Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Folks. Some time back we had discussed about the Toll (Rs 2) at Cheruthuruthy Bridge between Thrissur and Shornur. Many of us travel via this route when coming from places like Bangalore. I had noticed lots of vehicles just ignoring the toll booth and driving off. I felt that the toll collection period has expired. I had filed an RTI application to get the details. I got the response today.

See my application and the response.

Confirmed Information: THE TOLL IS STILL TO BE LEVIED.

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 3611360)

Is this the bridge that comes soon after you are past Shornur? I had gone though there on Christmas day (in a TN-07 vehicle, I might add). They did not collect toll from me.

Yes. This bridge comes right after Shornur town. Just before this bridge, you would take another over bridge, which goes over the railway tracks at Shornur Junction. Last year I had noticed a board put up by some local BJP/RSS unit which said "Sabari Mala pilgrims need NOT pay toll here". I was surprised to see such a board, and that is what gave me a feeling that the tolls here may be unneccessary.

News from Malayala Manorama 28th Dec 2014;
Traffic Restrictions on MC Road near Chegannur

Puthenveettilpadi bridge on MC Road is going to be demolished tomorrow(29th Dec 2014), with through traffic prohibited and suggested diversions from the authorities are as follows:

Coming from North towards Thiruvanandapuram: Deviate to left from Kallissery Jn(MC Road) -Vazharmangalam- Kuttikkattupadi - Angadickal and join MC Road at Chengannur.

Coming from South towards Kottayam: Deviate to left from Puthenveettilpadi (MC Road)- turn right in front of Trichittattu temple and Join MC Road at Mundankavu Jn.

Update from a quick Bangalore-Palakkad-Bangalore trip:
Took the Bangalore-Salem-Avinashi-Mangalam-Palladam-Pollachi-Gopalapuram-Palakkad route. A friend who traveled the previous day told me that the L&T bypass was bad plus there is work/patched roads beyond that, so decided to stick to the Mangalam-Pollachi which I knew was good, from a trip last month :)

Excellent roads all the way. Once on NH 47 near Chandranagar, the widening & flyover work is in progress.

Inside Palakkad town, there is some road work near Yakkara and a new road has now come up behind the KSRTC bus stand. Also, I saw what looked like laying of a new road where there was an earlier railway line ? :Shockked:This is near the East Fort/Big Bazaar road.

Took the Palakkad-Alathur section of NH 47 for a temple visit, first 5-6 Km is bad/patched at some places, then there are butter smooth 4 lane sections of 3-4 Km that is complete, in some places diversions to use one side of the 4 lane. Nearing Alathur, there is lot of work in progress on flyovers and widening so slow going all the way. I would avoid this till the work is complete, needless to say night driving will be difficult and dangerous at some places.
Near Kavasseri, the Kavasseri-Pazhayannur road is being widened, some culverts being constructed, etc.

Updates from my Bangalore-Perumbavur drive on 25/12.

- Started from Bangalore at 5 AM.

- Took the Malavalli-Marehalli lake-Purigaali-Saraguru Handpost-Talakadu-Madapura-T. Narasipura route. First few kms from Malavalli are average-ish roads, but then they become excellent. The only ouch! moment was when I misjudged the speedbreaker at the Saraguru junction (immediately as one turns towards Talakadu) - scraped my car's underbelly.

- There was a very well-driven Swift following me all the way from Malavalli-Talakadu. Kept adequate distance from me, didn't try to overtake me etc. BHPian? We were doing a decent clip anyway.

- Outskirts of T. Narasipura, turned onto NH 212 towards Kollegal. Left it at Muguru towards Santemarahalli. That short (8km) non-NH stretch has been relaid and has excellent surface (except for a 500m stretch where work is still ongoing).

- Was in two minds whether to take Satyamangalam-Pollachi or Gudalur-Nilambur route to Kerala. Took the latter, eventually.

- It seemed to me that some attempt has been made to fill the massive potholes between Theppakadu and Gudalur. They didn't feel as bad as they were back in October when I went this way last.

- The Nadugani-Vazhikkadavu ghat road stretch, with its twists and turns, induced travelling sickness in both my kids. So we spent some time in unscheduled stops cleaning up. Good thing we carry barf bags when travelling with kids.

- A scare between Nilambur and Perinthalmanna - I had to abort an overtaking maneuver of a minibus, but then the bus driver also slowed thinking I'd accelerate. So I couldn't get back to the left lane, and had to jump off the road on the wrong side to avoid a Sumo coming the other way.

- Stopped for lunch after Pattambi. Missed the turning at Kulappulli and went towards Palakkad a couple of km. The road signs for Thrissur are well-hidden.

