[Vignesh_N/A]

Originally Posted by Tollfreerider83

Hi Folks,

I'm planning a solo ride from Chennai to Murudeshwar along with some sightseeing in Udupi and Agumbe on my Thunderbird and will be stopping by at Chikmagalur on day 1 of my ride. I am an early starter (4 am) and would like to know if Hosur-NICE road is still a good option to consider or I can stick to Old Madras route and head towards Tumkur and then to Chikmagalur.

I recently did a similar ride in July. I reached udupi via agumbe and the proceeded north upto Honnavar. Hosur to neelamangala via nice road had decent traffic around 8:30 AM.

I travelled to hosur on bike 2 days back also. The roads until chennasamuthiram are decent enough for bikes. You can do chennai - attibele in under 5:30 hrs with one stop.

[ampere]

Not sure if many of you have realised, there is also a plan to connect the Bangalore-Chennai Expressway to directly north of Chennai close to Tatchoor which then connects to the Ennore port. This 4-lane connects the Bangalore-Chennai Expressway close to south of Chitoor.



An ilustration of how the highway actually forms:





The actual state of development (it should be up in parallel with Bangalore-Chennai Expressway Also. Work is up on this quite well)

[iamnarayang]

Dear friends.
I need to drive to Chennai on October 9th morning from BTM Layout with family. We will be going to New Woodlands, Mylapore. My aged mother will be accompanying me and so would like to avoid the endless road diversions between Ranipet and Sriperumbuddur and also at Ambur. Hence I would like to take the Chitoor, Nagari, Tiruttani rote, as per the map below.

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/BT...!3e0?entry=ttu

Is this is a good route?

Kindly advice,

Regards,
Narayan.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

Dear friends.
I need to drive to Chennai on October 9th morning from BTM Layout with family. We will be going to New Woodlands, Mylapore. My aged mother will be accompanying me and so would like to avoid the endless road diversions between Ranipet and Sriperumbuddur and also at Ambur. Hence I would like to take the Chitoor, Nagari, Tiruttani rote, as per the map below.
......
Is this is a good route?

Kindly advice,

Regards,
Narayan.

I have done part of this route couple of times (last time being in 2021). Bangalore-via Chitoor town- G D Nellore-Pallipattu-Karveti Nagar-Puttur. Roads were good. I have not done Pallipattu-Nagari segement. Don't know how much of a pain it is cross Nagari town.

I do have more recent experience in Bangalore - via Chittoor town - Ponnai - Sholinghur - RKPet - Tiruttani - Tiruvallur. Roads are good inside TN. I have done it even after dusk (closer to midnight). Roads are mostly good and safe - typical of most TN SH. The biggest pain is 20 minutes or so taken to cross Chittoor town.

Last month, I had to do Bangalore - Tiruttani. Gmaps showed roads closed between Chittoor-Ponnai. So I did, Chittoor bypass - Gudipala - Serkadu - Vallimalai - Ponnai - Sholinghur - Tiruttani. Good roads. No need to go via Chittoor town. This would be my suggestion to you.

Be forewarned, roads inside Sholinghur and RK Pet are narrow at some places. Some 5 minutes of pain for your Fortuner. Otherwise all good.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

Is this is a good route?

Its a terrible waste of time. You can take the diversions slow like 60-70. If that is not an exciting prospect, simply take the Shatabdi that morning.

[Habanero City]

Originally Posted by ampere

Not sure if many of you have realised, there is also a plan to connect the Bangalore-Chennai Expressway to directly north of Chennai close to Tatchoor which then connects to the Ennore port. This 4-lane connects the Bangalore-Chennai Expressway close to south of Chitoor.



An ilustration of how the highway actually forms:

Attachment 2510128



The actual state of development (it should be up in parallel with Bangalore-Chennai Expressway Also. Work is up on this quite well)

Attachment 2510127

That's really good for north chennai and west chennai people.
Any idea about the current status of these projects?
According to news reports, this should become operational by this year end.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Habanero City

That's really good for north chennai and west chennai people.
Any idea about the current status of these projects?
According to news reports, this should become operational by this year end.

I am assuming end of 2025 for sure. The expressway would come up earlier. By the way do also note the Chennai peripheral ring road construction is also up. It connects Thatchoor-Thirvallur-Sriperumbudur-Oragadam-Singaperumal Kovil.

Sriperumbudur-Oragadam-Sankaran Kovil is already done and in use. It will externd towards Thiruvallur-Thatchoor.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

Dear friends.
I need to drive to Chennai on October 9th morning from BTM Layout with family. We will be going to New Woodlands, Mylapore. My aged mother will be accompanying me and so would like to avoid the endless road diversions between Ranipet and Sriperumbuddur and also at Ambur. Hence I would like to take the Chitoor, Nagari, Tiruttani rote,...

Hi can you please share your experience on the route you proposed and the travel times?

(Bangalore->Chitoor->Nagari->Tiruttani->Chennai) - this is shown as close to 8 hours.

The usual Bangalore->Chitoor->Kanchi->Chennai shows lots of road blockages, but time shown is 7.5hrs (early morning dep is shows even shorter travel time).

I am planning a drive to Chennai (Kelambakkamto be precise) from North Bangalore.

[iamnarayang]

Originally Posted by whitewing

Hi can you please share your experience on the route you proposed and the travel times?

