[sumobom4]

Could it also have something to do with the increasing popularity of BH registration these days? Not sure if TN has started that yet, but the states are losing out on a lot of free interest on already ridiculous “lifetime” tax.

[sgmuser]

Originally Posted by DicKy

NH in Tamil Nadu is excellent, yes.

About other roads? Inner roads are horrible and the sad thing is it can stay like that for years to come, unlike roads in Kerala where they stay bad maximum for an year or two.

Have you really seen the highways (NH) in TN? You do not need to go too far.
Try Chennai - Tiruchirappalli NH once. Just two lanes in one way and riddled with pot holes and you will be paying almost 500 rupees of tolls for this horrible pot holed roads. One can not even touch the speed limit comfortably. For God sake this highway connects the state capital with the second most important industrial city of the state and then this NH leads to all directions of the inner state - some really important places like Madurai, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli in the south, Tanjore etc. in the east, and it is a great connectivity even if one wants to go to Pollachi (via Dharapuram, such scenic route) and act as the backbone of the TN transport*system. But two lanes still? This is the sad state of affairs for more than 25 years now even though the road is full of traffic at all times. This NH should be 6 lanes minimum along with the Chennai - Coimbatore NH as well as these two are the most important roads of TN (South India, I will say) and then comes the Chennai - Bangalore/Hosur NH, Tiruchy-Kanyakumari and others.

Just additional note: The NH between Tanjore-Nagapattinam is being built for more than 10 years and not completed. Trichy being such a industrial hub which needs Port connectivity for their windmill and steel related industries, they do not have a proper road to reach either Karaikal Port or Nagapattinam Port.

Kerala tourists who visit Velankanni now take Tanjore-Mannargudi and avoid the direct route (via Needamangalam). Try this Tanjore-Mannargudi or the Mannargudi-Tanjore road via Orathanadu and see the magic. It is pure bliss. Full of green and such beautiful winding single lane roads but nicely done (SH).

There supposed to be a NH connecting Viluppuram and Kumbakonam and it is still being built for more than 20 years and no sign of the road yet. Connectivity for the Cauvery Delta to transport its crop produces to the Capital - almost nothing or in very very bad shape. There is no way I can reach Kumbakonam from Chennai direct, I have to take multiple detours to reach there due to NH doing work for more than a decade (Anaikkarai bridge anyone?) Check the google map route for Chennai - Kumbakonam. It will show a detoured route or ECR route.

I have travelled almost 20,000 kms in the last 12 months inside TN (according to the ODO in my two new cars) and this is my observation.

When I see posts that TN NH roads are good, I wonder where are they.

[CArspeed]

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Have you really seen the highways (NH) in TN? You do not need to go too far.

Well written and I can add many sections in between the major routes which makes road travel a curse in TN.

Chennai - Bangalore:- Worst roads between chennai to Ranipet for more than six years now. For the past two years, I am travelling more by train to Bangalore instead of roads. But when I travel upto Sringeri/ Kolluru/ Subramanya, (atleast twice in a year) I have no option except to take this trouble.

Chennai - Salem:- a real nightmare even to a good driver, there are many places where four lanes suddenly change to two lanes (between Ulundurpettai-Salem) and this has been the case for more than a decade now. No end at sight. Since I go upto Kozhikode, I have no option except to take the challenge and be proud everytime that I have passed the dangerous intersections with flying Colors particularly in nights.

Coimbatore by-pass:- Narrow two lanes with lots of signals to pass. I don’t think there is any plan to make this four lane.

Chennai - Kumbakonam/Mayavaram/Mannargudi:- you won’t get train tickets at all. All routes are pathetic. I take my family to native atleast four times in a year and have tried almost all the available routes, only to be made fun off by my family or they will be a part of fun too as we end up travelling thru amidst greenery in Cauvery delta (in search of a new route). I have been waiting for good roads since my childhood days but even after four decades no respite. The best joke here is I am seeing the roads are being constructed endlessly all the times.

