[mahesh27]

I drove back from Chennai to Blr today. I know the Ranipet-Chennai stretch has been spoken about a lot, so I will skip that. But I discovered a beautiful road to hit North Bangalore from NH 75 without having to deal with city traffic. If you reside in North Blr, highly recommend getting off NH75 before you even hit Budhigere cross. Instead get on to the newly opened NH 648 (which is part of the bangalore STRR satellite town ring road). The first phase of this tolled road connects NH75 to NH44 (Bellary Road) at Devanahalli. Its a brilliant 25 or so km stretch, no need to deal with old madras road, KR Puram, outer ring road etc to get to Hebbal or Yelahanka etc. Apparently this road was opened to traffic only earlier this month. It will mean driving an extra 13-15 kms, but it's a breeze, no traffic or traffic lights, and smooth as silk.

[EVICE]

Thanks a lot Mahesh, wonderful find. I stay at Jakkur and will help greatly to beat the ORR OMR touchpoints. can you kindly help share this route on the map.

Can we take this route for the onward journey to Chennai as well?

Originally Posted by mahesh27

I drove back from Chennai to Blr today. I know the Ranipet-Chennai stretch has been spoken about a lot, so I will skip that. But I discovered a beautiful road to hit North Bangalore from NH 75 without having to deal with city traffic. If you reside in North Blr, highly recommend getting off NH75 before you even hit Budhigere cross. Instead get on to the newly opened NH 648 (which is part of the bangalore STRR satellite town ring road). The first phase of this tolled road connects NH75 to NH44 (Bellary Road) at Devanahalli. Its a brilliant 25 or so km stretch, no need to deal with old madras road, KR Puram, outer ring road etc to get to Hebbal or Yelahanka etc. Apparently this road was opened to traffic only earlier this month. It will mean driving an extra 13-15 kms, but it's a breeze, no traffic or traffic lights, and smooth as silk.

[mahesh27]

Originally Posted by EVICE

Thanks a lot Mahesh, wonderful find. I stay at Jakkur and will help greatly to beat the ORR OMR touchpoints. can you kindly help share this route on the map.

Can we take this route for the onward journey to Chennai as well?

Hi, yes I think you can, I just tried it on gmaps and was able to get this route. Also, when I was driving the other way, I noticed traffic in the opposite direction. So it must be open both ways now. I've attached a screenshot of the route from RMZ Galleria mall in Yelahanka to the point where this route joins NH75. Hope this helps

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by qr20de

Be prepared for one more traffic block at the Ambur junction, which took me 10 minutes to cross. There's another minor diversion before Krishnagiri but easy to navigate.

Drove back from Chennai today and it took 30 min to cross Ambur. They should have created a by-pass instead of a flyover. Its going to be a major bottleneck for the next 12-18 months.

Add to it the black topping being carried out in 2 places. The slow moving trucks create a convoy of vehicles that are a kilometer long. GMaps was showing orange and I thought it was because of traffic. But then later figured out it was because of the slow moving vehicles causing a convoy.

[Osteon206]

Did Mysore - Chennai - Mysore day trip on 19th December in my Taigun 1.0 MT. This was my personal longest drive in Taigun within 21 hours - 930km.

Onward journey
Mysore - Chennai (Adyar)
Time taken - 7 hours
Breakfast stop @ Sai Sangeet - 20 mins
This was a pleasant drive except for the part after Vellore which had excessive two wheelers on all the lanes and way too many diversions. Took the Hosur route by the way. At Sriperumbudur, followed G map advise and took the Manimangalam route - first time we took this route, very good roads and barely any traffic till Tambaram. We left from mysore at 5am and reached Chennai by noon.

We visited a relative’s place and spent some time at Chennai. Departed at 5pm.

Return journey
Chennai (Alwarpet) - Mysore
Time taken - 9 hours
Coffee stop near Krishnagiri - 10 mins
This was a harrowing experience. It took a good 3 hours to reach Ranipet itself with the heavy traffic. The high beams from the vehicles travelling on the opposite direction was not an issue at all but those from the vehicles which I had just overtaken are blinding. Some headlights are so bright that even the auto dimming IRVM is not able to handle it. That plus reflection off the ORVMs is quite annoying. Another thing is that trucks and trailers are all over the place in all three lanes. Most of the time overtakes were on the left most lane since the fast lane and middle lane are occupied by trucks.

