[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Can anyone tell me where and how I should enter the Thuraipakkam - Pallavaram radial road, while coming to Chennai from Pondy via the ECR?

We are driving to Pondy tomorrow morning for our quarterly visit to the Aurobindo Ashram. I always take the Tindivanam route both ways and have not driven on the ECR for a very long time. Tomorrow I just might take the ECR while returning. I stay at Chromepet.

When coming back on the ECR, take the left on the link road which connects the ECR and OMR. You will be able to find this out easily. ECR just after this turn becomes a 4 lane road with medians whereas until that point of time it would a single lane each side without a median. You will cross a hotel called Pitstop on your right some time before this left and also there will be a police check post with big barricades where the left needs to be taken.

Once you take this left you will need to get on the OMR. 2 ways to do this.

1. Take the link road --> Forced left at Sholinganallur signal --> UTurn at Infosys --> On to OMR

2. Before the toll take the left on to the side roads and come from behind Infosys to the U turn point mentioned in point 1.

Once you are on OMR take the left at the signal after Sangeetha hotel. This would be the radial road.

Hope this helps.

[para_7k]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Can anyone tell me where and how I should enter the Thuraipakkam - Pallavaram radial road, while coming to Chennai from Pondy via the ECR?

You have variety of options.



1. Take the exit which is the left at Kovalam on ECR. The road will lead you to kelambakkam.
You can either take vandalur kelambakkam road or go straight on OMR upto Thuraipakkam and join the 100 Feet Road.

2. You can exit ECR after Anupuram beyond Kalpakkam. Look for Board pointing towards Thiruporur. Take the Thiruporur - ECR road, which ends at Thiruporur. There begins OMR. Continue straight from Thiruporur on OMR itself and exit at kelambakkam towards vandalur or thuraipakkam.
PS: The Thiruporur ECR road is fantastic and almost devoid of traffic.

3 Continue on ECR upto Akkarai. You'll see a board pointing to sholinganallur
Take left and the road connects to OMR on sholinganallur. Right turn towards thuraipakkam is not allowed. So, you have to take left and make a U turn near infosys. You can then proceed towards Thoraipakkam.

EDIT: Arvind has given clearer instructions for number 3.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by para_7k

1. Take the exit left at Kovalam on ECR. The road will lead you to kelambakkam.
You can either take vandalur kelambakkam road or go straight on OMR upto Thuraipakkam and join the 100 Feet Road.

That is the route I used to take both ways before. GST road till Vandalur zoo, turn left to kelambakkam and on to ECR. Same route back to GST road. At that time the radial road was bad so I was not interested.

But now the radial road seems to be in good shape, and wil give me the easiest access to ECR and back. So after entering Kelambakkam from ECR I can proceed straight to Thuraipakkam on the same road? Condition is good?

[Warwithwheels]

[quote]Can anyone tell me where and how I should enter the Thuraipakkam - Pallavaram radial road, while coming to Chennai from Pondy via the ECR?

[para_7k]

Originally Posted by Gansan

That is the route I used to take both ways before. GST road till Vandalur zoo, turn left to kelambakkam and on to ECR. Same route back to GST road. At that time the radial road was bad so I was not interested.

But now the radial road seems to be in good shape, and wil give me the easiest access to ECR and back. So after entering Kelambakkam from ECR I can proceed straight to Thuraipakkam on the same road? Condition is good?

Yes, you can proceed on the same road from Kelambakkam towards thuraipakkam. Road is pretty good throughout. 2 places where it can get tight is the kelambakkam junction and near Hindustan University. They are quite manageable though. Sholinganallur junction is also ok these days after the latest changes.

If you do get a chance, try the thiruporur road as well. The ECR-Thiruporur stretch is brilliant.

[DWind]

Originally Posted by Gansan

So after entering Kelambakkam from ECR I can proceed straight to Thuraipakkam on the same road? Condition is good?

Kelambakkam - Siruseri (Where Toll road starts) is ok. Once the toll road starts it is good (not great as before) till Thoraipakkam. Since you are travelling on Oct 02 traffic should be sparse.

[ramzsys]

Yesterday night, witnessed a freak incident on Gst road towards Ashok pillar. I heard a lot of shouting and bikes racing. At the extreme left, I saw a Santro trying to escape, hitting a biker. Then someone tried to open the driver door, but again the Santro escaped.

Even at the next signal, I heard the shouting and metal crash sounds, I left the scene.

[pisthpeeps]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Yesterday night..

Somebody trying to replicate the recent US Range rover incident in Chennai?

[ThePunter]

Traffic in Velachery main road towards Velachery is testing the nerves these days around the Checkpost. Due to some road side work going on since few days (Any idea what the work is..?). It starts from well before Nissan showroom and extends till signal where the Bye pass starts, all along it is just one lane. Thanks the U turn somewhere in the middle is now prevented (except few that still creep in) but still there are few places where it is 1and Half lane, and from nowhere a humble bike or an idiotic auto or an over smart car itself jumps the queue.
Imagine you are inching your vehicle even at 10pm.
Some of these days, seeing the blood red overdose around the above area in google traffic updates, I do take the route through Kathipara-Radial road to reach Velachery railway station area. I guess an extra 3km though.

