Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Did a Bangalore - Edappally (23rd) - Bangalore (26th) trip recently via the Salem - Walayar - Kuthiran route. A few observations:

Salem flyover construction is making good progress but still a long way from completion. However the service roads are holding up fine. Traffic flow was also smooth.

L&T bypass Coimbatore - Getting to be more painful. Figured there are 10 pain points and I mentally cross each one out to ease the pain :) - 6 toll booths, 2 signals and 2 bridges.

Exit to Coimbatore at Neelambur via the flyover is completed and functional now. However on my return they had blocked the main highway after the last toll booth at Neelambur and traffic was diverted via the service road from Coimbatore side. The service road goes for a fair distance before you can enter the highway. This can be a bottleneck if they keep the main highway blocked. But it must be a very short term issue and they should open it up soon.

Madukkarai - Walayar section has made decent progress. No more diversions. Most of the flyover and culvert joints are smooth now.

Walayar - Vadakkunchery section is becoming a pain with a lot of signals and more waiting to be added.

Vadakkunchery - Mannuthy section has good surfaces where work has been completed but otherwise has started developing small craters which you can avoid by watching out for them early. Kuthiran tunnels should be done soon and then it will be a welcome relief. Surprisingly I didn't face much hold up at Kuthiran this trip.

Aluva - Edappally section is now smooth. Metro work is over. Traffic flow is patchy with right turns taking up the right lane, bus stops and random slow vehicles blocking up the left leaving you to zig zag a bit to keep moving.

Faced the full monsoon fury for my entire drive back on 26th from Aluva all the way till the border but it was an amazing drive.

This was also my first trip with my newly acquired Fast Tag. It worked for me at all tolls (except of course NICE road and L&T bypass). Only in 2 or 3 places the lane itself was not managed well but otherwise it was smooth sailing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 4223087)

Now there are no diversions on Madukkarai - Walayar section. The entire carriageway is open for traffic.

There are no diversions on Walayar - Madukkarai either. So here's the status:

The carriageway and flyovers are complete till (but excluding) the Coimbatore exit at Madukkarai.
The Coimbatore exit which is a flyover on the main NH carriageway and a junction underneath is only about 40-50% constructed.
There is construction debris on certain lanes that you need to watch out for.
The planting of trees on median is probably yet to start (there are grass patches though).
In some places the median itself needs some mason attention.
Lane marking are not done at all. If they plan to install cat's eyes then that is also pending.
There are no signages on the road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by guruji (Post 4223950)

Quote:

Originally Posted by A350XWB (Post 4223888)

Reached Coimbatore and there was a medium sized queue at the by-pass toll.

Exactly! Is there a way to bypass this road??

Is it just me who is struck by the irony of this situation (that we now feel the need for a bypass for a bypass)?

If you are coming from Ernakulam side then you could consider Vadakkanchery (or Alathur) > Kollengode > Pollachi > Palladam and joining the NH 544 somewhere (I prefer Palladam > Kangayam > Perundurai but YMMV). The KL side of this route is a bit narrow at places and can be a hassle during regular traffic hours but the TN side is all brilliant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght (Post 4224026)

L&T bypass Coimbatore - Getting to be more painful. Figured there are 10 pain points and I mentally cross each one out to ease the pain :) - 6 toll booths, 2 signals and 2 bridges.

The Trichy Road (NH 81 it seems) junction is particularly nasty; with a 90-second red / 20-second green cycle for the bypass. Yesterday it took me 4 cycles to pass through the junction. Granted that the radial traffic is much higher than the bypass traffic; but at the very least isn't it time to think about a few interchanges or flyovers on this bypass?

Btw, there are many more unsignalled junctions that are even worse pain-points. But mentally crossing off them is a good idea to ease the pain; will try that next time. :-)

Drove Bangalore - Trivandrum and back.

Started at 5:00 AM on 23rd from Whitefield and reached Kesavadasapuram at 4:30 PM. Took the NH7 route and reached Kaval Kinar at 1:50 PM after breakfast, lunch and 2 fuel breaks. From Kaval Kinar, took the Boothapandi, Vellarada -Kattakkada - Peyad - Sastamangalam - Vellayambalam route.
This route has less traffic and is very peaceful. The stretch between Boothapand i and Vellarada is broken at many places. This will slow you down. The route is also twisty. Total distance - 757 KMs. Drive time 10 hours 15 mins

Started at 5:30 AM on 26th from Kesavadasapuram and reached HSR layout at 4:30 PM. Took the NH47 to Kaval kinar. Reached Kaval Kinar at 7:50 AM. There is a long detour to avoid Marthandam which increases the distance by 8 - 10 KMs. Reached Salem at 1:00 PM. Total distance to HSR 747 KMs. Drive time 10 hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght (Post 4224026)

Walayar - Vadakkunchery section is becoming a pain with a lot of signals and more waiting to be added.

