[narayans80]

vasoo its not the case of bottom-scraping. The diversions definitely arent smooth though. Its a problem of traffic. Sunday afternoon return was decent enough to drive, but Saturday morning onward isnt all that pleasant to drive on Avinashi-L&T Bypass.

The bigger problem is the stretch between Palakkad and Thrissur with high traffic and deteriorating roads.

Thrissur-Palakkad has gone for a toss already ? Last time i travelled, its the Kuthiran ghat that was broken, rest were in decent condition.

[ranjitp1]

Kuthiran is slightly better off,but on the whole NH47 from Vaniyampara till Pattikad is really sad.Huge bumps or bad craeters!

[NPV]

Had been to Munnar last weekend (Bangalore-Coimbatore-Munnar), returned to Bangalore on Monday May 23. I was definitely surprised at the progress of 4 laning work from avinashi to coimbatore. When I last traveled in Nov 2010, it had just begun and it took us about 2 hours+ to reach coimbatore from Avinashi. Now, in 6 months time, pretty good progress has been made except for a couple of 2-3 km stretches near the Gobi, Tirupur junctions. Though the diversions are painful, we reached Coimbatore in good time thanks to truck traffic being low on Friday morning.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Instead, if we go through Perundurai-Kangeyam, we can avoid entering Tiruppur City right? I was referring to this route.

Salem, Tamil Nadu to Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

The diversion is about 92 KM, and I am not sure about the road condition. Compare to this, the straight route (NH47) is 45 KM up to the point that I had marked in my map (Trichy Road / NH47 Junction), and the diversion I take is 58 KM

Originally Posted by vasoo

I dont see a need to go through pains of all these circuitous routes to cover the stretch between Chengappali and CBE bye-pass in any circumstance. I have passed through NH47 in this stretch at least 6 times in this year at various times and never found it very bad even with my low slung car. The bigger problem is the stretch between Palakkad and Thrissur with high traffic and deteriorating roads. With monsoon starting soon, that section going to be a mess.

It is not about bad roads scrapping my cars bottom (that is yet to happen anywhere), but I hate the slow down after the breeze of a highway till Chengapalli, and I hate bad roads in general too. More so for the time it takes - the diversion takes me 45 minutes if I start before dawn, and 1 hour and 15 minutes mid day. How much time does Chengapalli to Trichy Road Jn take on the highway?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

The diversion is about 92 KM, and I am not sure about the road condition. Compare to this, the straight route (NH47) is 45 KM up to the point that I had marked in my map (Trichy Road / NH47 Junction), and the diversion I take is 58 KM

NH67 (Kangeyam-Palladam) is fantastic. Even Perundurai-Kangeyam is very good. You would love to drive on that road. If you want to hit CBE then this is definitely a longer route. But if you want to hit Kerala. The route via Pollachi is definitely recommended. No barriers in between except for the by-passing Pollachi. Its not that big a problem provided you know which route to take.

EDIT: I think there is a 4-Laning plan for NH67. In most parts this NH is good to very good. The whole NH67 includes:

Gundlupet-Bandipur-Ooty-Mettupalayam-CBE-Palladam-Kangeyam-Karur-Trichy-Tanjore

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by ampere

NH67 (Kangeyam-Palladam) is fantastic. Even Perundurai-Kangeyam is very good. You would love to drive on that road. If you want to hit CBE then this is definitely a longer route. But if you want to hit Kerala. The route via Pollachi is definitely recommended. No barriers in between except for the by-passing Pollachi. Its not that big a problem provided you know which route to take.

It definitely is a beautiful route - I did this in December last year, when I was heading to Ernakulam. But, like you said, it will stretch the journey by quite a bit if your destination is Coimbatore.

[ramanan.skr]

Originally Posted by ampere

NH67 (Kangeyam-Palladam) is fantastic. Even Perundurai-Kangeyam is very good. You would love to drive on that road. If you want to hit CBE then this is definitely a longer route. But if you want to hit Kerala. The route via Pollachi is definitely recommended. No barriers in between except for the by-passing Pollachi. Its not that big a problem provided you know which route to take.

