[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by showboat

I need to get to Nandi Hills from Chennai. Has anyone tried the route from Hosur to Malur to Devenahalli? How far along has the work on Old Madras road come? Is it faster than the normal Krishnagiri route?

There will be too much local and tuck traffic in the Hosur-Malur-Hoskote route. Instead you can take the Pallikonda-Gudiyatham-Palamaner and connect to the old madras highway. This Pallikonda-Palamaner is a nice tree lined SH and in good condition with sparse traffic. Not recommended for night night time travel. By taking this route you will also avoid the WIP section from Palamaner to Chittoor .

[showboat]

Originally Posted by Landkruzer

There will be too much local and tuck traffic in the Hosur-Malur-Hoskote route. Instead you can take the Pallikonda-Gudiyatham-Palamaner and connect to the old madras highway. This Pallikonda-Palamaner is a nice tree lined SH and in good condition with sparse traffic. Not recommended for night night time travel. By taking this route you will also avoid the WIP section from Palamaner to Chittoor .

Thanks. I ended up taking the Malur route but took some village roads before Malur. Reached Nandi Hills in 1.5 hrs from Hosur

[Desmodromic]

I had to leave urgently from Chennai to Bangalore for a funeral on a weekday morning abut 2 weeks ago in my Innova crysta. I left at about 1045hrs from adyar and drove to bangalore via sriperamabudur-vellore krishnagir hosur road.

I was truly surprised at the low traffic levels at the time and made good time and reached jayanagar at about 1545hrs inspite of a 25min wait at the electronic city traffic light.

I left jayanagar again at about 1715hrs and got out of bangalore before the traffic came out and stopped at the Shri krishna inn shoolagiri for fuel and early dinner and drove on to chennai and was back home by 2200hrs facing heavy truck traffic only between ranipet-sriperamabudur.

I used to be a weekly driver on these roads about 5 years ago and used to leave early morning or early evening to jump the traffic, but i was truly surprised at the lightness of the traffic that i faced at the times mentioned above. This has been a revelation to me.

However, Ranipet- Sriperambudur continues to be a major irritation with bad surfacing and the lack of 6-laning just as it was 5 years ago.

The speed chicane barricades that have propped up in all the towns that the highway crosses are also an absolute nuisance and pose more of an accident risk than a safety measure.


Cheers

[itwasntme]

MAY need to do north Bangalore to Chennai (Guindy) tomorrow early morning and back late. Any tips due to KA elections? Aiming to leave by 0430 latest.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

MAY need to do north Bangalore to Chennai (Guindy) tomorrow early morning and back late. Any tips due to KA elections? Aiming to leave by 0430 latest.

Its election day tomorrow in TN as well. So expect heavier than usual checking all through.

Its a 4-day weekend for anyone heading to native to vote, so expect higher highway traffic than usual.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Its election day tomorrow in TN as well.
Its a 4-day weekend for anyone heading to native to vote, so expect higher highway traffic than usual.

Did not realize the TN vote is also tomorrow. Thanks for the heads-up.

I am still hoping that roads will be super clear as all truckers will probably be off the roads. Local traffic near towns etc could be much higher though especially during the day.

[narayans80]

For night owls who do Bangalore-Madras drives. Had a peaceful drive with a 9 pm start from CV Raman Nagar. It was 'Office Space' traffic until Sony World signal and then it eased out.

Vaniyambadi and Attibele was the only toll where there were > 3 vehicles waiting ahead. All tolls were a breeze including Attibele. I wasn't on the dedicated lane, otherwise would have moved faster.

It was 2:20 am when I reached home. Inspite of the fact that it rained Krishnagiri through Ranipet.

Biggest advantages:
1. Near empty tolls
2. No office buses
3. Very less private vehicle and long distance bus traffic.

This doesn't hold good for a Madras 9pm start. Roads are flooded with office buses, who are a pain in the rear till you cross Kanchipuram. It was 2:45 am just to cross Hosur with that start time. Being Friday and summer, private vehicle traffic was high as well.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by narayans80

For night owls who do Bangalore-Madras drives. Had a peaceful drive with a 9 pm start from CV Raman Nagar. It was 'Office Space' traffic until Sony World signal and then it eased out.

I started with another BHPian friend from Doddanekundi around 10:30 PM. Reached his home around 4:20 AM, snoozed for an hour there and then headed over to my home in Adyar starting at 5:30 AM. The same thing with Rain chasing us for part of the way.

Funny thing is, for all the night traffic on the roads there was nothing open after 11 PM except some tea stall + trucker dhaba type places.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by hserus

Funny thing is, for all the night traffic on the roads there was nothing open after 11 PM except some tea stall + trucker dhaba type places.

True! Nothing open on the Krishnagiri-Madras stretch. Even in the mornings, the start timings are tad late. Grand Preethi at Vaniyambadi toll didn't have anything other than tea/coffee at 7:15 am.

I did find the CCDs are open all night, even though the neon lights aren't switched on. I once stopped in a CCD attached to a HP past Pallikonda at 2:30 am.

[binand]

Originally Posted by narayans80

This doesn't hold good for a Madras 9pm start. Roads are flooded with office buses, who are a pain in the rear till you cross Kanchipuram. It was 2:45 am just to cross Hosur with that start time.

I've done an 8.30 pm start from Thiruporur via Chengalpet-Walajabad joining the GQ beyond Kanchipuram; it was quite alright (reached home in Bangalore at around 2 am iirc).