Chennai - Trichy/Tanjavur/Madurai :- Should have been made six lanes atleast upto Trichy. You can maintain good speeds but it is still a challenge with lots of traffic and intersections, narrow sections and potholes.

I am also amused when people say that TN roads are the best ones in India.

[pandabear]

Originally Posted by DicKy

NH in Tamil Nadu is excellent, yes.

About other roads? Inner roads are horrible and the sad thing is it can stay like that for years to come, unlike roads in Kerala where they stay bad maximum for an year or two.

National highways in Tamilnadu are great but City roads are horrible. Only Chennai has decent roads, try coming to Coimbatore. I would rank Coimbatore as the city with the worst roads in India.

Correct me if I am wrong but I guess the taxes that the state government collects should be used for laying these inner city roads which obviously they are not doing.

[thanixravindran]

The discussion veered off to roads from road tax. When in India the road tax is actually used for roads. It is just a category for revenue generation.

On the subject, this is expected as the state is trying to mop up more finances since they have to bring the fiscal deficit to 3% as per finance commission targets to borrow further from this FY onwards. So this increase was overdue for quite sometime after electricity tariff revision, property guideline value revision for registration and property tax revision + decentralization with increase each year.

On the political side, populism is destroying TN finances since decades. The last revision of road tax, electricity, guideline value all happened around 2012 when state coffers become near empty. A decade was lost in growth of industries for the state due to power issues and corruption. In between, state foolishly reduced guideline value uniformly across state by 33% to increase registration fee by 2%. Has any property price ever reduced in the market? So every state department like transport, electricity and even education is bleeding for funds.

So this revenue mop up is very much needed. But at the same time, new populist schemes are getting introduced like free bus for women, monthly 1000 rupees support for women, etc. There are talks that state may revert to old pension scheme before 2026 elections. This is the state which couldn't pay gratuity and pension to transport employees that collected from them and have to pledge bus depots for loans

But the cycle continues. We need regulation to ensure fully funded welfare system for new populist schemes and avoid unfunded schemes. If you are in TN, this is right time to buy EV which doesn't have road tax now. So a straight 18 to 20% discount to the wallet

[sgmuser]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

The discussion veered off to roads from road tax. When in India the road tax is actually used for roads. It is just a category for revenue generation.

True and I just vented out my frustration. Imagine driving a 190hp X1 at 30-40-60-80kmph all the way in highways that too after paying 1000s in tolls. And then someone says TN highways are great!

The point I was trying to make is that I have great experience with State Highways in TN even if it is a single laned. But highways are in worst state especially with such high tolls.

Also, Chennai city roads are PATHETIC and WORST. Chennai deserves better roads. The strange thing is that certain areas are still enjoying great wide roads in Chennai (political/big shots living there?) but majority of the roads are full of pot holes, or simply no roads - only muddy walk paths (South and East Chennai for e.g.) If there are some decent roads (e.g. OMR) then the road is blocked half way for Metro work. Then there is this massive flood drainage work in various parts of the city which is managed so badly.

True that TN government is strained for funds for their vision and projects they have promised in their poll promises. They have raised almost all the possible taxes and bills. When PTR was around as the FM, the communication was better as what is was happening. The FM was also complaining the fund allocation issues from the Central openly in the public. But I still find the raise is unjustifiable with this chaotic road conditions. They should have done this after completing all the pending road projects, then it looks at least justifiable. Now, people get more annoyed actually.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Have you really seen the highways (NH) in TN?

When I see posts that TN NH roads are good, I wonder where are they.

Originally Posted by CArspeed

I am also amused when people say that TN roads are the best ones in India.

Voah voah guys. Guess should have been specific. South Tamil Nadu highways? NH7. Kanyakumari to Bengaluru one. Atleast the ones south to Madurai.

