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Has anyone tried in the last one month or so the road from Tenkasi to Kerala, for reaching places like Punalur or Nedumagad in the south from Madurai on NH-208?

I heard that the work to rebuild the road got finished and opened for traffic including heavy vehicles. Only work remaining is building of retaining wall at some short stretches. One can manage by driving slow and being cautious. The surface seems to be really good. The 'S' curve has been concreted completely, after being widened.

Hi,

Many of my staff members have traveled through that route (by bus) and are happy that even the bus rides have become comfortable in that route.

Yes, the road is really good, went to Sabarimala through this route just 10 days back, recently the road has been re-laid, superb, first class.

Thanks for replies. I am planning to take the route next month when I drive down from Bangalore.

Came back from Aluva yesterday. It is raining heavily in Kerala. The difference is phenomenal after you cross Kerala border.

I took the Salem route to and fro. The road is very good other than:

1. Road work is going on after Salem with diversions in between. Work is 70% complete.

2. Road work is going on after Trissur with many diversions and the road quality is bad for around 30 kms after Trissur. It was difficult to cover this route during early morning with heavy rains. Potholes are covered by rains, so be careful.

The time required is less compared to Bhavani route. Aluva to Bangalore took only 10.30 hours, including many breaks accumulating to 1 hour.

While going, went inside Salem city and had breakfast at Saravana Bhavan. Good food and ambience, it is worth the additional travel of 15-20 mins.

Is this while coming to Bangalore or going to Aluva? I mean, is the road work happening between Trissur and Palakkad or the four laning that was going on from Trissur to Angamali?

-tortoise

It is the four laning road work that is happening between Trissur and Angamali. The diversions are more while going to Bangalore from Angamali. The stretch is manageable while going from Bangalore to Angamali.

Hi,

The surface erosion on the 4 laned part between Cherthala and Aroor is fast deteriorating with the onset of rains. Though potholes are still few and far between, rough patches are present in both up and down lanes. More around Thuravoor area.

Will be driving down to Cochin (with my family) and hence would like collect some info on the condition of roads . I am planning to take the Mettur - sathyamangalam - coimbatore-palghat-ekm route ( considering the heavy traffic on NH47) , thought I can avoid that atleast till coimbatore. Planning to start at around 6 PM from my home in CV Raman Nagar. IS it advisable to take the above mentioned road for a night travel or should I stick to NH ?

Dont worry Joe you would have no problems going via mettur - sathyamangalam. It would be more peaceful than going through the nightmare called NH47 especially with the nighttime traffic between Perundurai and Coimbatore

What exactly is the route you plan to take between sathyamangalam and coimbatore. You do not have to go all the way to Coimbatore city to join back NH47, Between Sathyamangalam and Coimbatore, you will reach a place called Annur. From there you can take a left and travel for about 15 kms and join NH47 at Karumathampatty Karumathampatty ( 10 kms before L&T byepass in NH47))

Considering that you are planning a night drive, you may not get many people on road to help you with directions. It is best to stick to the road you know for night travel. Also, I personally feel that you will save a lot of time if you drive through NH 47 ( even though work is not entirely completed ). I have tried these two in my day journeys and have seen a difference of 2 hours in travel time between Palakkkad and Bangalore

-tortoise

Hi Joe,

I just did a Guruvayoor trip on 17th night and the route that I took was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore - Palakkad - Trichur - Guruvayoor. If you are planning to do night driving then just keep an eye on the diversion signboards as some of them are very hard to spot. You will experience some bad road after salem till little after "Koti Linga"( A temple on the right side with lots of shiv lings). Needs attention between Coimbatore and Palakkad on the L&T road its a bit narrow compared with the NH 7. Dont get off the road at Walayar and between Palakkad and Trichur as its pretty bad scene with mud and slush and you will experience some traffic at walayar because of this. Other wise the road is awesome left at 7 pm,just that I took almost 2 hrs to get out of bangalore from CV Raman Nagar and was in Guruvayoor at 7 am. this is inclusive of a total of 2 hrs of breaks! Distance travelled 500.8 Kms

You take care and if possible carry a flask with some black coffee.

drive safe.:thumbs up

Sunil

sorry i mentioned it as 17th :Frustrati.. it was actually on 10th evening (friday)

Drive Safe,
Sunil

Drove down to Cochin on 19. For a change, took the regular Salem-cbe-palghat route . Felt I shouldn't have taken this after loving the state roads through Mettur-sathy. The worst part was Palghat-Angamaly. Lots of potholes, broken tarmac. It seems, for some time, will have to be happy driving through Kumily entry point rather than palghat as roads are sure to become worse now. Got frustrated with the roads so that I left my car in ekm and took a bus back to blr.

I can understand as Trissur - Angamaly was in a bad shape when I travelled. With the current monsoon, it would have become worse.