[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Me too waiting for a latest update on Gundlupet-Kozhikode stretch. Will be driving to Tirur on 25th early Morning and planning to take the Mysore-Wayanad- Bypass route instead of the shorter Bandipur-Gudalur-Nilambur route.

Me too starting 25th early morning. But to Calicut. To Tirur, if you are starting very early, maybe you can consider the Salem-Palakkad-Pattambi-Valanchery-Tirur route. Would be faster than going via Calicut.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Me too starting 25th early morning. But to Calicut. To Tirur, if you are starting very early, maybe you can consider the Salem-Palakkad-Pattambi-Valanchery-Tirur route. Would be faster than going via Calicut.

I did have this in my mind .
With a 4.30 AM start, I usually take around 11 hours from home to Tirur via Wayanad. I don't think salem coimbatore route would be faster than say by an hour, considering the 100 odd extra KMs and the toll gates. Also being christmas day, I don't anticipate much traffic in the Kerala section in the Wayanad route. So overall, the extra 100 kms and 505 Rs toll tilts the balance in favor of the Wayanad-Kozhikode route.

[sandsun7]

Anybody came across any news regarding traffic restrictions on Thamarashery ghat this month for asphalting? My mother says she heard in some news channel that there would be traffic restriction from December 21st. No idea till when and what time of the day these restrictions if any are in place.

EDIT: saw the news article. It says all 'large' vehicles except buses have to take kuttiyady ghats to and fro from Wayanad from 21st December onward till notice. So, I guess the restriction is only for trucks and not for cars. Not posting the snapshot of the article here because it is in Malayalam.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

It says all 'large' vehicles except buses have to take kuttiyady ghats to and fro from Wayanad from 21st December onward till notice. So, I guess the restriction is only for trucks and not for cars. Not posting the snapshot of the article here because it is in Malayalam.

Now that would be fun. Kuttyadi ghat road is narrower than the Thamarasseri churam.., and don't know if large (and long) trucks etc. can easily manouver themselves on the road. This route other wise is not very crowded, and that may also change.

[kala]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

I did have this in my mind .
With a 4.30 AM start, I usually take around 11 hours from home to Tirur via Wayanad. I don't think salem coimbatore route would be faster than say by an hour, considering the 100 odd extra KMs and the toll gates. Also being christmas day, I don't anticipate much traffic in the Kerala section in the Wayanad route. So overall, the extra 100 kms and 505 Rs toll tilts the balance in favor of the Wayanad-Kozhikode route.

I'll be surprised if you can save even 1 hour considering the extra distance of about 100 kms.

Normally I take the NH209 route when travelling between Cochin and Bangalore. Yesterday I thought I'd try out NH47/NH7 combo just to see how much time I would save in going 4 lane the whole way. My timings between Karumathampatti and my house near Kanakapura road were as follows :

1) Karumathampatti to outskirts of Salem : 132 kms - 1 hr 27 mins
2) Passing through Salem (till the Salem Toll) : 13 kms - 24 minutes
3) Salem Toll to Attibele Toll : 159 kms - 1 hr 42 mins
4) Attibele Toll to Home (via NICE road) : 39 kms - 55 minutes

Overall it took me 4 hrs 28 kms for 343 kms - an average speed of about 77 kms which was quite impressive in itself. But the interesting thing was I could manage to average about 90 in stretches 1 and 3 only because there were no delays due to stoppages for tolls. (Toll collection in Tamilnadu was suspended till today). I'd think that it would have taken me another 10-15 minutes if they were collecting tolls in all toll booths. - So that would have made it about 4 hrs 40 minutes overall.

I checked my timings for the NH209 route from my past trip logs (Karumathampatti -Annur-Sathyamangalam-CR Nagar-Kanakapura-Bangalore) and found that I typically do the distance in 4 hrs 30 minutes to 4 hrs 45 minutes (The distance is shorter - only 301 kms), and my maximum speeds on the 2 laned NH209 would generally be only around 100-120 as against probably 130-140 on the NH47 route. So overall nothing really gained by taking the 4 lane even with faster speeds !!

[A350XWB]

I will be driving from my home on BG Road to Calicut University tomorrow morning around 03:00 am. Recently, I've tried this a couple of times, instead of the usual 4:30 to 5:00 am departure from Bangalore. It saves considerable amount of time especially once you enter Kerala. Last time, I reached Calicut University (365km) in 6h 30mins, averaging ~56 km/h. I don't go beyond 100km/h even on Mysore road. Will be driving back on Sunday morning.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by kala

I'll be surprised if you can save even 1 hour considering the extra distance of about 100 kms.

So overall nothing really gained by taking the 4 lane even with faster speeds !!

