[Travelyogi]

Hi,
I recently travelled from Bangalore to chennai. The road suggested would be banglore-hoskote-krishnagiri-ambur-vellore-vandalur-chennai
This is better than the other alternative. The roads are superb and you can cover distance much faster as traffic flow is lesser compared to chengalpatu-tindivanam road.

After vellore you will encounter many upcoming road projects/flyovers. This may slow you down but not as much. Stick to the NH. Gmpas may optimize and suggest a detour before sriperumbudur/vandalor. The alternate deviation road suggested by gmaps if taken, can set you back by atleast 2hours to travel less than 15km.
Yes, this road has limited good restaurants where you could take a halt. Also watch out for fuel stations. Havent come across many!

Hope this helps!

Drive safe and Stay safe!

Thanks

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Travelyogi

Gmpas may optimize and suggest a detour before sriperumbudur/vandalor. The alternate deviation road suggested by gmaps if taken, can set you back by atleast 2hours to travel less than 15km.

Google is a good servant, but a very bad master! You should know your destination well and have a general sense of direction and then only let Google guide you.

Else like you said it can set you off totally in a different direction.

The best way is to firstly get a crowd knowledge based on frequent travellers and then use that route and take Google's help to guide you via that route. That works the best.

[binand]

Looks like I'll have to go to Chennai on Friday. Have a meeting which is a bit flexible on time (between 2 & 5 PM - but as early as possible) in Nungambakkam. I also have about 1 hour of pre-req work.

How bad will the traffic be if I start from Bangalore at around 6.30 AM? I see lots of trouble spots between Vellore and Sriperumbudur. How much of a delay would those cause? In the past 7 hours was ample for me, but this time - should I start earlier (like say, 5 AM or even earlier)?

I suppose till Poonamallee I'm committed to the GQ. What beyond - Porur-Vadapalani-Kodambakkam?

[anandhsub]

Originally Posted by binand

I suppose till Poonamallee I'm committed to the GQ. What beyond - Porur-Vadapalani-Kodambakkam?

Any route but this. With metro work it would take a couple of hours to get to Nungambakkam from Poonamallee.

I think Maduravoiyal-> Nelson Manickam road-> Loyola would be the best bet although it has been ages since I have been to that part of town.

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by binand

How bad will the traffic be if I start from Bangalore at around 6.30 AM? I see lots of trouble spots between Vellore and Sriperumbudur. How much of a delay would those cause? In the past 7 hours was ample for me, but this time - should I start earlier (like say, 5 AM or even earlier)?

I had done a Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore drive recently (weekend of Nov 19/20). 6:30 AM is a good start time since you will reach the dreaded Chennasamudram - Chennai stretch after 10:30 or so which will ease the chaos of factory/ college traffic. The Chennasamudram - Sriperumbudur stretch has deteriorated and there are some bad stretches. Some of the diversions along service roads are quite long and you will lose time. Still 7 hours should be a safe estimate to reach Maduravoil. I don't have much of an idea beyond this since I turn off at Koyambedu to Anna Nagar but you may need at least another 1-1.5 hours to reach central destinations in Chennai.

For reference, I had started from Bangalore (BG Road) at 11:15 AM and reached Anna Nagar at 5:30 PM with a diesel and lunch stop of around 50 mins or so.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

6:30 AM is a good start time since you will reach the dreaded Chennasamudram - Chennai stretch after 10:30 or so which will ease the chaos of factory/ college traffic.

Since I had a time constraint I started earlier than originally planned, at 5.15 AM. Reached my destination (Park hotel) in Nungambakkam at 11.15 AM, with a stop at Sai Sangeet for breakfast and another at a nondescript BPCL before Kanchipuram for diesel. That gave me enough time for the pre-req work also.

Somehow found the Ranipet-Chennai section not as bad as I had expected - the detours were moving quickly enough and the problem junctions didn't create that much problem for me. All toll booths were functioning smoothly and even the metro works at both ends didn't impede me much. One of the least eventful Chennai trips I have ever had.

Originally Posted by anandhsub

I think Maduravoiyal-> Nelson Manickam road-> Loyola would be the best bet although it has been ages since I have been to that part of town.

Thanks for this. It took 1 hour from Poonamallee to Nungambakkam along this route (25 km). Not bad at all for a Friday morning.

Btw, what are those abandoned-looking pillars on the median between Maduravoyal and Koyambedu? Surely there's no metro planned along that road?

