[Sridhar K]

Thanks Carspeed for your suggestion

I did Tambaram - Tindivanam-Pondy- Thiruvanthipuram(Cuddalore) - Chidambaram-Thirunallar- Karaikal- Velankanni, Vedaranyam and Kodiakarai.

1) Pondy-Cuddalore had the usual traffic.
2) Cuddalore outer--Sirkazhi bypass is almost done except for 2-3 overpasses. Kollidam bridge is done. This stretch was great to drive but one needs to watch out for people driving on the wrong side as it always happens on newly laid stretches.
3) Sirkazhi outer to Thirukadaiyur is still work in progress with a lot of diversions.
4) The rest of the route is a decent typical 2 lane road all the way to Kodiakarai, except for lot of diversions on the Nagai bypass. Road is not very good between the Nagai bypass and Velankanni. Post Velankanni the road is pretty decent.

My father who frequents KMU - Vedaranyam mentioned that you can go directly from Needamangalam to Thiruthuraipoondi bypassing Mannargudi as google maps was suggesting. I evaluated taking that route but since Thirunallar was on my list, I took the ECR on the way.

Was planning to return via KMU but google maps was showing an hour more (because of the anaikarai bridge I guess) and then decided to take the ECR again yesterday. Karaikal town had a lot of traffic apart from the usual Cuddalore-Pondy outer traffic. Traffic from Chinglepet toll to Tambaram was horrible with jams in Singaperumal koil, Guduvanchery and Perungalathur. I pick stress free routes over shorter routes if the predicted time is ~ 30-40 minutes more.

[careind]

Based on all your feedback, I have decided to take the Tambaram- ulundurpet - virudachalam- sethiyathope-kumbakonam- needamangalam- mannargudi-Thiruthuraipoondi route.