[ampere]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

+1. I agree with Amp.

I did the Salem-Cbe NH47 last weekend. After the over night rain, the stretch from Chengapalli-Cbe was not fine for me atleast. Also, even with the Cbe bypass, it took lot of time to get past the cbe city. You can seriously consider this option as of now.

Edit:- Amp, since he is travelling to Thrissur, why not he consider taking Pollachi-Vadakkenchery route?

If its Trichur, definitely worth taking the Pollachi-Vadakkenchery route. May be CBE by-pass may not be that bad after all. But with rain and slush, it would be not good driving through that section, but take the Pollachi option.

[modthomas]

Originally Posted by ampere

If its Trichur, definitely worth taking the Pollachi-Vadakkenchery route. May be CBE by-pass may not be that bad after all. But with rain and slush, it would be not good driving through that section, but take the Pollachi option.

I need to go to Thrissur from Bangalore on Monday. Got onto Google Maps after reading the above post.
Would this route be NH47 till Erode > Chengapalli > SH81 > Kangeyam > NH67 > Palladam > SH19 > Pollachi > then Meenakshipuram > Kollengode > Nemmara > Vaddakanchery?

Would like some input on road conditions and how small town transit will affect us.

Thanks

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by modthomas

I need to go to Thrissur from Bangalore on Monday. Got onto Google Maps after reading the above post.
Would this route be NH47 till Erode > Chengapalli > SH81 > Kangeyam > NH67 > Palladam > SH19 > Pollachi > then Meenakshipuram > Kollengode > Nemmara > Vaddakanchery?

Would like some input on road conditions and how small town transit will affect us.

Thanks

The right route for you would be Salem - Perundurai - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Pollachi - Vadakkencherry - Trichur. I may not be able to confirm you on the road conditions beyond Pollachi. But it is good until then. What you need to be careful of is taking the turn off to Perundurai from NH47 as it is easy to miss and continue onward towards Chengapalli especially when you are driving fast. Passing through towns like Kangeyam would be easy, you might lose some time in Pollachi but nothing to worry about.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

The right route for you would be Salem - Perundurai - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Pollachi - Vadakkencherry - Trichur. I may not be able to confirm you on the road conditions beyond Pollachi. But it is good until then. What you need to be careful of is taking the turn off to Perundurai from NH47 as it is easy to miss and continue onward towards Chengapalli especially when you are driving fast. Passing through towns like Kangeyam would be easy, you might lose some time in Pollachi but nothing to worry about.

Instead of going to Dharapuram, better to turn at Kangeyam, go to Palladam and then take the Pollachi SH. Very good roads and less traffic.

[modthomas]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

The right route for you would be Salem - Perundurai - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Pollachi - Vadakkencherry - Trichur. I may not be able to confirm you on the road conditions beyond Pollachi. But it is good until then. What you need to be careful of is taking the turn off to Perundurai from NH47 as it is easy to miss and continue onward towards Chengapalli especially when you are driving fast. Passing through towns like Kangeyam would be easy, you might lose some time in Pollachi but nothing to worry about.

Originally Posted by ampere

Instead of going to Dharapuram, better to turn at Kangeyam, go to Palladam and then take the Pollachi SH. Very good roads and less traffic.

Thanks guys. Anyone has recent experience of the road from Pollachi to Vadakkenchery?

[ampere]

The pollachi-Vaddakancheri is a decent SH. I think @Rameshnanda used this recently.
You should check with him.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by ampere

The pollachi-Vaddakancheri is a decent SH. I think @Rameshnanda used this recently.
You should check with him.

No Amp. I didn't take this route recently. I ended up with Avanashi-Cbe-Palakkad-Thrissur. But, I recommend taking this route. Ranjith was telling that this route (Pollachi-Vaddakkancheri) is decent and doable.

[modthomas]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

No Amp. I didn't take this route recently. I ended up with Avanashi-Cbe-Palakkad-Thrissur. But, I recommend taking this route. Ranjith was telling that this route (Pollachi-Vaddakkancheri) is decent and doable.

Thanks. Will check it out tomorrow

[modthomas]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

The right route for you would be Salem - Perundurai - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Pollachi - Vadakkencherry - Trichur. I may not be able to confirm you on the road conditions beyond Pollachi. But it is good until then. What you need to be careful of is taking the turn off to Perundurai from NH47 as it is easy to miss and continue onward towards Chengapalli especially when you are driving fast. Passing through towns like Kangeyam would be easy, you might lose some time in Pollachi but nothing to worry about.

Originally Posted by ampere

Instead of going to Dharapuram, better to turn at Kangeyam, go to Palladam and then take the Pollachi SH. Very good roads and less traffic.

