Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by majumon (Post 3362641)

Need quick help for a friend who is in Vythiri who needs to reach Vadanapilly, prefer to avoid the regular Calicut highway due to traffic.

No way to escape traffic ! The route options are
1. Vythiri-Thamarasherry-Malaparamba jn- Bypass-Ramanattukara-Chelari-Chettipadi-Parappanangadi-Tanur-Tirur-Chamravattom-Ponnani-Chavakkad-Vadanapalli.

2. Vythiri-Thamarasherry-Malaparamba jn- Bypass-Ramanattukara-Chelari-Edarikode-Valanchery-Kuttipuram-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayoor-Chavakkad-Vadanapalli.

Both routes would have heavy daytime traffic and good roads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by majumon (Post 3362641)

Need quick help for a friend who is in Vythiri who needs to reach Vadanapilly, prefer to avoid the regular Calicut highway due to traffic.

Don't think there is a traffic less/free option.One option would be

Vythiri-Thamarassery-Calicut Byepass- University- Chelari-Chettipadi-Parappanangadi-Tirur-Chamravattom-Ponnani-Chavakkad-Vadanampally

Roads are good as far as I have heard. Expect traffic in all the towns en-route. Time wise it will probably end up same as the kuttipuram-edappal-Kunnamkulam-chavakad route.

Edit: Noticed the posts above only after I posted. Guess I have said the same thing.

Details from Blr-Calicut trip last week, interesting experience as I started at noon from Blr for the first time:
Onward (Thursday):
Home - 2pm
Hosur Road NICE Road Entry - 2:45pm
NICE Road Kanakapura Road Exit - 3:05pm
Kanakapura - 4pm (Till here traffic was quite heavy with lot of slow moving traffic)
Malavalli Junction - 4.30pm
Chamarajanagar - stopped at Nijaguna Residency for coffee/snack break 5:45 to 6:20pm (Roads in good condition till here)
Gundlupet junction - 7.10pm (Chamrajanagar-Gundlupet has some rough patches especially in the last 10Km or so)
Crossed the forest Check posts - 8:10pm (Excellent road, very well marked, need to honour the forest department's boards of "4 No P's" Parking, Photo, Picnic, Plastic). Highlight was the sighting of 4 elephants happily chewing away just beside the road at different locations :)
Kalpetta - stopped at Woodlands for relaxed dinner break 9pm to 10:30pm
Don't remember seeing the signage for the new Kalpetta bypass (I may have missed it) but we anyways had to go into town for the stop at Woodlands.
Thamarassery ghat had good traffic mostly going towards Calicut but turned out to be an enjoyable drive with excellent, well marked roads
Reached Calicut at 12:15am (the drive was very relaxed and quite slow mostly not exceeding 50-60kmph)
After reaching the plains, almost all the way till the Calicut bypass there are several small towns where lot of shops including those selling veggies and fruits were open :D

Return (Sunday):
Calicut - 10am
Took the new Bypass at Kalpetta - just 4 Km but very good road and quite scenic too
Sulthan Bathery - stopped for lunch at Kalpaka 12:30pm to 1 pm
Made some wrong choices...but I wasn't in a hurry!
Took Mysore route from Gundlupet and after 5-6Km got stuck for 20 minutes as a tree was being pruned and the large branch that was cut blocked the road, waited till it was sawed and moved to the side
Mysore - Stopped at Kamat Madhuvan for tea break from 3:30pm to 4pm
NICE Road junction - 6:30pm, decided not to take NICE and continued towards city
Home - 8pm
Heavy traffic all the way from Mysore to Bangalore. Inside city the most dense and slow moving traffic points were Husdon circle (Mission Road, Residency Road may have been better), MG Road (MG Road slowness courtesy celebrity league cricket match!)

Total 756 Km, good FE of 17Kmpl (Petrol)

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 3363302)

Kalpetta - stopped at Woodlands for relaxed dinner break 9pm to 10:30pm
Don't remember seeing the signage for the new Kalpetta bypass (I may have missed it) but we anyways had to go into town for the stop at Woodlands.

There is no signage; you just have to know. When coming towards Calicut the bypass turns off at Kainatti, about a km short of Kalpetta town (the bypass turns to your left about 50m ahead of the junction where the road from Mananthavady joins NH 212).

The other way I think there is a direction board for Meppadi; you need to turn right into this Meppadi road and take the immediate left. It is a complicated 4-way junction with haphazard right of way.

Both ends had arches hailing the CM of Kerala for inaugurating the bypass, in the colours of the political party he represents.

Drove to Palakkad from Bangalore on friday evening. NH-7 & NH-47 all along. Some maintenance going on on one of the flyovers after Krishnagiri. Only one lane open towards Salem. One of the humps on the newly laid Avinashi 4-lane does not have any markings or preceding warning signs, so watch out. Avinashi- Madukkarai has some very rough patches where the flyovers are getting constructed. Madukkarai-Walayar is also very rough. Once inside Kerala territory, there are some stretches of smooth tarmac where one side of the proposed 4-lane is complete.

Started at 3:15 in the afternoon, and was home in Palakkad at 9:45. Spent half an hour for breaks. Traffic was heavy all along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M35 (Post 3365348)

Did Palakkad- Munnar yesterday.

