[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Jerry macG

Hey folks, anybody on feedback on the chittoor kolar route. Am planning a trip down to Bangalore next week and I want to try this road. Thanks in advance.

Road surface quality is top notch. This is not a fast road to drive on, still enjoyable as the road is hardly ever straight. You need to slow down for all the small towns in between.

The last 85km leading up to Bangalore is four lane and the toll gates are functioning now. Approx 60+15 bucks for two tolls. Watch out for too nasty speed breakers at Hoskote town. Mulbagal by pass which is around 10km is patchy.

[Jerry macG]

Thanks ampere and Sandeep for the heads up. What of road blocks due to the Telangana strife ? Wouldn't want any hold ups particularly since I will be with family.

[Geo_Ipe]

I have to drive to Bangalore from Vellore tomoro morning, want to reach Bangalore by 9-9.30 am.

Destination is Airport Road, Hennur.

My questions:
- Which is the best route? I'm inclined towards taking the Krishnagiri-Hosur route.
- How will Saturday morning traffic be in Bangalore, especially the sts I wanna go to?
- Detailed directions to reach Hennur will be much appreciated!

[binand]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

I have to drive to Bangalore from Vellore tomoro morning, want to reach Bangalore by 9-9.30 am.

Destination is Airport Road, Hennur.

My questions:
- Which is the best route? I'm inclined towards taking the Krishnagiri-Hosur route.
- How will Saturday morning traffic be in Bangalore, especially the sts I wanna go to?
- Detailed directions to reach Hennur will be much appreciated!

1. I think you are better off driving via NH 4. Vellore-Chittoor-Mulbagal-Bangalore.

2. Pretty bad. Probably slightly better (often not palpable) than weekdays.

3. Just keep coming all the way towards Bangalore on NH 4. Merge into Bangalore ORR at KR Puram. Take the up ramp marked Hyderabad at the (immediate) next flyover, which crosses over the eastbound carriageway and the Bangalore-Chennai railway mainline. Continue along ORR for I think 3 interchanges - the right at the third one (or it could be fourth) is towards Hennur.

If you come the regular route - Vellore-Krishnagiri-Bangalore - drive till Silk Board junction - the one that comes immediately after the end of the BETL - and take a right turn under the flyover into ORR (it would be marked Hyderabad). Just keep going on the ORR - you will cross Iblur, Belandur, Marathahalli, Mahadevpura to reach KR Puram. Proceed as per the previous point.

[prabhuferrari]

Did a Chennai-Bangalore today morning. Left Saligramam, Chennai at 4.30 AM and reached Hosur at 8 AM. Took me 1.5 hrs to reach walajah toll gate but just 2 hrs from there to Hosur. Excellent roads from walajah. And thanks to holidays no traffic. After a 30 minute break at A2B near Attibele reached Sahakar Nagar in North Bangalore by 10.05 AM. Driving time of around 5 hrs door to door with average speed of around 72 kmph. Personal best thanks to empty ORR. Not sure if I can beat this time, unless they make a 6 lane between poonamalee and walajah.

On a different note roads are bad near Ambur and I believe a new flyover will be coming there near the bus stand.

[navkant]

Hi Guys,

Read most of the posts but could not make out which is the faster route? BLR-Chitoor-MAS or BLR-Hosur-MAS? I am planning a trip to Chennai from Whitefield. Please help.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by navkant

Read most of the posts but could not make out which is the faster route? BLR-Chitoor-MAS or BLR-Hosur-MAS? I am planning a trip to Chennai from Whitefield. Please help.

Since you stay at Whitefield, it's easy to get to Hosur Road via Varthur-Sarjapur-Attibele and it may be easier to get to Old Madras Road as well so access wise not much of an issue with both routes.

I'd suggest you decide based on time of starting your journey as well.
If you start quite early, 5am or so Chittoor route should be fine, its 4 laned upto Mulbagal. From here you're in Andhra Pradesh and its 2 laned road with some construction activitiy for widening. At Chittoor, turn right (towards Ranipet) and at Ranipet/Wallajah you can latch onto the NH46 (the Chennai highway from Hosur-Krishnagiri). Heard that tolls at Hoskote and Mulbagal are operational.

