[ravib]

Originally Posted by maddyoni10

Hi Ravib,
Is this via Sethiathope or Jayankondam? Please elaborate.

Thanks
Madhav

It is via Jayankondam Madhav. From Sridhar's updates, it seems they have relaid the road newly, so i hope T.Palur stretch will not be killing my time

-Ravi

[RGK]

Originally Posted by ravib

Thanks Sridhar for great updates.

@ampere & @suresh,

I'll be driving to Kumbakonam from Bangalore this thursday 25th dec in below route (which is my usual one too )

Bangalore-Salem-Attur-V Koot Road-Veppur-Vridhchalam-Jayankondam-T.Palur-Madanathur Bridge-Kumbakonam

I drove this route a year back November 2013. I too have heard Vridhachalam to Kumbakonam roads are good now, so will obviously take it.

Usually the road condition between V.Koot road to Vridhachalam is average / Patchy. Let me see how it will be this week.

-Ravi

@Ravi, @ Ampere @ Sridhar

I am driving to Kumbakonam tomorrow from Chennai. I will be taking this Ulundurpet-Virudhachalam-Jayamkondam route.
As per Ampere it seems the connecting road after Ulundurpet toll is bad. How long is this connecting road?
I used to take a right (on the NH45) under the bridge to enter Ulundurpet and take right to Virudhachalam opposite to Krishna Vilas.
I want to go to Mayavaram (Mayilaaduthurai) from Kumbakonam and return to Chennai. Planning to come via Chidambaram - Cuddalore - Pondy - Thindivanam. How is the road now? , but concerned about the traffic throughout till Thindivanam
Any better options, please suggest..

[DWind]

Originally Posted by RGK

@Ravi, @ Ampere @ Sridhar
As per Ampere it seems the connecting road after Ulundurpet toll is bad. How long is this connecting road?
I used to take a right (on the NH45) under the bridge to enter Ulundurpet and take right to Virudhachalam opposite to Krishna Vilas.
I want to go to Mayavaram (Mayilaaduthurai) from Kumbakonam and return to Chennai. Planning to come via Chidambaram - Cuddalore - Pondy - Thindivanam. How is the road now? , but concerned about the traffic throughout till Thindivanam
Any better options, please suggest..

You option of entering Ulundurpet (after the toll) and taking Vridachalam route is right! Please continue to do so tomorrow. For return you can also consider Chidambaram - Bhuvanagiri - Sethiathope - Vridachalam - Ulundurpet route as well

[ampere]

Originally Posted by RGK

As per Ampere it seems the connecting road after Ulundurpet toll is bad. How long is this connecting road?
I used to take a right (on the NH45) under the bridge to enter Ulundurpet and take right to Virudhachalam opposite to Krishna Vilas.

Yes you will need to go to town.

I want to go to Mayavaram (Mayilaaduthurai) from Kumbakonam and return to Chennai. Planning to come via Chidambaram - Cuddalore - Pondy - Thindivanam. How is the road now? , but concerned about the traffic throughout till Thindivanam
Any better options, please suggest..

Originally Posted by DWind

You option of entering Ulundurpet (after the toll) and taking Vridachalam route is right! Please continue to do so tomorrow. For return you can also consider Chidambaram - Bhuvanagiri - Sethiathope - Vridachalam - Ulundurpet route as well

+1. Dont go via Pondy. Cuddalure-Pondicherry is extremely crowded. Better as @Dwind suggests come via Sethiyarthope to Ulundurpet via Vridhachalam.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by DWind

For return you can also consider Chidambaram - Bhuvanagiri - Sethiathope - Vridachalam - Ulundurpet route as well

Originally Posted by ampere

+1. Dont go via Pondy. Cuddalure-Pondicherry is extremely crowded. Better as @Dwind suggests come via Sethiyarthope to Ulundurpet via Vridhachalam.

How is Chidambaram - Sethiyarthope - Virudhachalam road?.
One of my colleague (from Mayavaram) says, " Yes it is true. Lot of traffic. but the Chidambaram - Virudhachalam road is very bad and your avg speed will be 40 max".

[ampere]

Originally Posted by RGK

How is Chidambaram - Sethiyarthope - Virudhachalam road?.
One of my colleague (from Mayavaram) says, " Yes it is true. Lot of traffic. but the Chidambaram - Virudhachalam road is very bad and your avg speed will be 40 max".

It is still better than not going via towns. Its like the town road never end on the Cuddalore stretch!

[asterix]

Hi, I am driving from Chennai to Mayiladuthurai tomorrow and need your suggestion on the best route option between pondy-cuddalore-mayiladuthurai or take tindivanam-panruti route...what will be the approximate drive time for moderate speeds, i plan to start at 5 am and want to reach by 10 am..thanks

[ampere]

Originally Posted by asterix

Hi, I am driving from Chennai to Mayiladuthurai tomorrow and need your suggestion on the best route option between pondy-cuddalore-mayiladuthurai or take tindivanam-panruti route...what will be the approximate drive time for moderate speeds, i plan to start at 5 am and want to reach by 10 am..thanks

Tindivanam-Vikravandi-Panruti-Virudhachalam-Sethiyarthope-Bhuvanagiri-Chidambaram bypass - Mayavaram.