The usual Adimali- Munnar has been blocked due to road works.
The traffic is being diverted via Kallarkutty- Anachal- Munnar.

Did anybody take the Udumalpet route from Munnar recently?

Yes. I did Udumalpet - Munnar stretch during 2nd week of January 2014 for my return to Coimbatore from Munnar. Road is really in good condition. But Chinnar forest lost its greenary due to poor monsoon I suppose. This route is open 24 hours.

Hi,

Just came to Ernakulam from Bangalore yesterday. Left Bangalore by 6pm and reached Ernakulam by 2am. There were a huge number of trucks - simply too much. There are road works between Hosur and Krishnagiri resulting in several diversions.

The Avinashi to Coimbatore is quite better. The bumps have been reduced to 18 from 31. Indeed there are 2-3 bumps sets without any signs except a "30kph" speed limit warning.

L&T road to Palghat stretch is again quite better. The patches are less bumpy and there are also some stretches which are quite well done. It was only the trucks which were hindering traffic and a Kallada bus!

Palghat to Alathur is also less bumpy compared to the last time I'd travelled. Alathur to Trichur is pretty well done.

Most trucks, cars etc., kept using high beams despite myself flashing my lights, requesting them to use low beams.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinbose (Post 3370530)

L&T road to Palghat stretch is again quite better. The patches are less bumpy and there are also some stretches which are quite well done. It was only the trucks which were hindering traffic and a Kallada bus!

Palghat to Alathur is also less bumpy compared to the last time I'd travelled. Alathur to Trichur is pretty well done.

Thanks for the update. I need to do a Thrissur-Coimbatore run this weekend and was looking for updates.

I last went in early November. The Alathur-Ettimadai stretch was rather bad then.
Has any work been done over the last three months?

Quote:

Originally Posted by one-77 (Post 3372497)

Beyond Chandranagar, there are at least two stretches that's fresh tarmac laid for one side of the 4-lane highway. And the work is progressing very fast until Walayar.

Between Alathur and Chandranagar, you won't see such smooth tarmac, but it's devoid of any major potholes and has a few diversions where flyover construction is going on in full swing.

Walayar and beyond, inside TN territory, it's the same old story.

Guys..am planning for a HYD-PALAKKAD trip next weekend. Most of my concern is about the last couple of 100kms of the journey

Senior members like ranjitp1 have advised me to go off the NH47 at Perundurai and proceed through Palladam, Pollcahi and then to Palakkad since the road through Coimbatore is very bad. Some posts above show that many members have travelled recently through the Coimbatore route only. Wanted to know one final time which one is better.

I dont want the car to take a beating. Also it took a lot of convincing from my end to make my family folks agree for a car journey (one high point from my side was that roads are really good most of the way). Dont want to revert back to train journeys after this trip due to bad roads.

Other stats that may help in your advice:
No of persons: 5 (including my 1 yr old daughter)
Drive: i20 (P)
Driver: Me (80% of the time, dad for the remaining 20%)
Option 1: Night travel between Hyd and Bang (reach early morning) and start from Bang at around afternoon
Option 2: Start early morning at Bang and reach by afternoon. Start early next morning to Palakkad.
Which of the two options is better.

I would also like to know which are the worrisome stretches, their degree of worrisomeness and their distances (if possible)

Thanks in advance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by racer_ash (Post 3374072)

Guys..am planning for a HYD-PALAKKAD trip next weekend. Most of my concern is about the last couple of 100kms of the journey...

I would also like to know which are the worrisome stretches, their degree of worrisomeness and their distances (if possible)

Here are the rough patches on the NH7-NH47 route:
1. Hosur - Flyover construction going on. There aren't any major potholes or very rough stretches, but the diversions aren't really smooth, and there are speedbreakers. Not more than 3-4km.
2. Towards Coimbatore, after the Chengappally toll (this would be the last toll before you enter the Coimbatore bypass road), is a short rough patch, less than a km, where the 4-laning is not over. Take it slow after the toll booth, as the smooth road soon gives way to some undulations.
3. Avinashi - There are a few flyovers, where there are speedbreakers on the joints, most of them are marked clearly, so no worries. As a word of caution, watch the vehicles a little far ahead closely - this will give you a clue to the position of the speedbreakers.
4. Madukkarai-Walayar stretch - This stretch has not seen any progress, and it's rough. You won't be able to keep it above 60kmph anywhere for the entire ~10km stretch.

You would find the other updates in the preceding posts, so I'm not repeating the same points.

With a 3-4am departure, I reach home in Palakkad in 6-7 hours with probably 30-60min of breaks, unless the traffic is so unforgiving. Some relatives leave at 6-ish and make it home by 1-2pm.

If your destination is in Palakkad town, or towards the north, then it makes more sense to stick to NH-47 all along. If you are headed towards Chittur, Alathur, Nenmara, Vadakkenchery etc., then the Pollachi route would be marginally better, as the road is smooth all along yet a bit longer. However, you will be on 2-lane roads after Perundurai, which may affect your average speed during day time.

I would suggest an early morning departure, because you won't have to brave the high-beam morons when it's dark, once you are out of the 4-laned roads.

Have a safe trip :)