If you decide to take Hosur route, I'd suggest a 4am start if possible since you may encounter slow moving traffic at Hosur with a later start. 4 and 6 laned roads most of the route and also more tolls.

Ideally you can try both routes, one for each direction

[Jerry macG]

My 2 bit is that the Krishnagiri Hosur stretch is the quickest way between both cities. The scenic Chittoor Palamaner stretch does not provide many opportunities to pass/overtake especially slow heavy vehicles. Besides trucks are abundant on this road IMHO due to the lower cost by way of tolls.

[binand]

Originally Posted by navkant

Hi Guys,

Read most of the posts but could not make out which is the faster route? BLR-Chitoor-MAS or BLR-Hosur-MAS? I am planning a trip to Chennai from Whitefield. Please help.

If you mean by faster, the quicker one to reach destination, then here are my thoughts (I have driven over both the routes extensively, plus have even explored some other lesser-known routes like Palamneru-Gudiyattam):

There are two aspects - the distance you need to travel, and the average speed that you can maintain.

For me from Marathahalli (I take Marathahalli-Whitefield-Kadugodi-Hoskote) to the point where the two routes converge, the Chittoor route is shorter by 35 km. For you from Whitefield, I imagine this difference can widen to maybe upto 50 km or more.

Prior to 6-laning, the average speed I could maintain on the Hosur route was about 65-70 kmph, and 55-60 kmph in the Chittoor route.

Combining the above two, I usually don't see any difference in the door-to-door time taken. So I prefer to take the more scenic and relaxed Chitoor route when travelling alone, and the better-equipped Hosur route when travelling with family.

The 6-laning has increased my average speed (based on 1 trip :-) to 75 kmph at least. This means that the Hosur route is definitely less time consuming. Even then, I doubt if my preference will change in the near future.

The last unknown is the Telengana agitation. Whenever it flares up, the AP portions of Chittoor route get affected. The Hosur route avoids AP completely. Right now, the AP assembly is discussing the Telengana bill, and I expect some issues whatever be the outcome.

[navkant]

Originally Posted by NPV

Since you stay at Whitefield, it's easy to get to Hosur Road via Varthur-Sarjapur-Attibele and it may be easier to get to Old Madras Road as well so access wise not much of an issue with both routes.

I'd suggest you decide based on time of starting your journey as well.
If you start quite early, 5am or so Chittoor route should be fine, its 4 laned upto Mulbagal. From here you're in Andhra Pradesh and its 2 laned road with some construction activitiy for widening. At Chittoor, turn right (towards Ranipet) and at Ranipet/Wallajah you can latch onto the NH46 (the Chennai highway from Hosur-Krishnagiri). Heard that tolls at Hoskote and Mulbagal are operational.

If you decide to take Hosur route, I'd suggest a 4am start if possible since you may encounter slow moving traffic at Hosur with a later start. 4 and 6 laned roads most of the route and also more tolls.

Ideally you can try both routes, one for each direction

Originally Posted by Jerry macG

My 2 bit is that the Krishnagiri Hosur stretch is the quickest way between both cities. The scenic Chittoor Palamaner stretch does not provide many opportunities to pass/overtake especially slow heavy vehicles. Besides trucks are abundant on this road IMHO due to the lower cost by way of tolls.

Originally Posted by binand

If you mean by faster, the quicker one to reach destination, then here are my thoughts (I have driven over both the routes extensively, plus have even explored some other lesser-known routes like Palamneru-Gudiyattam):

There are two aspects - the distance you need to travel, and the average speed that you can maintain.

For me from Marathahalli (I take Marathahalli-Whitefield-Kadugodi-Hoskote) to the point where the two routes converge, the Chittoor route is shorter by 35 km. For you from Whitefield, I imagine this difference can widen to maybe upto 50 km or more.