This is when I realised that it would have been better to stay back at Chennai and leave early morning. I have not felt this tired after driving 650km from Goa to Mysore via Mangalore. Hopefully things will improve once the expressway is completed. But still it’s upto road users to have basic civic sense to not use high beam unnecessarily. That way I feel most drivers in Kerala, coastal Karnataka and ghat regions in general don’t blind others with high beams.

[Innysta]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Since you are in the southern end of Madras, you have the option to do Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai-Krishnagiri-Bangalore too. This is if you don't have a mental block towards driving 2-laned roads.

Do you recommend this route against Chennasamudram-Vellore-Krishnagiri route? My starting point is Tambaram and destination is Mysore.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Innysta

Do you recommend this route against Chennasamudram-Vellore-Krishnagiri route? My starting point is Tambaram and destination is Mysore.

If it's Tambaram, I would suggest just stuck Vandalur-Walaja-Sunguvachatram-Kanchi.

[Innysta]

Originally Posted by ampere

If it's Tambaram, I would suggest just stuck Vandalur-Walaja-Sunguvachatram-Kanchi.

Going by our community updates, roads till Ranipet are in real bad shape, even extended upto Krishnagiri due to diversions..Walaja-Kanchi will byepass Sunguvarchatram. Isn't it?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Innysta

Going by our community updates, roads till Ranipet are in real bad shape, even extended upto Krishnagiri due to diversions..Walaja-Kanchi will byepass Sunguvarchatram. Isn't it?

If you manage your start time early, you can easily make it to Sunguvarchatram bypass. And then yes you need to manage till Ranipet. But I think it's OK. Yes there are diversions, but can be managed. The other big traffic hold-up comes up at Ambur where the flyovers are being done. Thats a new problem yes. I still think it can be managed.

The big problem is managing Chennai exit in time.

[Makin Rulesz]

Yesterday evening did this route.Took Tambaram - Vandalur - right turn before Walajabad - some interior roads guided by gmap - few km before Kanchipuram - Ranipet - Chittor - Bangalore.
Good news is Roads starting from where I joined highway before Kanchipuram until Chennasamudram has been completely patched up and potholes free.

[venkyhere]

To be honest, large swathes of the 'broken stretch' between chennasamudram and poonamallee are fixed. The last two times I did chennai<->blore, I simply used the 'bus route' koyambedu <-> maduravoyal <-> sriperdumbudur <-> chennasamudram and concluded that this is still the fastest and due to may 'fixes' put in, deviations have reduced and surface has improved in a lot of places, compared to, say 6 months before. I no longer feel the need to use sunguvarchantram or kanchipuram deviations to hop onto walajabad-oragadam-vandalur road. The big takeaway for me was never to use the poonamalle<->porur<->kathipara stretch to enter/exit chennai from/to GQ, for the next 1/2 a year atleast as it's in complete shambles. Instead, use any route originating/ending at koyambedu cloverleaf exchange.

[ssbiitm]

Did the IIT - Yelahanka run on 22nd and the return on 23rd.

Onward from IIT via Kathipara - airport - Pallavaram - Kunrathur - Sriperumbudur - Ranipettai - Chittoor - Kolar - Devanahalli - Yelahanka
Pallavaram - Kunrathur - Sriperumbudur was perhaps the shortest route but not the most comfortable drive. Too many turns, undivided road for the most part, too much traffic and just incredible amounts of garbage all around makes it tedious in every way. (should have taken Vandalur - Padappai - Oragadam - SIPCOT - Sunguvarchatram route which is a much better road for the most part and a lot cleaner).
Sriperumbudur to Ranipettai is okay, but the diversions at regular intervals make it rather painful in having a comfortable steady drive.
Stopped at Amirtha restaurant (Darling bakery) just before BHEL Ranipettai. I like the place - the food is tasty and the waiters are really nice.
From Ranpettai to Hoskote is a fun drive. You have to be careful to figure out where to get off to take 648 and the same problem getting off 648 at Devanahalli. Google maps are not fully updated, especially for the exit ramp. 648 is lovely to drive on with hardly any traffic, but careful there are cameras which are monitoring your speed!
Took about 7 hrs door to door with a half hour stop for breakfast and a few driver change stops.