On the other hand, a previous trip with a 1 am start from Chennai (Thiruvanmiyur) ended in a nightmare Krishnagiri-Bangalore drive with me jostling for road space with dozens of private buses. The jam at 5 am at Madiwala (where all these buses drop passengers) extended 3 km onto the BETL. Worst time to start, I think.

Nowadays, after a lot of trial and error, I time my arrival in Bangalore between 1 and 4 am.

As for food options: areas surrounding toll booths, CCDs and petrol pumps are the best places to look for all-night places. I stock up before starting actually.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by binand

I've done an 8.30 pm start from Thiruporur via Chengalpet-Walajabad joining the GQ beyond Kanchipuram; it was quite alright (reached home in Bangalore at around 2 am iirc).

I remember this update of yours. You took Walajabad-Military Road and joined on the other side. I was toying with that idea and eventually chickened out and took Oragadam-Sriperumbudur fearing truck traffic in that 9 km Walajabad-Kanchipuram section. It was like 'cultural shock' after joining NH4 at Sriperumbudur

Rest of the drive was peaceful though. Krishnagiri-Hosur was a breeze at that hour, since its well ahead of those private bus traffic.

Another weekend run coming up, will try it then.

[strawhat]

Went to Ambur to run an errand yesterday. We took the usual Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vaniyambadi route for the onward journey. It was a largely uneventful drive apart from the longish queues at all three toll gates we encountered. The road is as usual blissful to drive on and moreover the traffic calmed down after Krishnagiri diversion which meant we cruised very leisurely.

Lunched at Sai Sangeet before Ambur. It was way overcrowded and they only had a limited menu. I am a fan of their various podi idly's. So I was disappointed not to find them on their lunch offering. The South Indian Thali was strictly average, not worth the hassle. I think its a great stop for breakfast or a late evening snack, may be not so much for afternoon meal.

After finishing our work at Ambur, we decided to try a new route for our return. Google maps showed Asanampattu-Alangayam route cutting through the Jawadi mountain range, which got us interested. At Madhanur, we exited the NH and hopped on to a road that connects with Vellore-Tirupattur SH. This 6km twisty stretch is wide, was relaid recently and is great. The SH passes through a mini ghat section with one hairpin bend. It was very scenic until Alangayam, where we deviated towards Vaniyambadi instead of continuing for Tirupattur. All this while the roads were in excellent condition although it becomes narrow at some places and the traffic is sparse with monkeys giving us company throughout. An evening drive with windows down, fresh cool breeze hitting us is something we all had been craving for and we got it unexpectedly.

Back on the 6 line highway at Vaniyambadi, we continued on with a solitary stop at Sree Saravana Bhavan after Krishnagiri toll gate. Felt the filter coffee at both Sai Sangeet and here, although good, does not hold a candle in front of Murugan Idly Shop. Also spotted large gathering on service road opposite Grand Honda showroom near Hosur. It looked like an accident site. The crowd obstructed our view and we didn't slow down much either.

[prabhuferrari]

An update on the pallikonda palamaneru route. Right after pallikonda toll gate towards gudiyattam there is some road work going on. So you cannot go below the flyover and take over. Instead proceed on the NH for 2 kms, take a U Turn(Barricades and lots of fancy lights announcing that there is a divider) and come back to pallikonda and take a left. Takes 5 min extra but worth it. Between Palamaneru to Nangli the road is now 99.9% complete. Just one section of the flyover to be open above the Punganuru crossing. Should be done any moment. Took me 4.30 hours from Saligramam to Chokkenahalli/Bharatiya city today morning. Left at 5.15 AM.

[paragsachania]

While returning from Kochi (Idukki to be precise) last Friday night, these were the scenes at Attibele toll both where traffic had come to standstill with queues extending upto nearly a Kilometer as you can notice in this Dashcam clip. The Jam was towards Hosur although I did spend at least 13-15 minutes to cross the booth towards Bangalore as well.

2 Buses actually drove on the opposite side and reach the booth.

https://youtu.be/N1ck6N6E-EU

I really pity this situation with our toll booths. So much of waste of time and fuel. Secondly, I see that Attibele booth has very less lanes to cater to such rush. They must instead dedicate all booths to one side traffic and shift the booth for the opposite side elsewhere. This was done at NICE Road and things got better. This was also implemented at the infamous Khedshivapur booth before Pune that made things efficient to large extent.

[narayans80]

Took Tambaram-Mudichur-Mannivakkam-Walajabad-Military Road this time. Did escape those buses. Don't think I've saved any time through. 2.5 hrs is what it took from Taramani to merging on NH4, starting at 8:10 pm and made it to my destination at 3:20 am. Surprising part was Pallikonda toll took 25 mins to clear, rest of the tolls were a breeze.

Return direction, was at Marathahalli Shell at 10:10 pm, reached home at 3:40 am with a 15 min break at CCD Shoolagiri. Drive was with a boot load of stuff (literally), so wasn't pushing past 90 most of the time. Traffic was much higher than last weeks' and showed in Attibele and Krishnagiri tolls.

Was looking of places open during night > 11 pm

Bangalore-Madras direction (no surprises on first 3)

1. Adith Bhavan attached to a Reliance
2. CCD and McD Shoolagiri
3. A2B Chinnar
4. CCD 5 km before Ambur (this is a big CCD by the side of the road, not attached to any petrol station)
5. KDFC 3 kms ahead of the Shell at Abdullapuram
6. Small shops just after Chennasamudram toll

Madras-Bangalore direction

1. CCD around 175th km - This is again separate CCD
2. Grand Preethi after Vaniyambadi toll