Prior to 6-laning, the average speed I could maintain on the Hosur route was about 65-70 kmph, and 55-60 kmph in the Chittoor route.

Combining the above two, I usually don't see any difference in the door-to-door time taken. So I prefer to take the more scenic and relaxed Chitoor route when travelling alone, and the better-equipped Hosur route when travelling with family.

The 6-laning has increased my average speed (based on 1 trip :-) to 75 kmph at least. This means that the Hosur route is definitely less time consuming. Even then, I doubt if my preference will change in the near future.

The last unknown is the Telengana agitation. Whenever it flares up, the AP portions of Chittoor route get affected. The Hosur route avoids AP completely. Right now, the AP assembly is discussing the Telengana bill, and I expect some issues whatever be the outcome.

Thanks guys. I am in no hurry. I am planning to leave next Friday around 9AM and hence, would avoid the detour and traffic towards E City-Hosur. And hence take the Chitoor route. I am returning on Sunday with in laws and hence makes sense to take the Hosur route. Thanks for the awesome suggestions. My Figo has had enough rest after my Ladakh trip

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by ampere

Also what is the status on Metro ? Is it still barricaded from Tambaram to Kathipara junction not allowing any U-turns or cross turns? Just trying to evaluate that by gaining the Orgadam part of low traffic and good roads, what one has to lose while getting back to the city.

Sorry for late reply to the query. Though Metro work is still on and may slow down the traffic, there are lot of traffic junctions between Tambaram and kathipara where one can take U turns and regular turns. At all major junctions like Sanatorium, SEPZ, pallavaram, etc I could see junctions where U turns are allowed. For example at pallavaram signal near GE factory, U turn is allowed.

[aajohn]

Will be doing a Bangalore - Chennai trip on Tuesday. Planning to leave at 3:30 am (HSR Layout). Wanted to know if there are any good diesel bunks on the way (much before shoolagiri) which would be open and accepts card payment.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by aajohn

Wanted to know if there are any good diesel bunks on the way (much before shoolagiri) which would be open and accepts card payment.

Not sure about credit card payment, have seen petrol bunk in Hosur open early in morning. However I guess best bet will be to fill at BP just before silk board on left side while coming from Madiwala Total. Coming from HSR you may have to take a detour to reach there though.

However since you starting early there will not be much traffic and Shoolagiri bunk is around 60 KMS from HSR, if you able to reach there you can have COCO outlet fuel and at cheaper price than in KA.

[sathya_nars]

Therez a HP bunk little after Hosur on left, before Choolagiri - they accept card n they open early

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by navkant

Hi Guys,

Read most of the posts but could not make out which is the faster route? BLR-Chitoor-MAS or BLR-Hosur-MAS? I am planning a trip to Chennai from Whitefield. Please help.

Originally Posted by binand

I usually don't see any difference in the door-to-door time taken. So I prefer to take the more scenic and relaxed Chitoor route when travelling alone, and the better-equipped Hosur route when travelling with family.

The 6-laning has increased my average speed (based on 1 trip :-) to 75 kmph at least. This means that the Hosur route is definitely less time consuming. Even then, I doubt if my preference will change in the near future.

I stay in Whitefield as well and my preference has always been the Chittoor route. Here is why - During any part of the day, I don't get struck in traffic while exiting Whitefield and reaching Hoskote via Kadugodi. Whereas, the minimum time taken to reach Hosur via Varthur, Sarjapur, Bagalur is 45min-1hr. Besides, this route is also unpredictably prone to jams.

My average travel time from Whitefield-Chittoor has been 2:15 mins. Chittoor-Ranipet is another 45mins-1hr. The rest of the journey is anyway part of the Walajah-Sriperumbudur-Chennai NH46 which is a pain whichever route you take. This consumes about 1:30 hrs. It takes an hour more when I do this route at nights.

So day running time is usually 4:30 - 5 hrs and night is usually 5:30 - 6 hrs. As @binand rightly said, there is not much of a time difference between both routes.