[shankar.balan]

I drove Bangalore to Madras and back in December 2022. As mentioned elsewhere on the thread that road was really potholed and with bad surfaces with all the construction work after the Chennasamudram Toll on the way out and the same on the way in. I had taken my Thar and we left at 0530. Stopped at Sai Sangeet for a quick bute. It took till 12 noon to reach Madras. On the way back we left at 0830 but were able to reach Bangalore only by about 3pm. Of course we took a coffee break and all. And there was a lot of traffic both ways. It was indeed a slow crawl and the surfaces werent good as said above. Even in a Jeepy thing. And of course in the Thar its best not to cross 110kmph.

Yesterday I decided to go again. Just for a day for some personal work. We left at 0430. And after crossing Chennasamudram I was bracing myself for a similar slow crawl on bad surfaces. Took the Cooper on the off chance. Stopped at Arcot for a quick bite. Was very pleasantly surprised that even after Chennasamudram the service roads were fine despite all the work going on and there was very light traffic too. We reached Madras at 0945. Today we left at 1030. And drove at normal pace with just two stops, for Tender Coconut and for a wash break. And again there was very light traffic and we surprisingly reached home at 330pm.
There clearly seems to be some progress in 4 months. But it is still absolutely criminal that an arterial National highway between two important cities is left to languish like this and develop at such a poor pace.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

There clearly seems to be some progress in 4 months.

No progress, basically you are just driving longer stretches of service road instead of main carriageway. It was the main carriageway that was in terrible state in December.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by narayans80

No progress, basically you are just driving longer stretches of service road instead of main carriageway. It was the main carriageway that was in terrible state in December.

Longer stretches of service roads. But better surfaces for sure, compared with December.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Longer stretches of service roads. But better surfaces for sure, compared with December.

I drove last friday from Madras to Bangalore, and agree to what Shankar Balan mentioned. Its much better than previous trips but still long way to go.
Its atrocious to have pathetic service road particularly in front of SIPCOT Sriperumbudur.

In previous trip, it was 80 to 90% of driving in service road, but this time what i noticed is this we can switch back to main carriage way.

More work is pending between Kanchipuram to Sriperumbudur towards Madras. compared to Sriperumbudur to Chennasamudram towards Bangalore side where still significant work is pending. Work is happening but not in brisk pace and seems to be slow.

At any rate, its still not justified to pay the Chennasamudram toll.

-Ravi

[motorpsycho]

All, I am planning a trip to Kanchipuram, will be starting from Hebbal, Google maps is recommending Hoskote>Kolar>Chittoor>Kanchipuram. Please share your inputs on this route and general road condition.

[venki.bala]

Originally Posted by motorpsycho

All, I am planning a trip to Kanchipuram, will be starting from Hebbal, Google maps is recommending Hoskote>Kolar>Chittoor>Kanchipuram. Please share your inputs on this route and general road condition.

Till Chitoor its a beautiful 4 lane road with lots of options for food and fuel. Chitoor ranipet is a 2 lane road but in good condition. ranipet - Kanchipuram is work in progress zone. but nothing to worry. Last week it took me 5.30 mins with 30 mins break near Chitoor from Hoskote to Avadi( Chennai).

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by motorpsycho

All, I am planning a trip to Kanchipuram, will be starting from Hebbal, Google maps is recommending Hoskote>Kolar>Chittoor>Kanchipuram. Please share your inputs on this route and general road condition.

No issues till you reach Ranipet city, the route till there is a breeze. Getting from there to Kanchipuram will be messy, first going through the Ranipet city and then the ongoing work in progress till Kanchipuram.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Getting from there to Kanchipuram will be messy, first going through the Ranipet city and then the ongoing work in progress till Kanchipuram.

NH section is fine. It will be slow, but not messy as it was in December. NH to Kanchipuram would be bad.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by motorpsycho

All, I am planning a trip to Kanchipuram, will be starting from Hebbal, Google maps is recommending Hoskote>Kolar>Chittoor>Kanchipuram. Please share your inputs on this route and general road condition.

In addition to what others mentioned, You can refer to my 28th March post which has complete details.

-Ravi

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by narayans80

NH section is fine. It will be slow, but not messy as it was in December. NH to Kanchipuram would be bad.

My update is as of Feb end. We returned via Walajabad - Kanchipuram route and NH onwards and the diversions and ongoing work was still something that I would consider not good by any standards. No more Chennai trips by road for us till they finish that highway.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

My update is as of Feb end.

Walajabad-Military Road-Kanchipuram is terrible, don't attempt. Military Road stretch was dug up in patches. This was during Sankaranti

My update is from Feb end as well. We were returning home from Vainu Bapu. Took me 3 hours and I was driving at night (830-1130 pm). We exited out of NH at Sunguvarchatram and took Sriperumbudur Sipcot-Vallakottai-SP Koil

My comparison point was against December, when I ended up with lower backache for 2 days. So bad, I took Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam during my Sankaranti drive.

Even that Feb drive I wanted to return via Polur-Tiruvannamalai, but was advised against due to elephant movement. I must say, I was surprised at the relatively non disastrous albeit slow drive.

[Madrasin_selvan]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Even that Feb drive I wanted to return via Polur-Tiruvannamalai, but was advised against due to elephant movement. I must say, I was surprised at the relatively non disastrous albeit slow drive.

Off Topic, but do elephants exist in this area? Last I heard was there is a lone tusker in Jawadhu Hills Forest Belt.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Madrasin_selvan

Off Topic, but do elephants exist in this area? Last I heard was there is a lone tusker in Jawadhu Hills Forest Belt.

It was 645 pm when we were leaving Vainu Bappu. We saw < 10 vehicles during the onward journey and we had a sidewall cut right after Jamunamarthur. So I was returning with 4 dependents with no spare tyre.

There were enough challenges on plate apart from the lone tusker, which I was not in a state to investigate after dusk.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Had to make a trip to Bangalore on Tuesday, onward was by Vande Bharath while return was by bus. Though the ride in the bus was not as rough as a car the last 50 km stretch continues to have enough back and forth diversions between main carriage way and service roads to make it a not so easy drive. But certainly it is much better than say during the start of the year

[CaptBrat1845]

I did Chennai - Bangalore (Bannerghatta) on 26th March and returned on 27th March.
on my RE Himalayan.
Chennai Bangalore - tried something different and went via Gingee - Tiruvannamalai - Krishnagiri in order to avoid the cumbersome on-off stretches of the main highway.
I was actually pretty happy with the roads on this route, and being off beat, not much traffic either, although it is a 2 laner for a large part. But the 2 lanes are pretty wide. Few diversions where bridges and culverts are being built. Nothing out of the ordinary from Krishnagiri to Bangalore.

While returning, decided to take the regular route. Its all ok until the 'take diversions' start. Was not very happy, but managed to keep up the pace (as i was on a 2 wheeler) and the ups and downs of the diversions were easily absorbed by the Himalayan.
But personally, I would rather avoid this stretch for a while, may be about 2 months for them to make the roads better than what it is now.
Hopefully, the no rains summer months incl. kathriveyyil period would improve the road construction speeds. The roads arent bad, but just the cumbersome process of taking diversions every 2-3 kms is really a pain. Moreover, the buses and trucks jostling for space in the service lane so that each one can be the first one out of it onto the main carriageway is something to be constantly keeping an eye out for, especially if you are in a 4 wheeler.