Have driven only once from Kanyakumari to Chennai though in the early 2010s. Felt it was good then. Did a similar trip in 2016, but was done through SHs as we were temple hopping. I am sure there are good SHs in Tamil Nadu and have driven on them, but the quality of SHs is inconsistent in Tamil Nadu. Some will look straight out of a video game. Some will have 90° turns even if it is going through a desert like place. Some will have the local people using half of the road to dry their produce/coconut/hay. Some will stay forever in a potholed damage state. Inner roads of Tamil Nadu are always of poor quality or design. No two ways about it. Though the Nilgiris ones are of good design. Compared to the inner roads of Tamil Nadu, the NHs seem like from a different planet.

Sorry if it seems irritating for the Tamil Nadu highways are best narrative. Most are made up by hapless Keralites or Bengalureans who put the pedal to the metal on the NH44 (erstwhile NH7)

[pandabear]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

The discussion veered off to roads from road tax. When in India the road tax is actually used for roads. It is just a category for revenue generation.

Absolutely right when you say it is for revenue generation, but the issue is the present government in Tamil Nadu is more interested in increasing their revenue than the state revenue.

Sorry for the contrarian view but I am putting off my car purchase just for the sole reason that it would bring tears to my eyes seeing a new car ride on roads that resemble taking a missile hits. I will drive around Coimbatore during my next visit and post dashcam video of how pathetic the situation is.

Even if they lay new roads there is a team behind them at a weeks schedule ready to dig up the whole road to lay pipelines.

It is poor fiscal management, last week you know there was free distribution of money to all women. It is just a detrimental move to increase road taxes (grabbing the low hanging fruit without foresight).

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

... It is just a category for revenue generation.
...

Completely agree with your post. There has never and neither will there be a co-relation between the rate of road tax and the road facilities the state provides. It is purely a category for revenue generation.

KA has always had high road taxes and the roads were bad for years, whereas my experience of TN roads has been good even though their road tax rates were lower.

With such moves, I expect even more opposition to the BH registration option for private employees as the loss of revenue will be huge. TN has not yet started it and will drag its feet for sure, till the courts intervene.

[nandakumarms]

Terrible! NH is maintained by state government, I think! If so, there is no surprise as they have no money for Infra development! Already state has borrowed so much! So, this will remain so for considerable time to come!

[samuelv]

I live in Bangalore and my native is 170km from Bangalore in Tamil Nadu. Always thought I'll get my next car registered in TN to save that 50k to 70k. Now with the tax in par with Karnataka, there is no choice left. Feel bad for the guys who have booked cars with long waiting periods, they would be shelling extra for no fault of theirs.

Previously taxes on Fuel were lesser in TN. We used to drive to TN from BLR and then Fill our tanks during our visit to the native. However, the taxes on Fuel (Diesel Especially) in KA are much lesser.
Diesel costs a whopping 7Rs more in TN. Difference in Petrol cost is around 1Re.

[spaceunicorn]

Originally Posted by pandabear

National highways in Tamilnadu are great but City roads are horrible. Only Chennai has decent roads, try coming to Coimbatore. I would rank Coimbatore as the city with the worst roads in India.

Correct me if I am wrong but I guess the taxes that the state government collects should be used for laying these inner city roads which obviously they are not doing.

I couldn't agree more. This seems to be a common issue in most states, in my opinion. The roads in urban areas and cities are well-maintained, while the ones in rural or off-city locations are in poor condition. This becomes especially apparent when driving and suddenly taking a detour through smaller roads. During my recent visit to Lemur Beach, which is a beautiful and untouched beach near Nagercovil, TN, the roads leading to it were not great (but not extremely terrible either).

I believe authorities pump in more funding for city roads, to keep the general perception about the state and ignore/ give less importance to rural roads.

[thanixravindran]

A small post about TN NH roads - In the pre liberalization era, Chennai was connected to South through GST and to North through GNT which are the arterial roads for connectivity. GNT used to suffer severely due to heavy industries and during monsoon times. GST which was NH 45 at that time used to be better maintained which were good for that time.