- Entered Thrissur a bit before 3 PM. Thanks to Rajeevraj's excellent directions, exited the town very quickly.

- Home (near Kodanad) by 4 PM. 11 hours, 500 km. Breaks would be around 1 hour in total.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 3611450)

Also, I saw what looked like laying of a new road where there was an earlier railway line ? :Shockked:This is near the East Fort/Big Bazaar road.

It is the railway line which is getting relaid. That line was earlier Metre Gauge and goes all the way to Pollachi, where it joins the line coming from Coimbatore. Till around 1992 or so a steam engine used to pull a small train - the Palakkad-Pollachi Fast Passenger. Then YDM diesel locos were brought in, and the last steam train operating in Kerala became history.

The line has been closed for BG Conversion for the past 8-10 years. Now the budgets have been approved, and conversion is happening at a very fast pace. This same railway line crosses the road coming from Pollachi town to Palakkad. I expect a level cross to come up there once the line becomes fully operational :).

I had made a trip to Bekal Fort in Kasaragod Dt. It was my first trip to the Northern side of Kerala (beyond Kozhikode). I had decided to take the Thaliparamba->Iritty->Virajpet route, as our plan was to stay put at Madikeri/Virajpet for the night and then start next day morning to Bangalore.

At Bekal Fort I decided to double check with a police man who was on duty at the fort. He consulted with his colleague and gave me a totally different route. As per him, this route is much shorter than the Thaliparamba->Iritty route.

From Bekal Fort, we again enter the highway (and thus skipping bad roads of Neeleshwaram town) to reach the suburbs of Neeleshwaram (or bye-pass for the town). There we need to take the turn to Panathoor.

Roads from NH17 to Panathoor is quite good, though it has lots of twist and turns. It did not have many hair pin bends, but the road was climbing up through hills. Panathoor is around 50kms away. We reached this small town at around 1900Hrs. Panathoor is the Kerala state's last town in this route.

From then on the road condition goes worse, and it goes through a forest route. It was also getting colder and colder. At two points, the road goes right next to two small water falls. Darkness, the silence of the forest, the sound of the water fall plus the short "cluck..cluck" sound made by some wild creature; all made this trip a bit of an eerie experience. This route again is not "family friendly" at least in night time.

During this entire trip all we saw was four to five vehicles, that too coming from Coorg side. One of them was a Ernakulam registered Swift car, with its passengers having a quick shot of booze. No vehicles were trailing us, or over took us.

Karnataka Govt. has neatly placed a check post after the forest area is over :). Guess they know that once people enter the forest at Panathoor there are no other exits to Karnataka. The check post is placed at an elevation, and the sentry just flashed his torch light and let us go.

Just thought of highlighting this route here, as I don't know if some one else in Team-BHP has tried this.

PS: Map My India did not have Panathoor marked, so I had to use the "Ask & Proceed" method.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachinpk (Post 3612005)

Sachin, I think you are referring to Kanhangad... it's not Nileswaram.

The details of this road is posted in Bangalore-Bekal road details thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvurride (Post 3612178)

Thanks. What should I estimate for the travel time approximately?

Though you might have already started;

Palakkad to Ernakulam: 3 to 4 Hrs during peak hours
Ernakulam to Trivandrum Airport (through Trivandrum By pass): about 4.5 to 5 Hrs
Coimbatore to Palakkad: about 1 hour
Thus, total run is about 8.5 to 9 Hrs.

Due holiday season NH 47 and all other major roads are with heavy traffic.
Aleppey and Kollam towns have heavy congestion. Please follow NH routes in both these towns and all other towns as well.
Have a safe drive.

An update on one of the alternate routes to approach calicut from the south- Tirur-Parappanangadi-Chettipadi-Kadalundi-Chaliyam-Karuvanthuruthy-Ferok-Meechanda- Calicut.

Previously the stretch between Chettipadi and Ferok was narrow and mostly rough with several bad patches. Yesterday, fed up of the NH17 traffic nightmare especially between CHelari and Ramanatukara, decided to take this route. Was pleasantly surprised to see that the Chettipadi-Chaliyam stretch has been completely relaid and also slightly widened. Traffic is pretty low on this stretch which makes it a comfortable drive. Post Chaliyam, from the Karuvanthuruthy Bridge till ferok, the road is narrow, but is smooth surface except for a couple of major pot holes just before reaching Ferok. Below is the route link

Route Link

It does not save much time, but enables a more relaxed drive. Also enables skipping the one remaining railway gate when taking the Parappanangadi route to Calicut. Disadvantage is that with this route it is not possible to take the Calicut Bye-Pass