My experience is quite different. I have done Bangalore-Tirur 4 or 5 times in the recent past. All the times, the driving time from Belandur to Tirur has been consistently between 8:30-9 hours. The most recent trip it was 8.30 hours since the 4 laning was pretty much complete till Kuzhalmannam (Where I turn off) and the Madukkarai Walayar stretch is also faster with work progressing. And all the trips were 6-7 am starts. It will be slightly faster with a 4 am start as you cross Salem before the peak hour hits.

Bangalore to Tirur via Calicut would be very difficult to do under 10 hrs of driving time. So my default route to Tirur is now always the Salem one.

Couple of caveats

• There is of course a dependency on the place of start. Since I start from Belandur, I am off and at Attibelle withi 40 min of starting from home via Sarjapur. Otherwise I take 40-50 min to exit NICE to Kanakpura or Mysore Road
  .
• If your travel timings/days mean potential delays in toll booths (Say more than 5-10 min), then the advantage may be lost

[binand]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

EDIT: saw the news article. It says all 'large' vehicles except buses have to take kuttiyady ghats to and fro from Wayanad from 21st December onward till notice. So, I guess the restriction is only for trucks and not for cars. Not posting the snapshot of the article here because it is in Malayalam.

This article says ALL vehicles (except buses) have to take Kuttiyadi route. If that is the case I'd rather brave the Thepekkadu-Gudalur mess and go via Nilambur-Arekode-Mavoor. Anyone with first-hand information?

Would you mind sharing the news article in Malayalam too? I'm at the moment torn between a mid-morning start on 24th and early morning start on 25th.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by binand

This article says ALL vehicles (except buses) have to take Kuttiyadi route. If that is the case I'd rather brave the Thepekkadu-Gudalur mess and go via Nilambur-Arekode-Mavoor. Anyone with first-hand information?

Would you mind sharing the news article in Malayalam too? I'm at the moment torn between a mid-morning start on 24th and early morning start on 25th.

I will be very surprised if the authorities can put an ALL vehicle rule in this stretch..its really not possible given the amount of traffic.

I am driving to CLT on 23rd and will update this thread late on 23rd. My destination is Chathamangalam/REC.

Expect a mad rush towards Gundluet anytime on 24th..especially in the morning time.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by binand

This article says ALL vehicles (except buses) have to take Kuttiyadi route. If that is the case I'd rather brave the Thepekkadu-Gudalur mess and go via Nilambur-Arekode-Mavoor. Anyone with first-hand information?

Would you mind sharing the news article in Malayalam too? I'm at the moment torn between a mid-morning start on 24th and early morning start on 25th.

Originally Posted by arjithin

I will be very surprised if the authorities can put an ALL vehicle rule in this stretch..its really not possible given the amount of traffic.

I am driving to CLT on 23rd and will update this thread late on 23rd. My destination is Chathamangalam/REC.

Expect a mad rush towards Gundluet anytime on 24th..especially in the morning time.

There was a news report in Malayala Manorama on Saturday that said that apart from buses all heavy vehicles need to take the Kuttiadi route. Looks like there is a confusion.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by binand

Would you mind sharing the news article in Malayalam too? .

Here is the snapshot of the news items





This says 'valiya' = Big vehicles.

Mods, please pardon, had to upload the vernacular news item to clear the confusion. There was no other option.

[binand]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Here is the snapshot of the news items

Right. So Hindu's translation service skipped the word "heavy". Hopefully that's all to it. And that the Lakkidi-Adivaram stretch would be a lot more manageable.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by binand

Right. So Hindu's translation service skipped the word "heavy". Hopefully that's all to it. And that the Lakkidi-Adivaram stretch would be a lot more manageable.

There could be traffic hold ups due to the tarring. One lane would be blocked off at the stretches where there is road work. And once a pile up starts, it would be a very long one due the amount of vehicles that traverse this stretch, be it big or small. That is what is worrying me now.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by binand

Right. So Hindu's translation service skipped the word "heavy". Hopefully that's all to it. And that the Lakkidi-Adivaram stretch would be a lot more manageable.

Originally Posted by sandsun7

There could be traffic hold ups due to the tarring. One lane would be blocked off at the stretches where there is road work. And once a pile up starts, it would be a very long one due the amount of vehicles that traverse this stretch, be it big or small. That is what is worrying me now.

Just got this update. My nieces had gone for a school trip from Calicut to Wayanad/Mysore. They returned yesterday (22nd Night). Both of them were delayed in the churam for ~1.5 hours due to the road work.

So looks like there can be significant delays with the traffic volume also picking up over the next couple of days. :(

[binand]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Both of them were delayed in the churam for ~1.5 hours due to the road work.

Seems like I should finalize on Chamarajanagar-Gundlupet-Gudalur-Nilambur-Arekode-Calicut for my trip. Mine's looking more and more like to be on 25/12 with an early morning start.