[locusjag]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thank you for clarifying! Then like you said there goes the last of the good roads to Kumbakonam. How is Sethiyatthope to Anaikarai? Have the number of diversions come down? Because most of the 4-laning was nearly done I thought.

I nearly drove on that route maybe 3 weeks ago, when I was on a trip from Chennai to the Thiruvelliyangudi temple (divya desam #17) past Anaikkarai. Based on Gmaps' suggestion I ended up taking the Jayamkondan-Vridhachalam route from Ulundurpet and did the same on the way back too. The Sethiyathoppu-Neyveli route showed up as a slower one as per the app. On the route that I took, there were stretches with loose, medium sized jalli stones on one side of the road at multiple stretches till Vridhachalam. This sort of stone makes you want to drive on the smooth side right onto oncoming traffic. Not sure if they will have finished laying those roads yet.

[ampere]

Meanwhile I was checking on YouTube/Internet on the status of the old NH45C (Vikravandi-Panruti-Anaikairai-KMU four lane). Looks like the parallel bridge on Kollidam at Anaikarai is nowhere near completion and is easily another one year away. One section is done but the other arm is pending.

Seems like one unit had a fall while being erected and hence the work was stalled for quite some time till an enquiry was completed. Thats what delayed the bridge construction.

[Arun_S]

Originally Posted by locusjag

On the route that I took, there were stretches with loose, medium sized jalli stones on one side of the road at multiple stretches till Vridhachalam. This sort of stone makes you want to drive on the smooth side right onto oncoming traffic. Not sure if they will have finished laying those roads yet.

Now they have raised the road about 1 feet with jalli stones on one side. The traffic has been made 2 way on other side. The loose stones are falling, it makes tough to drive on them.

[DeepCarTalk]

Originally Posted by Yieldway17

Had a busy weekend in the delta area and these are my observations of the roads.

A great update !
Pardon my ignorance, what is "MDR" ?

[ravib]

Originally Posted by DeepCarTalk

A great update !
Pardon my ignorance, what is "MDR" ?

Major District Road

-Ravi

[DeepCarTalk]

Originally Posted by DeepCarTalk

BHPians, need help to chart my route for the following temple trip :
1. Chennai to Oppiliappan temple

Thanks to update from @Arun_S, I have zoned in on the perambalur-tiruvaiyaru-kumbakonam route

Originally Posted by DeepCarTalk

2. Oppliappan temple to trichy (vekkaliamman temple)

My only consideration is road surface, and only concern is bottom scraping (will be full load passengers and luggage) - I don't mind extra distance, as I drive lowGC car

Kindly help with this as well, please. Planning to stop at Andavar Halwa, Tiruvaiyaru. So my options are :
a) Kumbakonam - tiruvaiyaru - puduchatram - kallanai bridge - trichy
(running south of, and parallel to cauvery)
b) Kumbakonam - tiruvaiyaru - puduchatram - poondi - ariyur - lalgudi - trichy
(running south of, then north of, parallel to cauvery)
c) Some clever route that I am not spotting in the map.

[Sridhar K]

I did Chennai- Kumbakonam- uppiliappan koil over the weekend. Took the Vridhachalam, Jayamkondan, T Palur route. The Vridhachalam- Jayamkondam is very difficult to drive due to the road expansion, especially at night.

I returned from Mayavaram and hence took Mayavaram - Kattumannarkoil-Sethiya thoppu (along Veeranam)- vridhachalam route. For K.Konam, the better option now is to do Vridhachalam, Sethiyathoppu, Anaikarai route instead of Vridhachalam - Jeyamkondam. Vridhachalam - Sethiyathoppu is is great condition.

Also did K.Konam- Mannargudi-Thanjavur--Punnainallur- Thirukarugavur- K Konam. K.Konam- Mannargudi is being re-laid and is very good in patches. Mannargudi- Thanjavur via Vaduvur is in superb condition except around Vaduvur bird sanctuary. One of the best drives of the trip.

Good to see some of the MDR and state highways in pretty decent shape in this belt.

[venki.bala]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

Also did K.Konam- Mannargudi-Thanjavur--Punnainallur- Thirukarugavur- K Konam. K.Konam- Mannargudi is being re-laid and is very good in patches. Mannargudi- Thanjavur via Vaduvur is in superb condition except around Vaduvur bird sanctuary. One of the best drives of the trip.

.

Sweet news on Mannai - Tanjore Road update. How is the stretch between Sethiyathope and Anaikarai?

[Sridhar K]

I did not take Anaikarai-Sethiathope but my dad says the road is pretty decent all the way to Vadalur. He prefers Anaikarai-Sethiathope-Vadalur-Cuddalore -Pondy -ECR for some reason if he can avoid peak hours on Cuddalore Pondy stretch

[Sridhar K]

An update to the above from a colleague who is from Panruti. He is informing that now Vikravanti - Vadalur is also pretty decent despite a few spots where you have to get off-road for culvert expansion. No wonder google maps was showing that route as a faster option but I did not take it as I was not sure about the road quality.

[Aerobat]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

I did Chennai- Kumbakonam- uppiliappan koil over the weekend. Took the Vridhachalam, Jayamkondan, T Palur route. The Vridhachalam- Jayamkondam is very difficult to drive due to the road expansion, especially at night.

I returned from Mayavaram and hence took Mayavaram - Kattumannarkoil-Sethiya thoppu (along Veeranam)- vridhachalam route. For K.Konam, the better option now is to do Vridhachalam, Sethiyathoppu, Anaikarai route instead of Vridhachalam - Jeyamkondam. Vridhachalam - Sethiyathoppu is is great condition.