[Capri89]

Originally Posted by binand

Btw, what are those abandoned-looking pillars on the median between Maduravoyal and Koyambedu? Surely there's no metro planned along that road?

Those are for Chennai Port - Maduravoyal elevated expressway. Has been there for some years. And will be there for some more years. The usual bureaucratic - political - environmental project delays of this State.

[ns94]

Good morning folks. Need a suggestion for Chennai (Nungambakkam) to Chittoor for a relative travelling tomorrow. 7 AM start

Option 1: Traditional Poonamallee - Ranipet - Chittoor
Option 2 suggested by GMaps: Multiple routes to Arakkonam/Tiruttani - Sholingar - Ponnai - Chittoor.

TIA

[narayans80]

If your relative leaves at 7 am, he will take 1:00-1:15 hrs to get out of city. I would suggest to leave an hour to hour and half early.

Originally Posted by ns94

Option 1: Traditional Poonamallee - Ranipet - Chittoor

Tambaram-Vandalur-Oragadam-Sunguvarchatram-Ranipet-Chittoor

Arakkonam/Tiruttani - Sholingar - Ponnai - Chittoor.

This will work if the destination is on the eastern side of Chittoor. Few pages back Prabhu had mentioned its a pain to cross Chittoor

[Capri89]

Drove Chennai - Bangalore yesterday. Took the Vandalur-Suguvarchatram-Chittoor route.
Started at 6 am. Very foggy weather. Visibility was bad at certain places. Please drive carefully.

Good news. The stretch opposite CMC, Vellore is now asphalted. What a relief.

However, the road near Chittoor collectorate is pot holes ridden, post monsoon.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Capri89

Good news. The stretch opposite CMC, Vellore is now asphalted. What a relief.

OMG - Finally they did it. I am pinching myself to believe it - LOL

Thanks for sharing the good news. Appreciated it.

-Ravi

[vandemanw]

Thanks to the information here, was able to complete my Bangalore-Chennai trip without hassle. Since destination was tambaram, for the onward journey took the Sunguvarchatram-vallakottai- vandalur route.
Could cover Vellore-Tambaram in 2 h 20 min in the morning. Road surface on NH48 was quite broken and potholed between Kanchipuram and Sunguvarchatram. Also had to encounter a lot of traffic post chennasamudram at peak office going time.

On return took the
tambaram-walajabad- uthukadu junction- neervalur- vellore
We started at dusk, and still covered the stretch in 2h 20 min despite heavy traffic till the chennasamudram toll. SH48 is in excellent condition rivaling the best 6 lane highways in the country. The village roads towards uthukadu and neervalur have excellent Tarmac quality too. Till, repair works on NH48 are completed, this route via Walajabad seems to make most sense for destinations in South Chennai from Bangalore/vellore.

For some reason: While returning, Google Maps kept trying to re-route us through Cheyyar initially and then through Kanchipuram town, with significantly higher travel times. Stuck to the route discussed here and was fine. Any idea why this happens?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vandemanw

re-route us through Cheyyar initially and then through Kanchipuram town

Most likely you were suggested Laurel Cinemas-Uthiramerur- Vandavasi-Mangal X Road-Cheyyar-Arcot. You'll avoid the construction entirely, but you won't save any time. It'll possibly take 20-30 minutes extra.

It may not be Kanchipuram town, but going through Walajabad-Military Road-SH143 and joining at 76th km Kanchi exit is another option.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by vandemanw

On return took the
tambaram-walajabad- uthukadu junction- neervalur- vellore
We started at dusk, and still covered the stretch in 2h 20 min despite heavy traffic till the chennasamudram toll. SH48 is in excellent condition rivaling the best 6 lane highways in the country.

For some reason: While returning, Google Maps kept trying to re-route us through Cheyyar

Oh okay, so it was not just for me. Even for me the google threw that route while I was coming from Chengalpettu to join the highway on this last Monday evening. I ignored that as I wanted to get on the highway as soon as possible. I also took more or less the same route as that of yours. After Uthukadu, the roads got narrower, but went through some nice paddy fields before joining the NH at just before Hotel Saravana Bhavan.

The route I took:

[raju2512]

If you are taking SH120 route via Oragadam, please be careful in the stretch from Oragadam flyover to Padappai. Huge craters will appear out of no where. If driving in the night stick to the left side rather than close to divider. The side of the road towards Oragadam from Vandalur is ok.

The Sriperumbudur Manimangalam road is also not good. Road widening work is happening with roads dug on either side and rough patches. Avoid during night time