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Immediately on entering TN from Walayar,I found this huge Nandi.


Found this at L&T Road


This was just after passing L&T...


Chengappally highway..


A meeting with these Emu friends at an Emu Farm..


Close-up please. Am I not handsome ?


Nobody can match the great Painter, the nature...


Again Nature's colors...


She knew, I was on the way; was waiting in full bloom...


Evening colors at Krishnagiri...



Note from Mod: Please read this thread in its entirety to pick up some tips on uploading multiple pictures into a single post : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/announ...-team-bhp.html

Thanks for correcting me Amp ! Yes, the roads were excellent, I've also posted couple of pictures of the Pollachi-Palladam and Palladam-Kangeyam stretches in my Valparai travelogue.

I endorse ampere's suggestion.

Please see post #3757 on this thread (Page 251) for some more details on this stretch.

I don't recollect seeing a sign board mentioning CBE Airport. So, without heading Kala's post of taking the first right at Karumabapalyam, drove a bit ahead looking both for a good looking sign post as well as another road to the left.

Didn't find one for more than a couple of hundred metres and hence stopped to ask. Was re-routed and drove back to find the turn.

It is the first left turn after you see the green board mentioning "Karumbapalayam"

My memory was that there was a board on the NH pointing to that first left turn (or the only one ?) at Karumbapalayam as the road to the airport. But don't recall seeing any directions at the right turn you need to take immediately that left turn.

But then it's a pretty long time since I took that road - the last 2 or 3 times I travelled that way I've been taking the Annur-Karumathampatty road to bypass CBE since it is shorter. So may be the board is missing now (or defaced by some posters ?).

Please find the attached article about speed radar installation in Mannuthy-Angamaly stretch of NH47. Article came in todays Malayala Manorama. Key take aways are

1) Maximum speed is temporarily increased to 89kmph, though approved speed is 70kmph. Seems idea is that you will not be fined till 89kmph. RTO is proposing to reduce the speed limit to 70kmph by strict law enforcement.
2) Speed detection cameras with radar will be installed in 6 places.
3) There will be two underground sensor loop for each detection system.
The working is that I) radar will detect speed of vehicles II) When it crosses the first UG sensor loop, camera take photo with reg number etc III) By the time vehicle passes the UG second loop, your details will reach Dy transport commissioner office at Kakkanad. RTO will sent notice to your address.
4) The sensors are used to accurately calculate the speed of the vehicle. They will show you the photo and speed calculation data from sensors if you challenge the chalan.
5) System does have night vision capability too.
6) They have similiar arrangement in Aroor-Cherthala stretch and article says that on an average more than 7000 vehicles break law in that stretch per day.
7) As per the article, in the Cherthala-Arror stretch, a Volvo bus was caught dashing at 152Kmph :Shockked: and it holds the first place among the speed morons as of now. Second place goes to some high end car at 143kmph.

Apologies Kala & others, the line should read as first left.

I have not tried the Karumathampatty road as yet. The Annur - Karumbapalayam stretch had fairly smooth moving & manageable traffic whereas the Karumbapalayam - Avanashi Road had sparse traffic. I liked it so much that I even returned by the same route.

Should be going once again, early next month, will check & update.

Actually the route has a left turn from NH209 followed by an immediate right turn. I thought you were referring to that right turn :)

Try the Annur-Karumathampatty route the next time. Excellent road and very little traffic, so it takes only about 15 to 20 minutes to get to Karumathampatty from Annur. So in about the same time that it takes you to reach Kurumbapalayam, you are already on NH47.

The downside is the 10 kms till L&T byepass that you need to drive on the "work-in-progress" NH47. If you're driving by day it isn't too much of an issue, but if travelling by night (plus if it is raining), even that 10 kms can be pretty messy, so the Kurumbapalayam route may be preferable past dusk.

Will attempt this on my forthcoming trip.

One advantage of Karumbapalayam - Avanashi Road segment is that soon afer you take the left on Avanashi Road, there are quite a few nice restaurants (different cuisines) on the right side, for lunch/dinner. We had a very good veg meal at "Anandhas" the last time around.

I was not aware that this system was in place. I was thinking that currently, only interceptor vehicles are used to catch over speeding and hence thought it is safe to speed during early mornings or late nights. However, I feel that 70 KM/h on 4 lane road is too low.

I think we should somehow find out and collect information on location of these detectors :)

7000 vehicles X Rs.100 each = Rs.7 lakh per day. Monthly is Rs. 2.1 crores, annual is Rs.25 crores. Even a fiercely conservative Rs. 10 crores makes it a nice business model. Good thing will be if they can put this money up to good use.
But i am sure by the first month, lot more people would have derived the exact location of the sensors and revenues will come down drastically.

Could we please update the details of the location of these sensors in this thread as and when we get it?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ns-kerala.html

Speed Guns complemented with IR Cameras were installed in the Vyttila-Aroor-Cherthala section long back. In fact, this is the section where the highest number of offenders are caught. There is a camera every 7 kms on the stretch according to some newspapers. However, there is a board saying "You are under camera surveillance" near every camera.

Yeah - 70kmph is too low for a 4-lane highway. However, the Vyttila-Aroor-Cherthala section is more like a city road than a highway - even 80kmph is often dangerous on that section of road.

Update on road conditions (Angamali-Bangalore) as on 23rd June:


Angamali-Mannuthy -> Good stretch as usual
Mannuthy - Vadakkencherry (~30km) -> uneven / patched surface. Very slow traffic.
Vadakkencherry - Palakkad bypass (~30km) -> Good stretch. Moving traffic.
Palakkad bypass - Walayar check post (~25km) -> Good stretch. Moving traffic except the check post area.
Walayar check post - L&T bypass (~12km) -> Very bad 2 lane stretch and lot of 4 lane work in progress. Very slow traffic.
L&T bypass -> Good condition with fast moving traffic
L&T bypass end - Thekkalur (~40km) -> 2 lane road, but the condition has improved and traffic is fast moving compared to last month. 4 lane work is progressing at very fast phase. I did see a good improvement compared to last month.
Thekkalur - Chengapalli (~25km) -> 12km in this stretch is open for 4 lane traffic. Avinashi is now completely bypassed when you take this 12km 4 lane stretch. It looks like Thekkalur to Chengapalli stretch will be open for 4 lane traffic pretty soon as the flyover work is getting over in this stretch.
Chengapalli - Bangalore -> Needs no explanation.

Note: Distance mentioned are appropriated +/- 3km

What would be a convenient route to cover Trivandrum - Mananthavady? Planning to start on Friday evening around 6 and halt at Kunnamkulam. Need to reach Mananthavady by around 8:30 on Saturday morning. Would appreciate any advice on route to be followed and the likely duration of time that would be required to cover the distance.

Not commenting about Trivandrum-Kunnamkulam since I haven't driven that stretch for a while now, so not sure about road conditions / expected driving time. I'm sure someone else would be able to fill in on this stretch.

Kunnamkulam to Mananthavady will be approximately 4.5 to 5 hours of actual driving time if you're driving early in the morning and driving at a reasonable pace. The route that I'd suggest would be Kunnamkulam-Edappal-Kuttippuram-Kottakkal-Ramanattukara-Calicut byepass-Malapparambu-Thamarassery-Vythiri-Kalpetta-Mananthavady. Roads are pretty good all through, and traffic should be sparse if you're driving early in the morning.