Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourav9385 (Post 3785769)

So, say we start by 4 AM. We would like to have breakfast, a coffee perhaps, and then lunch on the way before we enter Kerala. Considering food & coffee breaks, can we reach Thrissur by 5-6 PM?

I don't drive like a maniac on the highways. The car is just a couple of months old, and I like keeping it within 120 at all times :)

I think that would be a fair timing. If you start at 4-4.30 am (assuming 30-45 min breaks):-

~7:30 am: Breakfast at Sai Sangeet (10 km after Ambur town on the right)
~11 am: Coffee at A2B few km after Salem on the left (a relatively new place)
~2.30 pm: Lunch at Malabar (2 km after Walayar Toll)
~3.30 pm: Palakkad
~5-6 pm: Thrissur

Assumptions:

You do not get delayed more than usual at tolls
You do not get delayed at the Walayar check post

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourav9385 (Post 3785935)

Thanks again for the clarification mate! :thumbs up

I think we're gonna stick to the route through Vellore-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem. As they say: A known devil is better than an unknown angel :D

Besides, having done that route a couple of days ago, I refuse to drive on roads without dividers.

Just isn't worth the hassle, especially when I have a choice of choosing 6 lane roads with dividers.

Hey chill; just putting in my drive experience that's all
Enjoy your trip

Quote:

Originally Posted by suresh_gs (Post 3785973)

Salem Ulundurpet highway is numbered NH79 and not NH68. It is a 4 lane road with 3 toll plazas but at some stretch it becomes a 2 lane road.

I don't think so
I quote
"National Highway 79 is a National Highway that links Ajmer in Rajasthan and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The highway is 500 km long, of which 220 km is in Rajasthan and 280 km is in Madhya Pradesh. Wikipedia"

"National Highway 68 is a National Highway in India entirely within the state of Tamil Nadu. It runs between Ulundurpettai and Salem in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu for a total of 134 km. It connects with NH 7 and NH 47 at Salem. Wikipedia"

Quote:

Originally Posted by maheshmenon (Post 3785995)

Some time back (not sure when), google maps did show Salem Ulundurpet highway as NH79. Infact last december when i drove to kumbakonam on this NH, it was numbered NH79.
Anyways thanks for your clarification.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thampu (Post 3785922)

Anybody has taken Dindigul-Theni-Cumbum-Kumily-Erumely-Ranni route recently?

Planning to drive down from Bangalore to Ayroor for Onam.

Thanks in advance.

I did this route on 22.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3785101

there are some culvert constructions happening in this section (between batlagundu Lowercamp) but then nothing to worry much.

I could count 3-4 such constructions. But then, I took a deviation at devadhanampetty to theni through vaigai dam and hence that saved me some bad roads which are between batlagundu and theni

If you are travelling at night, I would suggest not to take this deviation.

But for a day drive, this route is really scenic , expecially the vaigai dam and its surroundings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maheshmenon (Post 3785873)

I just drove down from Thrissur to Chennai yesterday on my Polo. I took the Villupuram / Ulundurapet / Salem route and I would strongly recommend this route especially if you are close to Porur and able to use the Chennai By Pass. We left around 10am and reached home (Porur) at 8pm including a 1 hr break.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maheshmenon (Post 3785912)

From Ulundurpet to Salem the road alternates between 2 lane and 4 lane (Please bear in mind the 2 lane means one lane in each direction!) on the 2 lane stretch, there are no dividers but on the 4 lane stretch which is the norm here when any density area with people / junctions / bus stops etc are present, the road is 4 lane (again 2 lanes in each direction!) there are dividers present. The road condition is excellent to say the least.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourav9385 (Post 3785935)

Besides, having done that route a couple of days ago, I refuse to drive on roads without dividers.

Just isn't worth the hassle, especially when I have a choice of choosing 6 lane roads with dividers.

My thoughts are in-line with Mahesh. I was regular on the Vellore-Krishnagiri route and have never taken that stretch ever since I drove the Villupuram-Ulundurpet route from Chennai to Palakkad / Thrissur / Cochin.

Sourav, You should try the Ulundurpet route at least once whenever you feel comfortable. I prefer this route because I see less traffic on this route. You won't find any difficulty on the road without divider as there is way less traffic on that stretch and the roads are great.