Return from Yelahanka via Devanahalli - Kolar - Ranipettai - Sriperumbudur - Poonamallee - Porur - Guindy - IIT
As usual 648 was a very pleasurable short-lived drive. Once 648 ends you need Google maps to help you get to the Kolar - Chittoor highway. From there to Chittoor is a great drive. Chittoor to Ranipettai is mostly divided, except for near the two railway crossings (one overhead and one level) and some sections closer to Ranpettai.
At Ranipettai I ran into my standard problem of getting to the Vellore - Chennai highway. There is some issue with Google maps there. The route it shows is at variance with what is legally permissible. There is a no entry at one point, but I think that so many vehicles pass that spot driving the wrong way that Google believes it to be a two way stretch. Unfortunately, I was on Android auto on my screen and closely following the car ahead and before I knew it, we had gone along the wrong way and there were a few cars behind me following me closely! So, I just carried on and in no time joined the Chennai highway. (Incidentally, the last time, I had noticed this one way section and trying to be a good driver I disregarded the Google map advice of taking the stretch in the wrong direction. I ended up entering into Ranipettai town near the bus terminus and there was a jam which held us up for about half an hour. Later learned that this jam was a commonplace thing.)
For some strange reason I decided not to enter SIPCOT at Sungavurchatram and continued to Sriperumbudur (the first mistake on my part). That part of the road is quite terrible and road is full of potholes.
Then at Sriperumbudur I should have turned off towards Manimangalam, but I heard Google maps telling me that the Poonamallee stretch is faster - my second big mistake. Not only was the road bad, there was congestion at various points (since they were tarring/topping up the road sections which were bad causing utter chaos - this was at 5 in the evening!). The irony of it is that you are charged toll at the Sriperumbudur toll plaza - for what?
The return trip took 8 hours door to door including the stops, congestions and what nots!
Would not recommend the last stretch (Sunguvurchatram - Sriperumbudur - Poonamalleee - Porur - Guindy) for the time being. Cut off to SIPCOT at Sungavurchatram and come to Oragadam and take the Padappai - Vandalur - Tambaram - airport - Guindy route instead)
Glad to see lots of clean and large eating places in the Chittoor - Mulbagal - Kolar section. There was a time when I made Woodys a definite stop on my drive. I liked the huge structure with the massive ceiling fan, the bustling activity and the food was always very tasty. The last few times I found hardly any one there and half the items in the menu were not available. It is a very sad sight now. No one stops there and neither did I. Got the feeling that they were dismantling the place! Really sad.
Best to fill petrol at the Karnataka end as it is the cheapest there. Andhra is to be avoided. TN is a wee bit more expensive than Karnataka.
Got an overall mileage of about 20-21 kmpl in my Baleno Alpha (2017) for the full trip including the short totally inefficient petrol-guzzling drives within Bangalore!!

[ptezhil]

Chennai to Vaniyambadi and back – a better ride than before

This is my first post on Team-Bhp , thank you for making me part of this forum. Following this thread for some time, so couldn’t resist posting my experience.

Disclaimer: This is a Chennai Vaniyambadi ride, so I am not comparing with Chittoor Kolar route.

First of all, I didn’t drive all the way to Bangalore, did a Chennai -> Vaniyambadi -> Chennai trip. I wanted to share this as I think, this stretch is the most important part of the Chennai Bangalore ride, which concerns everyone.

Date of Trip: 24th December 2023

I want to mention both up and down separately as I felt they were different.

Chennai to Vaniyambadi

Start time: 9 AM

• My place in Chennai is at Mogappair West, so Maduravoil is entry point to NH48, just 2.5 kms from at place.
  
  
• From Maduravoil till Poonamallee the road is good, nothing to complain.

• Poonamallee till Sriperumbuthur After Poonamallee starts broken roads. But they have patched most of it, I would say 90% of them. We have more pits, also on the newly laid road. Some patch work has been done but not completely. Most of broken roads are not wide, but little deep. This stretch, in spite of having damage was not of concern.
  
  
• Sriperumbuthur to Kanchipuram was the bad part, but a lot of patch work has been done. This is where diversions start. This stretch, road work and bridge work are not happening and looks like they have deserted this place for sometime now. The stretch is ridable.
  
  
• Kanchipuram to Walajapet was like most part good road and some are broken. Here I saw workers and machinery doing patch work. Here work is going on, in the bridges. Looks like 2 bridges would be completed soon. Felt like 1 new bridge has been opened for traffic.
  
  
• Walajapet to Vellore – mostly roads are good. Places near toll and bridge works are a bit bad. But they were very short ones.
  
