[aravinthrk]

Hi All,

Just posting a short note on my trip to Madurai last week (week of 13 Oct, 2009) in case someone's planning the route.

Route:

Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Salem - (Namakkal) - Karur - Dindigul - Madurai

Distance: ~448 Kms

Road Conditions:

Hosur Road - Toll Road Beginning: Work still going on. Bad as usual.

Tip: If you want to make headway on a busy trip, would suggest picking the most non-peak time.

Toll Road Beginning (in Bangalore) - Hosur: Good Road. Breeze through but keep your head about. Bangalore Hosur road doesn't seem to ease up any time of the day.

Hosur - Krishnagiri:Good. Nice drive. Long as you know your wheels you can get the metal to the floor.

Tip: A2B in the left side. Depending on your time of departure and what you carry, you stock up here.

Krishnagiri - Salem: One stretch of around ~4 Kms in a 'Dangerous Curve' road with lots and lots of speed breakers. This comes towards Salem.

Tip: Nearest roadside chai shop before Salem (if you are like me) in Kuppur. Nice to have a stop here and chai yourself and give a routine check on your wheels (tyre pressure, butterfly removal from under the hood etc.,). If at all something goes wrong, you can hobble through to Salem in a very short time. I do this stop since I don't want to stop in a major city and find out something is wrong and end up spending time going inside city looking for what not. I usually manage to find the nearest service shop in the city's by-pass itself by inquiring these friendly rural guys.

Salem - (Namakkal) - Karur: Good. Feels like autobahn sometimes. Beware of 2 wheelers coming in your lane in the opposite directions when you near small towns on the way. Look ahead for atleast 2 km if you're cranking it up. Namakkal in brackets because you'll not notice it fly by.

Karur - Dindigul: One stretch in the whole route which is under progress. Road is good but at regular intervals diverted onto a single road (or one side of the 4 lane highway). Can make decent headway but be very very careful. Don't try to pass/overtake if you can help it.

Dindigul - Samayanallur: Good. Fire it away Toll road ends just before Samayanallur. Would suggest you stop for 5 mins to get used to getting off the toll road. This single road is more like road in between pot-holes.

Samaynallur - Madurai: Single Road. Bad. Strictly stick to your side of the road and Never overtake unless you see a good 2 kms stretch ahead of you. If you see anything coming at all in the opposite direction, please don't overtake. This stretch is famous for its F1 drivers who somehow woke up driving buses.


Some Driving Stats:

Wheels: Esteem 2004 MPFi Lx
Time taken Bangalore - Madurai: 7.45 AM - 1.30 PM (~5 hr 45 min)
Time taken Madurai - Bangalore: 7 AM - 12.15 PM (~ 5 hr 15 min)
Average Speed: ~120 Kmph (Mostly 130+ and slowed down in Hosur city and Karur Dindigul stretch to 90+)
Stoppage: Just before Salem both the times. 20 Mins.

No of cows killed: none
No of dogs killed: none
No of Butterflies/dragonflies: stopped counting after 50. Under the hood was full of them martyrs.

Bottlenecks: Hosur road in bangalore, Hosur bus stand in hosur, karur dindigul stretch.

Thank God for small favors and 4 lane highways

Cheerz
Aravinth.

[balajeshi]

Hi Aravinth ,

Nice detailed route ,i am planning to do Bangalore - Tirunelveli on the same route ,can you please let me know the details of the bye-pass near madurai and also any good restaurant after A2B as i feel i'll be crossing it pretty early [planning to start around 6 AM].

And also anyother thing you feel like i should be careful on the stretch ,it'll be my first highway longdrive in my new Punto .

[funda2max]

Originally Posted by aravinthrk

Samaynallur - Madurai: Single Road. Bad. Strictly stick to your side of the road and Never overtake unless you see a good 2 kms stretch ahead of you. If you see anything coming at all in the opposite direction, please don't overtake. This stretch is famous for its F1 drivers who somehow woke up driving buses.

Have you tried the new bypass? Actually, you can take left after you cross vaigai river bridge, you will be entering Madurai city through Kochadai - Kalavaasal. It is much much better and safer than the original road. I wish Karur - Dindigul stretch to be completed by another 2-3 months.

[aravinthrk]

@balajeshi: The next decent stop for food after Hosur would be Krishnagiri. Not sure about any specific eating place. Any big restaurant should be good. Moreover you will be on the by-pass when crossing Krishnagiri so you will have to slow down a bit and take the service road into the city.

My suggestion: its gonna take around 1.5 hrs to reach A2B. Unless you don't break your fast so early at around 7.30 in the morning, I would stick with A2B. There is one another similar eatery but its again close to A2B area. Unless I'm mistaken there is another A2B at around 2 hrs drive but on the opposite side. You'll have to keep a watch or you will miss it. Or, its will be 3 hrs drive to Salem. you can eat at around 9-9.30 there. You'll have more probability there since you'll have to drive some distance inside Salem proper before exiting the city.

@funda2max: I guess I missed it. Does this bypass start at the end of the toll road near Samayanallur? Or somewhere way before it? Appreciate your input. Will try it next time.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by aravinthrk

@balajeshi: The next decent stop for food after Hosur would be Krishnagiri. Not sure about any specific eating place. Any big restaurant should be good. Moreover you will be on the by-pass when crossing Krishnagiri so you will have to slow down a bit and take the service road into the city.