Also did K.Konam- Mannargudi-Thanjavur--Punnainallur- Thirukarugavur- K Konam. K.Konam- Mannargudi is being re-laid and is very good in patches. Mannargudi- Thanjavur via Vaduvur is in superb condition except around Vaduvur bird sanctuary. One of the best drives of the trip.

Good to see some of the MDR and state highways in pretty decent shape in this belt.

During August 2023, I did the Kumbakonam-Mannargudi-Velankanni-Tuticorin trip. I had posted an update as under. Hope it helps if anyone is looking for this route update :

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post5615676 (Chennai to Velankanni : Route Queries)

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

I did not take Anaikarai-Sethiathope but my dad says the road is pretty decent all the way to Vadalur. He prefers Anaikarai-Sethiathope-Vadalur-Cuddalore -Pondy -ECR for some reason if he can avoid peak hours on Cuddalore Pondy stretch

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

For K.Konam, the better option now is to do Vridhachalam, Sethiyathoppu, Anaikarai route instead of Vridhachalam - Jeyamkondam. Vridhachalam - Sethiyathoppu is is great condition.

Just did Bangalore-Kumbakonam on Tuesday 24th and return on Wednesday 25th. Given that Vridhachalam - Andimadam - Jayankondam is bad/ difficult to drive, decided to take Vridhachalam-Sethiyathoppu-Kumbakonam in both ways.

As mentioned by Sridhar, though it is 20 kms more, the route is 98% good with great roads and even can use cruise control at 100 kmph comfortably.
Only 5 bridges between Sethiyathoppu to Anaikarai and another 5 or 6 between Anaikarai to Kumbakonam are under construction where you need to take diversion. This is not a big deal as each one can be crossed in less than a minute.

Only gamble is the waiting time in Anaikarai one way traffic. Luckily, being a holiday on 24th , i had only less than 5 minutes wait time onward and no wait time in return.

Overall, this route is highly recommended compared to Vridhachalam to Jayankondam in terms of easy of driving effort and no need to negotiate much of village traffic and all of sudden crossing by villagers and cattle and can avoid speed breakers. Timewise, it almost takes same time or 5 to 15 minutes extra due to additional 20 kms plus have to cross sethiyathoppu bazaar which may be little time consuming.

-Ravi

[DeepCarTalk]

Originally Posted by DeepCarTalk

BHPians, need help to chart my route for the following temple trip :
1. Chennai to Oppiliappan temple
2. Oppliappan temple to trichy (vekkaliamman temple)
3. Trichy to Chennai
Might do it over 2 days or within 36 hours with one sleep stop. Need help with 1 and 2

Did this trip, and I have to thank you all, for all the helpful guidance.

1.
Had to pickup a relative at Pondicherry, so ended up going via ECR. It was a pleasant surprise, the road conditions.

Chennai -> pondi : the usual ECR post the 2+2 after Mahabalipuram, occasional pizza toppings and potholes on single lane sections, nothing to complain about

Pondi -> Cuddalore : average, more pizza toppings and more potholes

Cuddalore -> fork point where chidambaram and neyveli/vridhachalam routes diverge : worst section of entire journey, bad roads, can't do more than 40-50 ; but thankfully only for a short distance. I imagine the roads are like this all the way to chidambaram

Fork point -> vadalur : good undivided highway, road narrows and the village market spills onto the road just before reaching the main junction intersection with NH45C.

vadalur -> kumbakonam bypass (NH45C) : 95% is fully complete, remaining 5% is broken (there are portions with just mud, will be a slush problem if it rains) , but is sandwiched between the complete sections only for short distances like 1 or 2 kms. Luckily didn't get stuck at anakarai dam, was able to finally see what the fuss was all about - its super narrow, the dam crossing section, exactly the width of a bus - thankfully breezed past as the last vehicle of the convoy crossing in one direction, whilst the opposite direction had a big queue (~9am).

kumbakonam bypass start -> oppiliappan temple : regular roads with it's share of good/bad, nothing to report.


2.
Had to omit andavar halwa at tiruvaiyaru as we were running late, also helped by a not-so-robust-feeling with stomach that morning. This opened up the viability of the saliyamangalam route.

kumbakonam bypass start-to-end -> papanasam : NH45C extends on the bypass, with it's good and bad sections; papanasam town is very narrow with terribly unruly local traffic, esp construction trucks and two wheelers.

papanasam -> saliyamangalam : starts off very average, then becomes a nice straight well paved undivided road. Very narrow with no shoulder.

Saliyamangalam -> tanjai bypass -> trichy : typical TN tolled highway with way too many zig zag speed barricades, one every 4-5 km.

[vignesh207]

I'm planning to do Chennai - Kumbakonam tomorrow. Google maps shows Vikranvandi-Panruti-Vadalur-Kumbakonm as the best route but I've had bad experience in this road a year before and was planning to take Ulundurpet-Virudachalam-Jayamkondan-Kumbakonam route. Thankfully I read this thread and that seems to be something to avoid.

I'll post updates on the Panruti-Vadalur route after my trip this weekend.

[vignesh207]

Originally Posted by vignesh207

I'll post updates on the Panruti-Vadalur route after my trip this weekend.

Simple one word review, avoid this route at any cost. The Ulundurpet-Virdhachalam-Sethiathope-Kumbakonam might be a better option.

The Panruti-Vadalur road is pathetic, the entire strech, except for first 10-15 kms and last 30kms near Kumbakonam, is fully in bad shape with under construction roads, potholes and slush in rainy days.

Even the streches which are good have local two-wheelers and even some cars coming in the wrong side near the median(in the fast lane) and is extremely risky.

From the looks of it, the construction is long from completed and might take years to get this to a proper NH level.