  
• Vellore to Vaniyambadi – looks like they have laid new layer of road on most part, I would say 85% of them. Lane markings are not there and looks fresh, should have been completed very recently. Ambur bridge work is going on and it won’t be completed in the recent future. What I felt was, it is like any other diversion, enough place to ride through. The difference is here local people enter the NH and have no rules or ethics of a highway. As it is in the center of a populated town, so is the mess. It didn’t take much time to cross this section hardly 10 minutes. But at time it would be worse it seems, heard it take 45 minutes sometimes. Other than that, I would say better than before.

Destination reached: 12:30 PM

Time taken: 3 hours 30 minutes (Last time same trip in October it took nearly 5 hours)

Vaniyanbadi to Chennai

Start time: 7 PM

• Vaniyambadi to Vellore was nearly the same good roads, new roads have been laid, but looks like 70% new, remaining are older ones. This side of Ambur bridge diversion was not that bad, just had to drive slowly but no traffic jams.
  
  
• Vellore to Walajapet was ok, not bad.
  
  
• Walajapet to Kanchipuram was also not bad. I felt in this stretch, the distance in between diversions have been reduced, hope some new roads have been laid (It was dark no clarity).
  
  
• Kanchipuram to Sriperumbudur - no much difference mostly good, but dark and no markings.
  
  
• Sriperumbudur to Poonamallee – this part was bad on most part. Lots of broken road and no patch work done. Bit hard to drive at highway speeds, should slow down a lot.
  
  
• Poonamallee to Maduravoil part was also bad. Had to drive slowly.

Destination reached: 10:15 PM

Time taken: 3 hours 15 minutes (Lesser time taken, don’t know why and still it was a night drive)

Conclusion: What I felt was like, the roads overall was much better than that of a few months back. Damage due to rains are prominent, but they are working on it, hopefully it will be fixed soon. I drove a Nxt gen Verna (2017 model), people having the vehicle would know, its smooth on good roads and struggle on bad ones. The ride was good, of course not excellent. I felt the ride to be good, not so bad for a road where the work is not completed. I think it’s a big project and it takes time, with all practical hinderance stuff involved. Only thing they shouldn’t be collecting this much toll for an uncompleted road.

Taking an alternate route wouldn’t be so good, as they are narrower and cannot reach highway speeds easily. Overall time taken and ride quality is better in this route itself. Thank you.

[amavin]

Drove to extreme South Chennai and back - Sunday onward, Wednesday return (24-27 Dec). Started around 6:45AM. Starting from close to a NICE entry, it was a relatively easy exit from BLR. LOT of fog though till around Shoolagiri. Be careful about vehicles without tail lights.
First sign of major traffic buildup was at the Attibele toll and Hosur construction sites. Stopped for breakfast at Sri Krishna Inn in Shoolagiri. Got in just at the right time to find a seat without waiting.
Some roadwork before Vaniyambadi, but didn't slow us down much. Was able to cross Ambur construction in about 10 mins both ways. Road diversions start after the Ranipet bridge... most of it is patched. Saw very few potholes (both onward and return) on the stretch till Sriperumbudur. Didn't take the Oragadam diversion to reach Vandalur - bad call in hindsight. The Sriperumbudur-Poonamalee (ORR) stretch is atrocious, made worse by bikers without helmets weaving for good measure.
Chennai ORR was a breeze, though there are almost no speed limit signages (saw one saying 100 after about 10km of driving).
Return journey was via the Vandalur-Oragadam-Walajabad road 'cos of a stopover at Kanchipuram for some wallet emptying. Roads till Walajabad are fantastic, motorable though undivided after, till Kanchi.
Long stretches of the highway have been asphalted, but lack of lane markers makes it dangerous at times as people have no notion of where they should be.
There were the usual share of dimwits driving... one chap in an Ertiga was in such a hurry that he overtook a bunch of trucks and cars from the wrong side and promptly hit the backside of a truck trying to squeeze in at one of the diversions. Thankfully, nobody was hurt badly.
The biggest bottleneck upon return is the diversion just before crossing over to KA while exiting Hosur. It pays to move to the service road early (Google maps knows).

[thanixravindran]

Starting tomorrow morning to Bangalore. After Oragadam, is the Google maps route okay to use to join just before Kanchipuram (Uthukaadu, Puthagaram, Murukanthangal) or should I take Oragadam to Sunguvarchathiram road (SH120) to join the highway?