Thats the best option. Vikravandi is before Villupuram and after Tindivanam.

[DWind]

One more option for folks to Mayavaram would be continue on Anaikarai road cross over Kollidam and take a fork at Thirupanthal to Suryanar Koil (not sure of road conditions; ~10 Kms) and then join the road to Mayavaram from Kumbakonam.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by asterix

Hi, I am driving from Chennai to Mayiladuthurai tomorrow and need your suggestion on the best route option between pondy-cuddalore-mayiladuthurai or take tindivanam-panruti route...what will be the approximate drive time for moderate speeds, i plan to start at 5 am and want to reach by 10 am..thanks

Originally Posted by ampere

Tindivanam-Vikravandi-Panruti-Virudhachalam-Sethiyarthope-Bhuvanagiri-Chidambaram bypass - Mayavaram.

Thats the best option. Vikravandi is before Villupuram and after Tindivanam.

Small correction here...- Tindivanam - Vikravandi - Panruti - Sethiyarthope - Bhuvanagiri - Chidambaram Bye Pass - Mayavaram. Virudhachalam is on the West side.

[hserus]

As I am in Adyar I don't see much logic in heading across town to tambaram and getting onto the GST road, ECR pondy and then onwards to Kumbakonam.

Isn't there any bypass to avoid entering cuddalore / pondy? Also - any route that takes you past Garbharatchambigai temple (Thirukarugavur) first?

We plan to get an early start out of Chennai so might avoid the worst of the traffic going out of the city at least.

[arsudarsan]

There are no bye passes for Cuddalore and Pondy. If Thirukarugavur is your first stop, it would be better to go through GST road till Trichy and exit to Thanjavur on NH67 and reach Thirukarugavur. 4 lane roads till Thanjavur should be a breeze.

[hserus]

Hm, thanks a lot. I kept reading about funds allocated for a cuddalore bypass but I guess the road exists where most such roads do

Anyway - thirukarugavur if we manage to reach the place early enough before the morning closure of the temple at noon. If not, then on to Kumbakonam where we are booked into hotel Rayas. We'd drop our bags, freshen up and then head to the temple in the afternoon.

Does your route suggestion still hold good if we have to go to Kumbakonam first? Thanks!

Also as I am travelling with two elderly people and two small kids, suggestions for good food + clean loos at convenient points on the way are welcome.

[RGK]

Started from Chennai at 5.15 am and reached Kumbakonam via Ulundurpet - Virudhachalam - Jayamkondam - T Pallur - Kumbakonam bye pass - Thirunageswaram - Uppuliappankovil (my destination).

As said by many, the Ulundurpet -Virudhachalam stretch is not good. Lot of potholes and patches which made ride uncomfortable. There is also a ROB being constructed before Jayamkondam and it took an extra 10 minutes due to the diversion. I took right from Jayamkondam to reach Kumbakonam via T Palur. The happy news is the road is good and the bridge is fully open.

This road hits the Kumbakonam - Mayavaram road and took left to reach Thirunageswaram (Take right to go to Kumbakonam). Kumbakonam is full of new bye pass roads now and one need not get into the town unless it is specifically required. Reached there at 10.30 am.

Return I drove via Mayavaram - Sirkazhi - Chidambaram - Cuddalore - Pondy - Thindivanam - Chennai. Started at 6 pm from Therezhundhoor and reached Pondy at 9 pm and it took around 2 hours to reach Pallavaram at 11.15 PM. Experienced moderate traffic (25th Holiday) between Sirkazhi - Pondy.

-No doubt Pondy - Tindivanam is one of the best NH's in South India and it is just a 25 min breeze for 38 kms
-From Kumabakonam till Pondy the roads are bad. One cannot drive even 5 kilometres at a constant speed and have to change gears in between due to its bad condition
-Speed breakers make the travel more worse.
- Annoyed with the bad practices followed even by literate drivers - No one does dim-dip off headlights. I think dimming is not taught in any driving school nowadays.
- As of now the roads are not so good in these part of TN. It is better to drive in day time to negotiate potholes.
- No signboards are easily visible (especially in the byepass roads) and most of them are in Tamil only. It is difficult for other state drivers.

It is very long since I have seen a good road between Kumbakonam - Mayavaram.

I agree with Ampere and Dwinds that Chidambaram - Bhuvangiri - Sethiyarthope - Virudhachalam - Ulundurpet is a better option from Mayavaram to Chennai during daytime and Chidambaram - Cuddalore - Pondy is a good option for night driving (safety perspective). At present both these roads are in bad shape.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hserus

As I am in Adyar I don't see much logic in heading across town to tambaram and getting onto the GST road, ECR pondy and then onwards to Kumbakonam.

Isn't there any bypass to avoid entering cuddalore / pondy? Also - any route that takes you past Garbharatchambigai temple (Thirukarugavur) first?

We plan to get an early start out of Chennai so might avoid the worst of the traffic going out of the city at least.

Which is the first destination? Do you want to hit the Thirukarugavur temple first? In that case the Anaikarai option which would help bypass KMU on to Tanjore road. So it becomes : Ulundurper-Virudhachalam-Sethiyarthope-Anakarai-KMU bypass.

KMU has clean bypasses.