Okay. Started at 0530 from CV Raman Nagar. Route taken was Marathalli > ORR > Elevated > Hosur > NH7 > Salem > NH 47 > Perundurai > Kangeyam > Palladam > Pollachi > Vadakkancheri > Trichur.

Half an hour breakfast break at Krishnagiri A2B and was in Trichur, door to door, at 14:20. Total distance covered 502 km.

Route recommendations were excellent. Used google maps on my mobile and didn't need to ask a soul for directions.

Observations :
NH47 after Salem till Perundurai...a large number of small town bypasses are not shown on G Maps
Turn off at Perundurai is poorly marked
Tamil Nadu / Kerala SH roads on this route are by and large in excellent condition. Exceptions to the above are the internal roads in towns.
Pollachi was not pleasant to negotiate - the road in town leading out to Vadakkancheri is very narrow and handles a lot of bus / truck traffic - bad bottleneck.

Traffic is limited to a few trucks / cars - very manageable


Overall, the drive was great . Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Ooty tomorrow !

Any suggestions for avoiding Coimbatore traffic to get to Mettupalayam?

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by modthomas

Okay. Started at 0530 from CV Raman Nagar. Route taken was Marathalli > ORR > Elevated > Hosur > NH7 > Salem > NH 47 > Perundurai > Kangeyam > Palladam > Pollachi > Vadakkancheri > Trichur.

Half an hour breakfast break at Krishnagiri A2B and was in Trichur, door to door, at 14:20. Total distance covered 502 km.

Route recommendations were excellent. Used google maps on my mobile and didn't need to ask a soul for directions.

Observations :
NH47 after Salem till Perundurai...a large number of small town bypasses are not shown on G Maps
Turn off at Perundurai is poorly marked
Tamil Nadu / Kerala SH roads on this route are by and large in excellent condition. Exceptions to the above are the internal roads in towns.
Pollachi was not pleasant to negotiate - the road in town leading out to Vadakkancheri is very narrow and handles a lot of bus / truck traffic - bad bottleneck.

Traffic is limited to a few trucks / cars - very manageable


Overall, the drive was great . Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Ooty tomorrow !

Any suggestions for avoiding Coimbatore traffic to get to Mettupalayam?

Its great thomas. Enjoy your trip.

Only way to avoid Coimbatore traffic is to time it better. Generally traffic mess opens up at 8:00 in the morning. If you are going to bypass before this time, you can escape from the traffic mess.

[ampere]

The other route option is via Nilambur/Gudalur. Though the distance is less, but the ghat section to cover is much higher. Better to go via CBE.

[modthomas]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Its great thomas. Enjoy your trip.

Only way to avoid Coimbatore traffic is to time it better. Generally traffic mess opens up at 8:00 in the morning. If you are going to bypass before this time, you can escape from the traffic mess.

Originally Posted by ampere

The other route option is via Nilambur/Gudalur. Though the distance is less, but the ghat section to cover is much higher. Better to go via CBE.

Right,
Will give it a shot via CBE bypass, Karumathampatti, Annur and Mettupalayam.

[RajeshK]

I hv been to CBE last Saturday and came back on Sunday. Took BLR- Salem - Avinashi - CBE route (Total distance ~350kms). After Avinashi there were lots of traffic and route diversions. Due to the road condition between Avinashi - CBE and the heavy users fee, decided to come back through CBE - Sathyamangalam - Chamarajnagar - Kollegal - Kanakapura - Bangalore (NH209, total distance 318kms).

The road is very good but it is single lane and few hairpins after Sathyamangalam. I took 6hrs to reach CBE and return took only 4:30hrs (Driving hours). Please see that there are very very less option of hotels in this route.

Thanks to Joecheriyan for suggesting me this route.

Thanks
Rajesh

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by smrtdvl

Had been to salem couple of days back. Avoided Avinashi road completely took coimbatore - palladam - tirupur - Chengapalli - salem route. Its just around 15kms extra but you can avoid all those traffic and freq gear changes. Except for palladam & tirupur city traffic the roads are super free.

This is a great route to avoid the under construction section, thanks Naresh. I took Chengapalli - Uthukuli - Tirupur - Palladam while coming to Coimbatore last weekend. There was a bad stretch after you turn towards Tirupur from the CHengapalli - Uthukuli road, but that was hardly for 20 meters. The rest of the roads were pretty good, and I was able to do 80 - 100 KMPH at quite a few parts of this diversion.

[ampere]

How easy it is to cross Tiruppur? I was told, there are small roads and its very difficult to cross the town. Did you see/feel any thing like that?