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the tense situation prevails and there is another hartal declared in Kasargodu district for tomorrow, Aug 3rd.
Travelers, please be aware.

Got out of Guruvayoor at 2 am this morning because of the hartal. Guruvayoor to Thrissur NH is in good condition. Thrissur to Vadakkencherry is horrible. You might want to considering selling your car in Thrissur and taking a bus to Vadakkencherry and then buying another used car there. It is that extreme! If you are doing this stretch on a smallish hatch or a low GC sedan with medium to full load, then the car better not be yours!!!

Vadakkencherry to pollachi was extremely pleasant drive with carpet like roads though without a divider. The rough patches and speedbreakers were limited only to the little towns and villages en route. The traffic get denser after pollachi, palladam, tirupur and back onto salem NH between avinashi and perundurai. The roads are so-so. nothing great to write home about but not bad either.

The rest is good till you reach krishnagiri. From krishnagiri, there is major road upgradation/flyover work going on so watch out. The progress will be slow and painful.

Wow! That bad eh! Maybe then the other option is as Ranjit suggested:

GVR-Kecheri-Wadakkacherry-Pazhayannur-Alathur-Kollengode-Pollachi.


Route Link

And from Pollachi - Palladam, instead of going to Tiruppur, you can do Kangeyam-Perundurai. Roads are very good and bypassing the two towns is also very easy.

By the way, folks do note that Wadakacherry is now being shown as : Vadakkaancherry !

When traveling from Bangalore to Theni where should one make the turn towards the Madurai by pass - Theni road ?
Just wondering if we need to go all the way to Madurai Airport Ring Road for this ? Any landmarks / signage after the Batlagundu turn on NH7 will help.
Seems like this will add about 60Km or more compared to the Batlagundu route, correct ?

It is on the NH7 bypass of Madurai. You will be taking the bypass at Samayanallur (pretty much what you took for your Kanyakumari trip) where the opposing vehicles come on your side of the bridge. The Theni exit is about 10 km from there.

Just to give a direction sense, when coming on NH7 from Dindigul you'll be NW of Madurai and NH49 towards Theni is on W.

It can't be 60 km coming from Bangalore side, it'll be more like 30 km.

Yes, its that bad. Better look for alternate roads especially on a night drive.
(These images are as of last Sunday)

The google map shows exactly 50km difference. I am talking about the following route.



August end i am planning to take this route. Is it worth taking this extra km considering the time taken?

Just saw the distance on GMaps, yes it is 50 km (77 vs 124)

I haven't been after the widening is in full swing. I last did in Sep 2011 when the widening had just started. Starting at 730pm from Dindigul, it was traumatic to cross Vathalagundu to say the least. It was nearly 930pm when I reached Theni. From what others say, the diversions have crossed tolerable limits. If that's what it is, it is worth going via Madurai bypass

NH7 and NH49 are in great shape, should take 1.5 hrs for Dindigul-Theni via Madurai bypass.

Thanks Narayan. I checked on google maps and still get 52 Km difference in distance, not sure where I'm going wrong.
However, given that the Batlagundu route is really bad and may add at least an hour to the drive, I think it will be well spent on good roads going on the Madurai Bypass route.
EDIT:Sorry, did not see your later post before I posted this one (where you have confirmed that difference is 50 Km).

NPV, Timewise going via Madurai will take same time with lesser headaches. NH7 stretch would take about 40-50 min even at sedate speeds. The NH49 stretch took me 1 hr. You'll have one 45 Rs toll at Vadipatti though.

I travelled last week to Changanassery(Mammud) from Muvattupuzha. I am suggested a new route which is shorter and saved time as well. these are all existing roads which are re-tarred or widened in Kottayam district.
Here is the route:
Muvattupuzha-Koothattukulam-Uzhavoor-Marangattuppilly-Kidangur-Ayarkkunnam-Manarcad-Puthuppally-Mammud

or to Changanassery:
Muvattupuzha-Koothattukulam-Uzhavoor-Marangattuppilly-Kidangur-Ayarkkunnam-Manarcad-Puthuppally-Chingavanam(MC road)-Changanassery

It takes only 90 minutes to cover the distance with sedate driving and easily 80kmph possible. though, there are some narrow portion after Uzhavur still the road condition is good.

I guess below map indicates the above route to reach Changanassery from Muvattupuzha. it saves 3-4kms also. This will save atleast 40minutes(lost in traffic congestion between Ettumanur to Chingavanam) time travelling to Changanassery and South.

Nehru Park, Muvattupuzha, Kerala to MC Rd - Google Maps

I will be driving to Vaikom on Aug 14th. Since I need to reach home before lunch on Aug 15th, I am planning to start of Aug 14th evening and halt at Hotel Saravna Bhavan, Shankari on Aug 14th and start at 5:00 AM on August 15th. Since NH 47 between Palakkad to Thissur and Coimbatore bypass to Wayalar are in bad shape, should I take alternate
routes? My priority is to reach home fastest. I do not mind slightly broken sections but would like to avoid road blockage (last year around the same time I had to take deviation due to a truck break down near Vadakkencherry). Would taking the Kangeyam - Palladam - Pollachi route be better? I would also like to avoid entering Thrissur town.
Earlier in this thread there were reports of some bridge construction in the Pollachi route. Any update on this?

If Pollachi route is better, it would be great if someone can give information on where exactly to exit NH 47 ?

Thanks in advance.

You get into Perundurai town and ask for Kangeyam road. There is a signboard which indicates exit NH47 to Perundurai town. At Kangeyam there is a big cross road. Take right for Palladam.

Route is like this: Bangalore -> Salem -> Perundurai ( exit NH47 ) -> Kangayam -> Palladam -> Pollachi -> Nemmara -> Vadakkencherry -> Trissur bypass

From Bangalore, if you set the GPS destination directly to Pollachi, both GPS and Google maps will route you through Tiruppur. This is a crowded route and is better to be avoided. You may end up driving through Coimbatore.

There is simple strategy: Exit is to be made from NH47 at Perundurai. To avoid routed into undesired ways (like Tiruppur), set GPS destination in phases -- first from Bangalore to Kangayam. Once at Kangayam, reset destination to Palladam. At Palladam, reset destination to Pollachi and then finally at Pollachi reset it to Trissur.

Please post us about the condition of bridge work enroute.

There is a report in Manorama that traffic block up to 3 hours was witnessed at Kuthiran on NH 47 between Thrissur and Palakkad. For those of you who can read Malayalam, here is the link.

Manorama News