Did a peaceful drive from Bangalore-Chittoor-Madras-Tiruttani-Nagari-Madras-Bangalore trip in last 4 days.
After reading news reports on 13th Sept Friday, that there will be a 48 hour bandh in AP due to telengana protests, on 14th Sept consciously took the risky decision to go via Chittoor route this time to reach Madras as i was tired of driving in GQ. For couple of reasons, i personally prefer NH4 instead of GQ
- Easy & quick to exit city (K.R. Puram) and get on to highways in less than 10 minutes from C.V.Raman Nagar.
- Shorter distance to Madras compared to GQ
- Less tolls to pay
- Consistently i get better FE (easily 15 kmpl in my i20 petrol car with 100% A/C)
- Not driving in high speeds (100+ kmph) for longer periods. Most of the drive is about 70 to 90 kmph leading to better FE and less risky too. (At times in GQ, i get speed sickness due to spikes and drop in speeds (100+ kmph in empty roads and 20 kmph in diversions )
Coming back to the route updates, since i was leaving home around 7 am in the morning on 14th Sept, didn't want to go via GQ and told my wife in advance that incase, if there are roadblock protests, we may have to drive additional kms and join GQ wherever possible. She agreed with some hesitation. Started the drive at 7 am and reached Madras Tambaram Sanitorium at 12 :30 pm including 30 minutes break.
Though it was a bandh day, there were surprisingly no protests anywhere and things were normal all throughout in NH4. Infact it was more peaceful to drive now in NH4 as there is not even a single APSRTC/KSRTC bus plying in this route. Only few trucks and private vehicles are traveling and hence very less traffic. I considered myself lucky and my bet to take NH4 worked well !
Upto Mulbagal, the 2 toll booths are all set to become operational and they are noting down all the vehicles plying through the route, but not collecting money at the moment though all the gates are fully staffed and working like a regular toll.
I asked when they will start collecting money, but they are unsure and said it is trial runs.
Toll rate after Hoskote : Rs. 15 / -
Toll rate before Mulbagal : Rs. 61 /-
I took Sriperumbudur-Manimangalam-Mudichur-Tambaram route this time as i had to attend a function in Tambaram Sanitorium. The road is awesome to drive tilll Mudichur. Both the sides fully covered trees and for a moment, i thought whether we are really driving around Madras or in some place near pollachi
In return journey yesterday 17th Sept, being a working day and as there was no bandh in AP, i was in dilemma whether to take chittoor route or drive in GQ. Since my previous attempt was successful and also i knew that no buses are plying (and hence less traffic) again took the decision to drive completely in NH4.
Left vadapalani at 3 pm and reached C.V.Raman Nagar at 8:45 pm including 30 minutes break. I reached chittoor around 6 pm and since road widening work is happening between palamaner & mulbagal one word of caution to drive very carefully after sunset in this stretch.
In short, if you are lucky you will have a very peaceful drive if there are no protests in AP !
-Ravi