Overall I think, we don't have a respite-since Velachery main road between the said spots will remain a bottle neck even when it provides 2 lanes after the works :-(

[GunMo]

Originally Posted by ThePunter

Traffic in Velachery main road towards Velachery is testing the nerves these days around the Checkpost. Due to some road side work going on since few days (Any idea what the work is..?). It starts from well before Nissan showroom and extends till signal where the Bye pass starts, all along it is just one lane. <cut> I do take the route through Kathipara-Radial road to reach Velachery railway station area. I guess an extra 3km though. Overall I think, we don't have a respite-since Velachery main road between the said spots will remain a bottle neck even when it provides 2 lanes after the works :-(

No idea what those diggings are for, but it sure adds to the chaos. In fact, coming from Kathipara, I take this only if I am traveling before 5 PM. Post that, the madness doubles and I follow the extra long radial route as that will be faster (despite the long wait at Velachery signal)!

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Yesterday night, witnessed a freak incident on Gst road towards Ashok pillar. I heard a lot of shouting and bikes racing. At the extreme left, I saw a Santro trying to escape, hitting a biker. Then someone tried to open the driver door, but again the Santro escaped. Even at the next signal, I heard the shouting and metal crash sounds, I left the scene.

Today's TOI clears the mystery behind this incident. Apparently it was a guy (pimp as per the paper) trying to escape from the cops in a wild chase during peak hours by running red signals, hitting many vehicles in the process.

[Warwithwheels]

It is not an unknown fact that many fleet operators coerce their drivers to do an extra shift without adequate rest or sleep.

Recently one of my friends who works with an IT major in Chennai told me that her company bus driver stopped the bus abruptly on the road and pulled over to the left complaining of chest pain. On further inquiry, it was revealed that the fleet operator and transport manager, coerced the bus driver to take up that extra shift despite knowing his serious health condition. It was fortunate that his chest pain was not fatal and nothing untoward happened on that day.

A similar incident that took place in Chennai yesterday. Only inquiries will reveal if the driver had been diagnosed of a weak heart condition earlier:

A brave 45-year-old driver steered his bus to safety, moments before he collapsed due to a massive cardiac arrest on Grand Southern Trunk Road in St. Thomas Mount, Chennai, on Wednesday morning. Sampath of Purasawalkam, was at the wheel of a private bus contracted by an airline company to shuttle its crew between the airport and a hotel. At 10.30 a.m. Sampath, left the airport with 14 members of the crew of a flight that had just landed at the airport. The crew was on its way to a star hotel on Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai. The bus had crossed Military Hospital when the driver reportedly lost control. Sampath developed a massive chest pain and with one hand clutched to his chest, he still managed to drive the bus single-handed. He brought the vehicle safely to a halt near Jothi Theatre. Immediately, Sampath collapsed and fell on the steering wheel.

Full Article: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...?homepage=true

[callvvijay]

I still remember the incident when I was struck up in a heavy traffic near Kathipara (when the present flyover was being built). When the traffic started moving, there was some seriously heavy honking to my left. The reason was that a cabbie slept off in his steering wheel itself when the traffic was standstill and never realized that it started moving. Pity him - God knows how much of overtime he had been doing.

Also, good that he did not sleep while driving!

[saadat1992]

Nothing personal against people in bangalore but i had to post this!
Today I found a lot of KA regd vehicles in Chennai, esp T-nagar since it was an extended weekend! And most of them were least bothered about the other road users! They were cutting off randomly without signaling! One fiesta almost scraped my front bumper! He would have scraped it if not for my blaring honk and flashing of headlamps! Not sure if this belongs here but still, wanted to post it!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by saadat1992

Nothing personal against people in bangalore but i had to post this! Today I found a lot of KA regd vehicles in Chennai, esp T-nagar since it was an extended weekend! And most of them were least bothered about the other road users! They were cutting off randomly without signaling! One fiesta almost scraped my front bumper! He would have scraped it if not for my blaring honk and flashing of headlamps! Not sure if this belongs here but still, wanted to post it!

Poor driving habits which go un punished in the home city get taken along on trips to other cities too!

Most of these vehicles would probably belong to first generation car owners. The IT boom has seen to it that a lot of first generation blokes have reasonable disposable incomes, more than sufficient to buy a hatch or a sedan.

However, while all of them are probably licensed to drive, almost none of them have been taught proper road manners and decent behaviour. Sheer ignorance of the finer points of driving results in this kind of poor behaviour. They just don't know better! This is not isolated to Bangalore but applies in equal measure to most other urban and rural areas as well in India of the current moment!

I am sure before long someone will flay me for being condescending, snobbish and uppity etc.

Let me however state bluntly, that yes, I certainly am condescending, because this state of affairs mentioned above is the absolute truth, however unpalatable it may be.