[arulpeem]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

What is the status of ORR from Poonamalee to Vandalur? I am planning to take it instead of Chennai bypass if it is better option...

I rode a couple of times in the beginning of the year to get acquainted with my bike better and my fried rode there a month back. The ORR is really fantastic. Only when you come close to Vandalur it is still incomplete and you have come through the Vandalur town...

[procrj]

Driving down to Chennai tomorrow morning and planning to drive via Oragadam - Tambaram. Destination Adayar. Or should i stick to normal Porur - Guindy route?

Originally Posted by procrj

Destination Adayar. Or should i stick to normal Porur - Guindy route?

Porur>Guindy route may be slightly better and faster than Tambaram route, IMO.

[girish4731]

Just returned from Chennai last weekend --

Left Bangalore on Friday morning at 5:20 from home. Reached Chennai at 11am (including a 1 hour breakfast stop at Vellore). The last stretch from Kanchipuram to Chennai took a lot longer than I expected it to. Work is in progress for conversion to six-lanes. Also, got caught up in city traffic all the way from Chennai outskirts to T Nagar.

Returned last evening. Again, the first 70 kms took a lot of time. After that, the drive is pretty smooth. Drove non-stop to Bangalore.

Also, learn about the "FastTag" toll gate card [- which one can pre-load before leaving the city and can pass through Toll gates much faster because there's a separate lane for these card holders.] The guy at the Toll gates were asking me to get one because they say it helps you save time at the toll gates. Maybe next time, I'll try that.

Anyone here used that card? Any experiences?

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by girish4731

Also, learn about the "FastTag" toll gate card [- which one can pre-load before leaving the city and can pass through Toll gates much faster because there's a separate lane for these card holders.] The guy at the Toll gates were asking me to get one because they say it helps you save time at the toll gates. Maybe next time, I'll try that.

Anyone here used that card? Any experiences?

You can get the latest information in this thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...lection-7.html

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by girish4731

The guy at the Toll gates were asking me to get one because they say it helps you save time at the toll gates.

Which toll booth was mentioning about the same?
Reason, this was updated as working few months back. However, there was post few weeks back that the system is yet to be up and running.

From your post, I hope finally the system is working now.

[girish4731]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Which toll booth was mentioning about the same?
Reason, this was updated as working few months back. However, there was post few weeks back that the system is yet to be up and running.

From your post, I hope finally the system is working now.

The one at Pallikonda.

However, I also realised that cars without these FastTag cards were allowed in the lane marked "FastTag". Maybe because there's less traffic or some other reason.

I checked the same at Krishnagiri but the person at the gate wasn't too aware of this. I should have mentioned these two points in my first post itself !

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by girish4731

The last stretch from Kanchipuram to Chennai took a lot longer than I expected it to.
Work is in progress for conversion to six-lanes.

After every trip on the infamous Chennai-Walajahbad stretch of the NH4, I invariably raise a complaint with the NHAI & the IRC in their respective web-sites ( about the condition of the highway ).
Not getting anywhere for the past few months ( not even an acknowledgement ), I registered a complaint with the Public-Grievances-Portal the last time I was on that stretch.
The following is the screen-grab of the response received, although it does not address the original complaint, it does give some details on the 6-laning work that's been initiated.

Unfortunately, the 6-laning has been awarded to Essel once again, would've liked it to have been L&T.
.

[prabhuferrari]

If you are in north bangalore (Yelahanka, Sahakar nagar, jalahalli, malleswaram) then try the route via Yeshwantpur - ORR - Nayandahalli junction - NICE road entry near PESIT. I could reach Hosur in 1 hr 20 mins on peak traffic from Sahakar nagar. Only one signal is the one at entrance of ORR. Its a huge one. Post that extremely comfortable with wide roads. Saves lots of time in peak hour rush.

[binand]

Folks, can anyone please tell me where exactly this hotel is?

http://www.cleartrip.com/hotels/details/211231

The only Gokulam Park I know in Chennai is in Ashok Nagar. I can't find this one on Google Maps.

I am in Chennai during the weekend of 31/10-1/11, and need to stay overnight on OMR somewhere. This and Ginger are in my current shortlist, but any additional suggestions are welcome. Budget is in that range (upto 4K). It seems I can start only by 2 PM in Bangalore so arrival time could be past 9 PM - would like one that can be easily located. I'm coming to Chennai after more than 1.5 years.

[hyper-VTEC]

Originally Posted by binand

Folks, can anyone please tell me where exactly this hotel is?

http://www.cleartrip.com/hotels/details/211231

This is just before the Navalur/Siruseri (ITEL) Toll Plaza on your left if you are coming from Sholinganalur. Keep an eye for a big Nilgiri on your left and opposite to Polaris on your right

[hyper-VTEC]

OT discussion/question. I plan to travel to Bangalore with my TN registered car. I browsed through the last 10 pages of the thread and noticed almost everyone from Bangalore traveling to Chennai, but almost no-one traveling from Chennai (TN registration) to Bangalore. I am sure this might be because of the LTT issue in KA. Can someone throw somelight on the latest progress. I intend to stay for 2 nights

[NPV]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

OT discussion/question. I plan to travel to Bangalore with my TN registered car. I browsed through the last 10 pages of the thread and noticed almost everyone from Bangalore traveling to Chennai, but almost no-one traveling from Chennai (TN registration) to Bangalore. I am sure this might be because of the LTT issue in KA. Can someone throw somelight on the latest progress. I intend to stay for 2 nights

Shouldn't be a problem, I don't think people are avoiding traveling to Bangalore just because of the LTT issue
Keep your toll receipts, maybe a fuel bill also from Chennai that is a week or so old.
And have a valid PUC, that's the last thing cops/RTO folks usually check if everything else is in order

[binand]

Originally Posted by hyper-VTEC

This is just before the Navalur/Siruseri (ITEL) Toll Plaza on your left if you are coming from Sholinganalur. Keep an eye for a big Nilgiri on your left and opposite to Polaris on your right

Thanks. I know the location and it suits me just fine, as my work in Chennai is at Padur. I guess coming via Sriperumbudur-Vandalur-Kelambakkam makes best sense.

[hamster]

Did a round trip BLR-CHN-BLR over the long weekend.
In the onward segment, had a delayed start by around 07:50 from my home in Hoodi and had to pickup a friend of mine on the way in Varthur Main Road. Reached Hosur @ 9 AM and was planning for a quick breakfast stop and fueling in HP Shoolagiri or BP Chinnar.

As expected, both the joints were already overloaded with cars. Decided to fuel in BP.

There was traffic jam inside BP/A2B campus, the where a truck carrying Autos could not manage to get out due to cars parked on both the sides. Decided to get into Krishnagiri town for breakfast and by the team we reached there it was 10:30 AM.
with a small bio break near Kanchi Byepass, reached destination at Pammal by 02:15. Took the Sriperumbudur-Kundrathur-Pammal road. The first couple of kilometers in this stretch (Till the SIPCOT turn off , the roads are dug on the left side resulting in slow moving traffic).

The return leg, left home at 02:45 and saw a huge jam in the first toll at Chennasamudram. Took a good 20 mins crawl to pay and cross the toll. This made me take a quick decision to take the right turn towards Chittoor, anticipating huge crowds in the other tolls too. That was a bad decision , which I regretted at the CHittoor byepass, wherein a gush of vehicles from Tirupati joined and overtaking the looong trailers was really a pain. Reached home at 09:45 after 40 mins dinner break at Woody's in Kolar.