[ampere]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

We got misled because NH45 was shown by GMaps as 465km and ECR (only partially) as 372km. In the end we did 431km.

As I was telling you earlier, ECR all the way from Pondicherry to Nagapattnam, is one painful stretch. You never feel you are out of town. The best option would have be 210 (via Kariakudi/Pudukottai) to Trichy and then GST to Villupram and there on to Pondicherry. Best part is 210 would join the GST on the bypass and you dont enter Trichy also!

[mpksuhas]

Guys. Planning to drive down from Karaikudi to Thanjavur and then to Chennai on May 1, the route I have in mind is Karaikudi - Pudukkotai - Thanjavur (break of ~ 2hours to visit temple) - SH 27 and join NH 45 at Perambalur and continue on NH 45 via Tindivanam to Chennai.

Is this the best route to take?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Guys. Planning to drive down from Karaikudi to Thanjavur and then to Chennai on May 1, the route I have in mind is Karaikudi - Pudukkotai - Thanjavur (break of ~ 2hours to visit temple) - SH 27 and join NH 45 at Perambalur and continue on NH 45 via Tindivanam to Chennai.

Is this the best route to take?

- Karaikudi-Pudukottai-Vallam-Tanjore is good road.
- Tanjore-Chennai: Dont take anything else. I would say come back to Trichy and take the GST.
- End to end 4-lane.
- Even in case you get delayed, this would help.

[manim]

Did a Madurai to Chennai (and back) drive just last week, after 4 years.
Superb road conditions.

Here are some useful coordinates:
9.97313, 78.21575, Madurai BP Bunk (fuel and toilet)
11.71869, 79.33611, Ulundurpet BP Bunk (fuel and toilet)
12.02257, 79.53658, Villupuram KFC (food and toilet)
10.78545, 78.68899, Trichy Hotel Grand Gardenia (food and toilet)
11.17735, 78.86484, Trichy outer Hotel Ariyas (food and toilet)

(punch these numbers into Google-maps or any Navigation systems).

[Gannu_1]

We are driving to Madurai tonight from Chennai. Will be taking the ORR so we can bypass the stretch until Perungalathur. I take it that the roads are 4-laned/6-laned throughout? How is the traffic in this stretch? Are there too many heavy vehicles? Will be departing Chennai around 12 AM.

We plan to return to Chennai by Sunday afternoon.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

I take it that the roads are 4-laned/6-laned throughout?

Yes.

How is the traffic in this stretch?

There won't be much traffic at the small hours of the day.

Are there too many heavy vehicles?

Some bus/truck traffic will be there, but easily manageable.

[manim]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

We are driving to Madurai tonight from Chennai. Will be taking the ORR so we can bypass the stretch until Perungalathur. I take it that the roads are 4-laned/6-laned throughout? How is the traffic in this stretch? Are there too many heavy vehicles? Will be departing Chennai around 12 AM.

I would only worry about crossing Trichy, there is traffic always, particularly heavy-vehicles late-night to early-morning. The rest of it is fully 4-lane.

[Grand Drive]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

We are driving to Madurai tonight from Chennai. Will be taking the ORR so we can bypass the stretch until Perungalathur. I take it that the roads are 4-laned/6-laned throughout? How is the traffic in this stretch? Are there too many heavy vehicles? Will be departing Chennai around 12 AM.

We plan to return to Chennai by Sunday afternoon.

Fantastic and awesome highway all the way till Madurai. Enjoy the drive, especially the Perungalathur - Trichy stretch. As you are starting late night, you don't need to worry much about the traffic. Please be wary of the private Volvo buses. There are chances of light to moderate rainfall.

[Gannu_1]

Thank you so much guys.

We were supposed to depart by 12 AM as planned but I slept off snoozing the alarm and woke up at 12:40!

We finally hit the road around 1:50 and the ORR had a diversion near the Perungalathur exit and we were crawling there behind the trucks on a service lane. And as manim rightly said, the roads till Trichy saw some traffic with trucks and buses. Man, these ST buses are a pain! They don't seem to signal before crossing lanes. One toll booth had a lengthy queue and was indicated as a solid blood red on Google Maps. It took us 20 minutes to cross this booth around 5 AM. A dog from the median almost hit us (car was above 100 kmph) until it stopped in a moments notice and went back to the median!

After Trichy, it was a breeze. Better roads and some stretches appear to have been paved recently without any lane markers. We reached Madurai around 8, after a couple of stops for tea. Good trip overall and pretty much doable at night after a good sleep. Will be returning back to Chennai tomorrow afternoon.

[One:1]

In short, without elaborating, the roads from Chennai upto Trichy and from Trichy to Theni bypass are rather good (cannot comment upto Madurai because I turned right at the Theni bypass, but the roads looks good), small patches are bad but those are just a couple for a very short distance. Took a trip last week so this is the current condition. Do choose every toll booth lane carefully, each jam will loose you 15-20min. A LOT of time can be saved by choosing the right lane!

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Will be returning back to Chennai tomorrow afternoon.

We started from Madurai at 2 PM and reached Chennai (Porur) around 8:30 PM. Had an awesome drive back. 2 toll booths saw a lot of rush but they moved out quickly. We reached Chennai outskirts at 7:30 PM and began crawling until we took the diversion to the ORR. Not a good time to reach this area perhaps. Good trip otherwise. Will edit this post and include the overall toll fares incurred later.

[manim]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Will edit this post and include the overall toll fares incurred later.

It has been eight months since I last drove Madurai <-> Chennai, tolls may have increased but here is a list:
Chennai to Madurai: 40 + 40 + 75 + 50 + 50 + 40 + 65 + 70 Rupees

I keep this list to have currency-change ready during the drive.

Incidentally I will be doing Madurai -> Chennai tomorrow and will return back in around 4 days. Will update this thread then.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by manim

It has been eight months since I last drove Madurai <-> Chennai, tolls may have increased but here is a list:
Chennai to Madurai: 40 + 40 + 75 + 50 + 50 + 40 + 65 + 70 Rupees

It came upto Rs 900 for the return journey for us.

[ontheroad]

Friends, We plan to do a 3 day Kollam-Trichy- Thanjavur-Kubakonam-Chidambaram-Pondy-Mammalapuram- Mahabalipuram-Kollam trip on 22nd to 24th Feb. Plan to start early morining from Kollam and stay at Thanjavur on day 1. Please suggest routes. Should we go by Rajapalayam or Thirunelveli. Can we save time going through Thirunelveli. Route suggestions in other stretches are also wellcome.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Friends, We plan to do a 3 day Kollam-Trichy- Thanjavur-Kubakonam-Chidambaram-Pondy-Mammalapuram- Mahabalipuram-Kollam trip on 22nd to 24th Feb. Plan to start early morining from Kollam and stay at Thanjavur on day 1. Please suggest routes. Should we go by Rajapalayam or Thirunelveli. Can we save time going through Thirunelveli. Route suggestions in other stretches are also wellcome.

If temple visits are at the core of the drives, I hope you have taken into account the temple timings. Because if temples indeed are the reason, I am sure 3 days wont be enough.