EDIT: I think there is a 4-Laning plan for NH67. In most parts this NH is good to very good. The whole NH67 includes:

Gundlupet-Bandipur-Ooty-Mettupalayam-CBE-Palladam-Kangeyam-Karur-Trichy-Tanjore

Planning for a trip to Guruvayoor from Chennai in mid July. Knowing the 'not so good' road conditions of NH68 from Ulundurpet to Salem & NH47 from Avinashi to Pallakad based on personal experiences, Please advice if the below route will be fine and is this worth to take compared to NH4-46-7-47.

Chennai - Trichy - GST in good condition. I have travelled recently on this.
Trichy - Karur - ???
Karur - Dharapuram - ???
Dharapuram - Pollachi - ???
Pollachi - Vadakencherry - ???
Vadakencherry - Trissur - ???
Trissur - Guruvayoor - ???

[ampere]

1. Karur-Trichy NH67 is being 4-Laned. So no point taking it.
3. If you are able to hit Karur, better road would be NH67 all the way till Palladam and then Turn to Pollachi.

I think a better option would be :

Take the standard 4/46/7 till Perundurai and take the drive to Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Wadakancherry-Trichur-Guruvayur. Distances I think are comparable.

[ramanan.skr]

How about taking Perambalur to Musiri through Thuraiyur as I have to be @ Villupuram enroute??

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

Chennai - Trichy - GST in good condition. I have travelled recently on this.
Trichy - Karur - ???
Karur - Dharapuram - ???
Dharapuram - Pollachi - ???
Pollachi - Vadakencherry - ???
Vadakencherry - Trissur - ???
Trissur - Guruvayoor - ???

If you are comfortable with till trichy, then

Trichy to Pollachi via Dindigul, Palani.
Pollachi to trissur via Vadakencherry.

The only bad stretch for you is the Govindapuram(TN border) to Vadakkencherry, but it is only for a short duration.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

If you are comfortable with till trichy, then

Trichy to Pollachi via Dindigul, Palani.
Pollachi to trissur via Vadakencherry.

The only bad stretch for you is the Govindapuram(TN border) to Vadakkencherry, but it is only for a short duration.

Good point. Yes that is also a good option Almost the same distance. NH209 is very good and many folks on the forum were pretty happy using it.

[scorpio_fan]

I am travelling back from Kerala to bangalore on 4th june, normally i take the Salem route. But this time i am taking the NH 206 through Sathyamangalam. I will be starting around 2:30 PM from Palakkad. Any suggetions or points that i have to be careful about?
Scorpio Fan

[jeevmenon]

Sticking to the topic of Avinashi-CBE 4-laning "for a change" and not ways of avoiding it - from the CBE bypass pt to Avinashi it is just pathetic. Gotten worse we feel. From Avinashi to the Chengapalli 4-lane end-pt its ok. We drove this morning from 4:30 to 5:30 am. It was a nightmare. Will switch back to Kangeyam-Palladam-Sulur next time till I hear from someone that Avinashi-CBE is done and dusted. Friday: Did the Dharapuram-Palladam-Sulur-CBE stretch. Fantastic. A breeze.

[narayans80]

How about taking Perambalur to Musiri through Thuraiyur as I have to be @ Villupuram enroute??

Though personally not tried it, I hear Perambalur-Thuraiyur-Karur is pretty good 2-lane. This way you'll avoid even the bad stretch between Trichy-Karur. The route ram suggests is good too, only thing is you have to go through Trichy city to get onto Dindigul road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by narayans80

The route ram suggests is good too, only thing is you have to go through Trichy city to get onto Dindigul road.

That is one thing which even I was thinking. Why is that Trichy does not a good bypass system? Is it because a bridge on Cauvery would be needed?