DC

Did a late afternoon trip from Bangalore to Kerala on 26th August. Started at 1615Hrs and reached Thrissur suburbs at 0015Hrs.
1. Attibele and Krishnagiri toll booths had no great crowd.
2. Took the Omalur detour, and I felt it was a waste of time. The roads were not in great shape, too many vehicles on the road. I wanted to avoid the heavy traffic in Salem city, but on this route it was slighly lesser traffic all across the route.
3. I saw a marked increase in the vehicles at the toll booth after Saravana Bhavan at Vaikundam and also at Kumarapalayam. Chennai crowd making a mad rush to Kerala? :)
4. There was a huge traffic jam in the L&T byepass area. There had been a shoot out (between two groups of people, and NOT the police) on the busy Coimbatore-Trichy highway, which cuts across the L&T byepass. As it is the L&T byepass with its numerous flag posts/toll booths on the way is a head-ache, this added up to the mess. Lost nearly 45 mins here.
5. The road widening work between Madukkarai and Walayar is going on, and perhaps in another 8-10 months we may see this sector getting four laned too. The only bottle neck would be the L&T byepass.
6. From Palakkad, I took the Shornur route, as I was not comfortable driving in the night on the NH47 (Kuthiran ghats, incomplete roads etc. etc.).

Arrived at Thrissur today after a 9 hour journey.

Started from home by 4 AM and reached swaraj round exactly at 2:15 PM.

Roads till Coimbatore were excellent. We made excellent progress!

However, after Coimbatore the smiles disappeared.

Single lane traffic on the bypass. Numerous toll booth, followed by messed up roads after walayar.

Had to literally slow down to a crawl to cover the broken stretches under construction.

Add to it the manic bus drivers coming the other way, it was really scary as we entered Thrissur.

We will be departing from Thrissur on Monday, 31st August.

Any recommendations on how to avoid the terrible traffic through the pollachi kolllengode Thrissur road/NH 47?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourav9385 (Post 3788897)

How is the condition of road between wadkkanchery and mannuthy? Is the potholes patched up?

did BLR-EKM just a few hrs ago on onam eve.
E-city 6pm, vaigundam 9:30pm (30-mins dinner break), mannuthy 0130am, ekm 2:30am.
Was expecting terrible jams, manic traffic, and humongous pile-up at walayar. But it was a giant anti-climax : no jams in toll booths, very few parked lorries in walayar (in fact, the completely free 2 lanes LHS of the divider, was a never-seen-before experience).

Road conditions :
1) BLR-L&T bypass : nothing to update, excellent as expected
2) L&T bypass : again nothing to update, usual share of molten tar undulations & single-gate toll booths.
3) L&T bypass - walayar : some sections are fresh 2+2 (no white lines), some are 1<->1 with fresh tarmac, very few kutcha-road diversions. Overall, great improvement w.r.t one month before.
4) walayar - palakkad : pure bliss, well lit in many sections
5) some sections near palakkad : kutcha-road with abrupt begin-end (sends jolts through the suspension)
6) palakkad - wadakkanchery : excellent
7) wadakkanchery - mannuthi : very similar to updates in last few pages, no evidence of "patch" work. In fact, some of the gaping holes are even bigger now, due to recent heavy rains.
8) mannuthi - ekm : nothing to report

overall, 3+5+7 contribute probably <40km compared to the 500km contributed by 1+2+4+6+8

Guys I am planning to drive down to kerala from Pune. Will be taking, Pune-Bangalore-Salem-Palakkad route.

While returning, I need to go to Kozhikode. Now from Kozhikode, I have option to either go to Mangalore or Bangalore. How much time would Kozhikode-Bangalore and Kozhikode-Mangalore take. Also If I leave Kozhikode around 2 will I be able to cross Bandipur before it is closed after sunset?

Lastly how much time for Mangalore-Pune and the best route?

Quote:

Originally Posted by vibbs (Post 3789106)

Kozhikode-Bangalore should take about 8 hrs.

With a 2pm start from Kozhikode, you should easily be able to cross the Bandipur forest check post - it's open till 9pm, but always better to be there earlier, say 8pm otherwise you'd be cutting it too close.

For Kozhikode-Mangalore, the coastal route is not good on many stretches and will slow you down considerably. I'm not sure what would be the ideal alternate route. Maybe Kozhikode-Kasargod-Sullia-Mangalore ? @ampere should be able to clarify this :)