(Bangalore->Chitoor->Nagari->Tiruttani->Chennai) - this is shown as close to 8 hours.

.

I am afraid i didn't take the Chitoor route, as queried by me. I decided to take the usual Hosur, Krishnagiri, Ranipet, Sriperumbudur route. The roads aren't bad, as i anticiapted, after Ranipet. There were few diversions, but none of them were bad. Ambur has couple of diversions due to flyover constructions. But none of them delayed or bothered my drive to Chennai and back. Left BTM layout at 6: 50 am on 9th October. Reached mylapore at 13:30 without speeding much. This included an one hor hour stop at Sai Sangeet restaurant for breakfast.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

... Left BTM layout at 6: 50 am on 9th October. Reached mylapore at 13:30 without speeding much. This included an one hor hour stop at Sai Sangeet restaurant for breakfast.

Thanks for the confirmation.
Five and a half hours of travel time is quite good indeed!

[Tollfreerider83]

Quick update:

I completed my travel from Chennai. Onward journey was via Chittoor - Kolar - Hoskote - KR Puram - Neelamangala - Kunigal route to Chikamagalur. Google maps showed this was faster, however I beg to differ as I tasted the mad traffic of Bangalore.

On return, I was traveling via Chitradurga and chose the Tumkur - Dobbaspet - Doddaballapur - Kolar route. Found this to be smooth with a handful of diversions only for ongoing road work. This by far was smoother, better and less stressful than getting anywhere close to Bangalore. So next time I'm going to disagree with Google maps!

Btw, I covered 1735 kms on my trip, visiting Chikamagalur, Agumbe, Udupi, Murudeshwar, Jog falls and Chitradurga fort. I must say roads in Karnataka are a treat for riders!

[Nero]

I took the BLR-Kolar-Mulbagal-Chittoor-Ranipet-Sriperumbudur-Chennai route to and fro. No major surprises other than all that is mentioned in the forum.

One thing I wanted to share which I feel is very important and might impact all early morning travellers from Bangalore.. I started around 4.30 am from Bangalore and was near Kolar around 5.15 am. There was intense fog that completely hampered my vision till Mulbagal. The sun was yet to come up and there was darkness, with such dense fog I couldn't see beyond 300 meters and had to park the car on the side hoping and praying for the sun to show up. At around 6:10 am, the sun finally broke the horizon and I was able to see the roads. Yet, the fog persisted,all the way from Kolar, Mulbagal, Palamaner till Chittoor, haunting me till 7 am. I advise extreme CAUTION while taking this route at the wee hours of the morning.

[whitewing]

I took the BLR->Kolar->Chittor->Ranipet->Kanchi->Chennai route over the weekend and return journey was on Vijayadashami.

Started at 7AM from BLR, reached MAA at 5PM with multiple breaks since we had our dog accompanying us, and he needed a break every 1 - 1.5hrs, in addition to our lunch & breakfast stops. Acutal travel time was close to 8hrs.
Return journey also took similar travel times, Started at 12 and reached home at 9PM, the number of breaks were lesser, since our dog slept soundly for most of the travel.
Note that the roads in the TN parts have lots of diversions due to ongoing construction of flyovers. These stretches have a common service lane for the local traffic and the highway traffic.

Food stops:
Maiyas at the Highway Star (after Kolar) - average food, but well maintained washrooms and lots of other food options as well.
Murugan Idly shop, food options were very limited, staff were reluctant to cater. Washrooms were not good - avoid.
Sri Kamatchi Bhavan, Thimmasamudram - Food was good. Washrooms are badly maintained.
Sree Krishna Grand, nangali - didn't have food (ambience is good and dosas looked crisp) - stopped only for a bathroom break - Washrooms are well maintained.


Chennai traffic is so disciplined. Inspite of the congestion in the roads due to the ongoing metro work, people stuck to their lanes. How I wish Bangalore traffic was like this!

[freakmuzik]

Quick update:

Did Chennai - BLR on 6th Nov and BLR - Chennai today (8th Nov)

Chennai - BLR

Route: Koyambedu - Kanchipuram - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Nagasandra
Starting time: 5:30 AM
Ending time: 11:40 AM
Kms: 362 km
Break: 40 mins for Breakfast at Hotel Alankar (food was great and restrooms were neat)
Driving time: 5 hr 30 mins

I wasn't driving too fast but could keep steady speeds all the way.

Lots of diversions till around Vellore but surface was good. Roads were really nice post that. Took the NICE road all the way to Nagasandra.

BLR - Chennai

Route: Kalyan Nagar - Kolar - Mulbagal - Chittoor - Ranipet - Kanchipuram - Koyambedu
Starting time: 6:15 AM
Ending time: 12: 35 PM
Kms: 318 km
Break: 40 mins for Breakfast + Refuelling (Breakfast at Mulbagal Dosa Corner)
Driving time: 5 hr 40 mins

Roads till Chittoor were great but post that, the 2 lane sections were time taking. Also, at Ranipet, due to some flyover construction, had to go through the Ranipet town which was messy. Lots of traffic once we joined NH 48 and as mentioned everywhere, the diversions are annoying. Moderate traffic from around EVP Film city.

[nssrini]

Folks, any recommended route to Chennai Airport directly from South Bangalore (via Vellore, need to pick up someone here) and back ?