While there are several good stretches of NH, unfortunately, TN got struck in a time warp and did not plan any western or east coastal arterial roads to take the additional load due to increase in traffic after 2000s or converting GST as expressway. So apart from Trichy, everyone travelling to West to Salem or Coimbatore and even Delta districts have to use the same GST road jostling with South TN traffic. Salem expressway was too late but struck in political protests. ECR which was a two lane state road to Pondy when done in 2000s is still in making tied to Sagar mala scheme now till Kanyakumari.

Only during GQ development, Chennai - Bangalore highway through Krishnagiri was developed as alternate to Chittor route. And because of North - South corridor, Srinagar to Kanyakumari was developed through Bangalore, Salem, Dindigul and Kanyakumari. GNT also improved due to Kolkata - Chennai GQ. This gives an impression for Bangalore and other folks using GQ stretches that NH roads are good in TN.

Hopefully with the new Bangalore - Ranipet expressway and Chittor - Thatchoor expressway will improve the northern and north western connectivity and bring more NH projects to completion as well new expressways to the state.

[vvivek85]

This was always on the cards, they first gave free bus travel for women, then 1000 p.m for selected women in the state. They need to generate revenue for these fundings, here we go

EV is surely the go-forward option, but even that doesn't look very promising, with companies like TATA and Mahindra producing EV cars, where their history of niggles doesn't inspire confidence to invest there and with company like Hyundai on their sleep for eternity

[harikrishnansp]

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Have you really seen the highways (NH) in TN? You do not need to go too far.
Try Chennai - Tiruchirappalli NH once. Just two lanes in one way and riddled with pot holes and you will be paying almost 500 rupees of tolls for this horrible pot holed roads. One can not even touch the speed limit comfortably. For God sake this highway connects the state capital with the second most important industrial city of the state and then this NH leads to all directions of the inner state - some really important places like Madurai, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli in the south, Tanjore etc. in the east, and it is a great connectivity even if one wants to go to Pollachi (via Dharapuram, such scenic route) and act as the backbone of the TN transport*system. But two lanes still? This is the sad state of affairs for more than 25 years now even though the road is full of traffic at all times. This NH should be 6 lanes minimum along with the Chennai - Coimbatore NH as well as these two are the most important roads of TN (South India, I will say) and then comes the Chennai - Bangalore/Hosur NH, Tiruchy-Kanyakumari and others.

Just additional note: The NH between Tanjore-Nagapattinam is being built for more than 10 years and not completed. Trichy being such a industrial hub which needs Port connectivity for their windmill and steel related industries, they do not have a proper road to reach either Karaikal Port or Nagapattinam Port.

Kerala tourists who visit Velankanni now take Tanjore-Mannargudi and avoid the direct route (via Needamangalam). Try this Tanjore-Mannargudi or the Mannargudi-Tanjore road via Orathanadu and see the magic. It is pure bliss. Full of green and such beautiful winding single lane roads but nicely done (SH).

There supposed to be a NH connecting Viluppuram and Kumbakonam and it is still being built for more than 20 years and no sign of the road yet. Connectivity for the Cauvery Delta to transport its crop produces to the Capital - almost nothing or in very very bad shape. There is no way I can reach Kumbakonam from Chennai direct, I have to take multiple detours to reach there due to NH doing work for more than a decade (Anaikkarai bridge anyone?) Check the google map route for Chennai - Kumbakonam. It will show a detoured route or ECR route.

I have travelled almost 20,000 kms in the last 12 months inside TN (according to the ODO in my two new cars) and this is my observation.

When I see posts that TN NH roads are good, I wonder where are they.

Attachment 2517383

Bangalore-Kanyakumari route is very well laid out. Especially the route after Salem. Bangalore Chennai is a disaster. Chennai pondicherry was a disaster the last time I visited.