[jraj]

Hello all,

Has anyone done this stretch recently?

I would be doing the Chennai - Villupuram - Trichy - Madurai - Tuticorin route this weekend.

Does anyone have the latest status on this route and also the facilities.

-Jey

[csentil]

There's 4 lane conversion all the way from Tindivanam till Madurai and beyond. So watch out.

[Blue Thunder]

Are you travelling by day or night? I would suggest daytime travel, since the stretch beyond Tindivanam (as coming from Chennai, and as mentioned by csentil above) is under progress with 4-laning. So lot of diversions to watch out for.

Originally Posted by jraj

...Has anyone done this stretch recently?...

I was on the stretch upto Vikravandi this last weekend. Upto Tindivanam, the road is pretty much the same (good qualtity GQ). Beyond Tindivanam, there are some very good stretches where the 4 laning has been completed. All of a sudden you will come across some easy-to-miss "Diversion>>>>" board to indicate that you will have to drive on a completed 2 lane portion. What this means...you have good roads, but in some places only 2-lane, most places 4-lane. I guess this will be more or less the same beyond Vikravandi as well. Watch out for traffic on the wrong side in the completed 4-lane stretches as well (they would have missed seeing the diversion boards somewhere)

Watch out for the 2-km stretch just after you cross the Vikravandi bypass. You cant miss this stretch : the right side of the road has been raised by about 8-10 feet in some places. There is a toll booth being constructed here and also a new bridge. The Kumbakonam road branches off here to the left. The left-side is not yet completed, and it is still the same old road re-laid many years back, so it is full of pot-holes/craters. All vehicles will be moving quite slowly here. If you are driving a car with low GC, you will have to go very slowly here.

Also, the Tinidivanam bye-pass has been completed, so unless you are planning a tea-break there, you can drive fast along the bye-pass.

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Originally Posted by jraj

Hello all,

Has anyone done this stretch recently?

I would be doing the Chennai - Villupuram - Trichy - Madurai - Tuticorin route this weekend.

Does anyone have the latest status on this route and also the facilities.

-Jey

4 laning.
Travelled from trichy to chennai day before.
Trichy-Villupuram is 85% complete.
Villupuram to Tindivanam- 65 % complete.
Villupuram and Tindivanam by passes completed.
Samayapuram,Ulundurpet by passes not completed.

Trichy Madurai- travelled 3 months back upto viralimali- fully completed.
To madurai -75% completed.
Not much idea on arupukottai-tuticorin route.


Tindivanam -chennai- good

[jraj]

Thanks a lot for the updates.

I am planning for a 6AM start from Chennai this saturday

[Blue Thunder]

I would suggest as early a start as possible (4 am would be better)...so you can cover maximum distance when the traffic (vehicular/people) is less.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Been upto Trichy last weekend, the bottlenecks on this stretch upto Trichy are

Vikravandi - Villupuram Byepass (Both Tindivanam & Villupuram Byepass has been completed so if you are leaving at around 6 in the morning I would suggest you either have your break fast at Highway Motel before Tindivanam Byepass or have it at the BP Ghar before Ulundurpet)

Janakipuram Railway Gate - Comes just after the Villupuram Byepass

Uludurpet - since byepass is not done you have to pass through the town which is painful at times

Samayapuram onwards all the way upto Trichy byepass is a pain.

But its far better than what the stretch upto Trichy was a month or so back

[jraj]

Did the trip yesterday.
Thanks to all the tips shared here didnt have any nasty surprises.

Chennai to Madurai all the way is good,I would say,only 10% of the work to be completed.

Madurai to Tuticorin is not in so good shape.Road work yet to start in most places.

[dskumar]

Originally Posted by jraj

Did the trip yesterday.
Thanks to all the tips shared here didnt have any nasty surprises.

Chennai to Madurai all the way is good,I would say,only 10% of the work to be completed.

Madurai to Tuticorin is not in so good shape.Road work yet to start in most places.

Can you post more details on the Road conditions, Diversions, Unfinished work, etc.,

I am planning to do Chennai to Madurai during 3rd Week of Feb.
Thanks in Advance.

[jraj]

Hai,
As mentioned by everyone here,4 laning work is going on for the entire stretch.

Some points to consider:
1>I started around 6 from Velachery and stopped for breakfast at the motel before Tindivanam bypass.Turned out to be a good decision as BP-Ghar is situated on other side of the road and you will have to take u-Turn long after crossing it.Same while rejoinig the road too.
2>Ulundurpet bypass is not completed and navigating through the town is a big pain.
3>If you cross Trichy during noon time,its better to enter the city for lunch.You dont find any decent hotel until Melur \ same for fuel as well.
4>With 4 laning work going on,there's no way to know which town you are crossing and so on.I had to rely on my wife's mobile to show me where we were :-).Ofcourse you can see the NH45\NH45B signs on the road side but thats it.
5>Whenever there's an intersection or roads branching out,you will have small sign boards which give you directions.You will have to watch for them carefully though

IMO,Chennai-Madurai is pretty much good.Reached BP-Ghar just before Mattuthavani busstand at 2:30 and stopped there for lunch and refuelling.We stopped only once for breakfast for 45 mins.BP Ghar at Madurai is a good place and the lunch was good too.

Roads from Madurai onto Tuticorin are not in good shape though.At some stretches the road work has not even begun.

[fiery enzyme]

Any further updates on this route? Planning to do this stretch on 25th.

Also what are the best routes from Madurai to Tuticorin? Never done that stretch before.

[Moonraker]

I just came back from Tirunelveli this Monday and the roads are excellent. Chennai to Trichy 4 lane roads are completed. Try to take the right turn to go inside srirangam and then reach Trichy as the entry point to Trichy has too much of diversions and you would be travelling atleast 10 - 20 Kms extra.
Trichy to Madurai will have traffic diversion and vehicles would be coming in the same lane, drive carefully and from Madurai its again good stretch till you reach Kayathar.
I am not sure about the Madurai to Tuticorin route.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by fiery enzyme

...Also what are the best routes from Madurai to Tuticorin?...

Madurai-Arupukotai-Ettaiyapuram. All bypasses have been completed on this stretch, i heard, though I havent travelled there recently.

[gopikb]

Hi Blue thunder, did you mean Madurai bypass is also complete between Samayanallur and Thirumangalam? The last I heard about a month ago is that the Madurai bypass is mostly complete, but the vaigai bridge is still not ready and hence not allowed for traffic.

Moonraker, did you go through Madurai city?

[Moonraker]

@gopikb: I did not go through Madurai, Went through the Bypass and joined the NH road near Tirumangalam.