A little birdie tells me that there are around 20 speed cameras going to be installed between Walayar and Vadakkencherry. Since this is not yet official, take it with a pinch of salt.

***
By the way, Vadakkencherry (വടക്കഞ്ചേരി) is the place that NH47/NH544 passes through. The other one, on the Thrissur-Shornur road, is Wadakkanchery (വടക്കാഞ്ചേരി). The former has a KSRTC Operating Centre (Code: VDK) but no railway station, while the latter has a Railway station (Code: WKI).

Vadackumchery is the surname of an author who specialises in Criminology, Police and Judiciary - Dr. James Vadackumchery

***

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 4224529)

The Trichy Road (NH 81 it seems) junction is particularly nasty; with a 90-second red / 20-second green cycle for the bypass.

That junction is always a nightmare. One must always be wary of cross traffic even when the signal is green for the traffic on the bypass. My SOP is to stay behind a large truck at the signal - size is the only thing that deters signal jumpers; smaller vehicles can be and will be intimidated by blaring horns, by the buses.

I know this response may not be of much help since you completed your trip already, But some answers nevertheless, may be of use in future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 4222679)

Anyone's taken the Bangalore-Dimbam-Coimbatore-Palakkad route recently? I have three questions:

1. What is the best route to take between Malavally-T. Narasipur since I want to avoid Kollegal? Google Maps is showing a road closure on Kirugavalu-Sosale, so I guess I should take either Bannur-Sosale or Purigali-Sosale to get to T. Narasipur and then onwards to Ch. Nagar. I don't want to go into Talakadu.

The best route as of now is Malavalli-Kirugavalu-Sosale-T.Narsipur (the one that Google shows as closed). The road is very much open - I reported this to Google Maps at least 3 times, but looks like their response time for reopening roads reported as closed is quite poor.

Quote:

2. What is the correct route to go through Bhavanisagar if one doesn't want to go to Satyamangalam? Google is showing this:

Attachment 1650853

Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct, but after a few trips through those roads I've shifted back to the route via Sathy. There are some bottlenecks on that Bhavanisagar route where the road is quite narrow and you could get stuck when there are buses going in both directions. (Especially the narrow road just before the T junction at Mudukkandurai - very near the last point you've marked - where there is a bus stop where buses stop for a long time causing frequent jams ). Even though passing Sathy town is bit painful, you hardly ever encounter traffic jams there.

Quote:

3. Is it OK to drive Annur-Coimbatore-Madukkarai-Palakkad, given that I'm driving through here on a Sunday? Or will I get stuck in Coimbatore's traffic?

Haven't tried that for a long time, so not sure. Nowadays I take the Kurumbapalayam-Coimbatore airport road via Kalapatti which is quite decent in terms of traffic density at most times. But that won't help you "bypass" Coimbatore bypass if that was your intention :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by kala (Post 4225258)

I know this response may not be of much help since you completed your trip already, But some answers nevertheless, may be of use in future.

Yep, thanks. I went the GQ route eventually because of predicted rains, Id-related increase in traffic / footfall on roads and certain other considerations that made it unviable for me to be on road for about 12 hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kala (Post 4225258)

Nowadays I take the Kurumbapalayam-Coimbatore airport road via Kalapatti which is quite decent in terms of traffic density at most times. But that won't help you "bypass" Coimbatore bypass if that was your intention.

Yeah, doesn't really help. What do you do after the airport? Backtrack along Avinashi road to Neelambur junction?

Quote:

Originally Posted by guruji (Post 4223373)

We are planning to take punalur - shenkottai- madurai route on the way back. Any idea on the road conditions on this route? Has anyone recently travelled via punalur - shenkottai - madurai route?

Roads are all good all the way till madurai, except in Rajapalayam town which is a mess due to road works in progress. FasTag didn't work at two tool booths :

kappallur NAHAI toll
kodai road NAHAI toll plaza

Quote:

Originally Posted by pramodpk (Post 4231432)

Kuthiran tunnel will not be open till year end.

This was definitely expected. Even during my last trip in January on this stretch, I thought there was too much work remaining to be competed by June/July this year, even outside the tunnel (with the bridge that leads in to the tunnel). With monsoons, it becomes a challenge to progress on work outside the tunnel, hopefully end of the year it will become a reality.