My suggestion: its gonna take around 1.5 hrs to reach A2B. Unless you don't break your fast so early at around 7.30 in the morning, I would stick with A2B. There is one another similar eatery but its again close to A2B area. Unless I'm mistaken there is another A2B at around 2 hrs drive but on the opposite side. You'll have to keep a watch or you will miss it. Or, its will be 3 hrs drive to Salem. you can eat at around 9-9.30 there. You'll have more probability there since you'll have to drive some distance inside Salem proper before exiting the city.

@funda2max: I guess I missed it. Does this bypass start at the end of the toll road near Samayanallur? Or somewhere way before it? Appreciate your input. Will try it next time.

The second A2B is before Thoppur, but is on the opposite side.

[balajeshi]

Thanks Aravinth and Ampere for the information.

[mech]

Can anybody help me with the route to Pillayarpatti from Bangalore?
which is the best route, distance and road conditions?

Thanks

[gopikb]

Originally Posted by balajeshi

Hi Aravinth ,

Nice detailed route ,i am planning to do Bangalore - Tirunelveli on the same route ,can you please let me know the details of the bye-pass near madurai and also any good restaurant after A2B as i feel i'll be crossing it pretty early [planning to start around 6 AM].

And also anyother thing you feel like i should be careful on the stretch ,it'll be my first highway longdrive in my new Punto .

Hi Balajeshi, Did you end up driving from Bangalore to Tirunelveli yet? I also own a red Punto MJD and planning a long drive from Bangalore to Tirunelveli during last week of November. It would be very helpful if you can post your experience on the road condition and confirm if the Madurai bypass from Samayanallur to tirumangalam is complete. That can save a good couple of hours. Thanks for your help

[balajeshi]

Hi Gopi ,

Me too own a GP Red active .

And i am planning another trip on the same route on Nov 28 , the NH7 is lovely to drive i enjoyed every bit of it [ I am a newbie in driving] and know what i have covered 4000 Kms in a month Blr - TVL then TVL- Chennai and Chennai - BLR. The four laning is complete almost 100 % only some diversions on the namakal Karur stretch.

The Samayanallur to Thirumangalam stretch is complete ,you have to be careful before entering S.nallur ,the bridge on the bye pass near S.Nallur is incomplete ,so soon after the broken road near the bridge you have climb up into the Bye-pass on your right [Easy to spot].

Have a nice trip .

[gopikb]

HI Balajeshi

Thank you very much for the update. Congrats on your new Punto and for a newbie to driving, you have done too good covering 4000 kms in one month. That shows your love for the car and you sure are enjoying the drive.

It has been 3 weeks since I took delivery of my Punto. Covered only 1400kms so far. The only long drive I have done till now is driving to Tiruthani and back on a weekend. This car sure is very stable and fun to drive on highways. That is the reason why I am looking forward for the Tirunelveli trip. But I may have to defer the trip to mid December.

By the way, how long did it take to drive from Bangalore to Tirunelveli? The last time I drove it took me almost 12 hours.But I had to take frequent breaks because of my kid who was just a year old that time.

[balajeshi]

Hi Gopi ,

Thanks , it took me around 11.5 hours with 45 min break at A2B and 15 min break near Karur. As i and the car were newbie [just 672 Kms when i started my trip] ,i was cruising in the 80-90 Kms range .

I guess it is very mush doable in 10 Hours bracket as the roads are too good till TVL.

Will Update the details of my second trip in December 1st week.

[gopikb]

Hi Balajeshi, Thank you. I guess 10 hours should be a good time for drive upto TVL. Do post your update after your drive in Dec 1st week. Hopefully even the small incomplete stretches would be compete by then.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by aravinthrk

Hi All,

Some Driving Stats:

Wheels: Esteem 2004 MPFi Lx
Time taken Bangalore - Madurai: 7.45 AM - 1.30 PM (~5 hr 45 min)
Time taken Madurai - Bangalore: 7 AM - 12.15 PM (~ 5 hr 15 min)
Average Speed: ~120 Kmph (Mostly 130+ and slowed down in Hosur city and Karur Dindigul stretch to 90+)
Stoppage: Just before Salem both the times. 20 Mins.

No of cows killed: none
No of dogs killed: none
No of Butterflies/dragonflies: stopped counting after 50. Under the hood was full of them martyrs.

Bottlenecks: Hosur road in bangalore, Hosur bus stand in hosur, karur dindigul stretch.

Thank God for small favors and 4 lane highways

Cheerz
Aravinth.

I was skeptical when I saw another report as I have done this stretch a year back and took me quiet some time, especially the Karur - Namakkal stretch. If one can do Madurai in 5:15 hours, Tirunelveli should be another 2 hours as it is only 150 kms and the traffic in that stretch is also very sparse.

Am looking forward to my scheduled trip to Nagercoil in Feb already..

Nainar

[gopikb]

Hi Nainar

Doing Bangalore - Madurai in 5hrs 45minutes hours is mind boggling. I guess he has indicated only the driving time and not taken the stoppages in between into account. Aravinth also indicated he was mostly doing 130+ in his car except on bad stretches. He probably is an expert driver and used to such speeds consistently. But if you consider most people would rather stick to 100~110 kms / hour max speed limit and would cruise only at 80kms/hour when there is traffic ahead. With this speed and two half hour breaks in between, I guess 10 hours is a good time one would need to travel between Bangalore and TVL.

[ampere]

Make the max speed to 80-100 and not more for me.
Also there is a daily train to Madurai, that takes about 12 Hours !