. There's a lot of difference between the level of the roads leading to a jolty drive.

There was not much of time saved between the two routes. I probably would save the time only on the stretch from Electronic City to my house located in the eastern side. I just chose this as the elevated road work at Koramangala and the White topping in Indiranagar would make the drive an hour more. I should also add that there was no checking at either the Andhra border or the Karnataka border.

[csateesh]

Dear BHPians

Has anyone done Chennai - BLR via Chithoor ?

If so pls. share the latest update

Cheers

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Dear BHPians

Has anyone done Chennai - BLR via Chithoor ?

If so pls. share the latest update

Cheers

Pretty much the same update as the post above your query.

The expansion work is still going on, and is almost done all the way till Chittoor. IIRC, the 7 km before Chittoor and the 4 km from Chittoor was the only really rough bit.

The overall toll cost is about 240 INR, still much cheaper than the 370 INR for the Hosur route

I really really miss the small curvy and twisty portion that used to come between Chittoor and Kolar. The new 4-lane highway while safer, is straight and boring like the many other NH roads.

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

The expansion work is still going on, and is almost done all the way till Chittoor. IIRC, the 7 km before Chittoor and the 4 km from Chittoor was the only really rough bit.

The overall toll cost is about 240 INR, still much cheaper than the 370 INR for the Hosur route

I really really miss the small curvy and twisty portion that used to come between Chittoor and Kolar. The new 4-lane highway while safer, is straight and boring like the many other NH roads.

More than the cost of tolls I am looking for a drive with minimal traffic on a weekend. If 11kms is the only part that I need to deal with I would still consider taking that risk

The traffic on Hosur route on weekends is quite high which is the reason for looking at alternatives.