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I was in Kuthiran day before yday (This time in a bus for a change) and from outside the tunnels looked very close to travel ready.

This is an update from the NHAI:

I travelled to Kerala on 22nd Feb and saw that the toll for L&T highway is now 45 INR, from the earlier 32 INR. This road does not see much upkeep and there are no visible plans for widening, so wonder what prompted a sudden increase of around 40% toll amount.

--Anoop

I travelled Chennai - Srirangam - Rameswaram - Madurai - Thrissur - Chennai last week. The route via Dharapuram is roundabout and the apparently the roads are poor. I reached Oddanchatram from Madurai and checked with the local cabs and all of them suggested going via Palani pollachi instead of Oddanchatram - Dharapuram - Pollachi route. The road was good even though it is single lane.

Malayalam regional media "Mediaone TV" reports the work at Kuthiran is again stopped due to financial crisis :Frustrati
Read the full report HERE

Cheers!

Hey fellas,

Sharing a few pics that i got.
Heard that the Thrissur and Wadakkenchery flyovers, one-way Kuthiran tunnel and the toll collection will open soon:).
courtesy my friend SUREJ.

cheers,
theREDcamero.

Huh? That too posts that are just about 100 minutes apart. :-(

I'll take the media report (even if it is Media One) over the WhatsApp forward.

Due to some urgent issues at home, had to make a dash for Thrissur & back. From what I noticed, the Kuthiran tunnel would take more than 1-2 months to be readied. The approach bridge (from Palakkad side) to the tunnel are also not any where near completion. The entrance from Thrissur side (at least for tunnel) did not look any good to be considered complete.

Plus there are also lots of "revolutions/protests" going on for various issues on this stretch. Some of them around about building fly overs over existing road junctions (which as per now would have to be controlled using signal lights).

PS: On our return leg, we left Thrissur town at 11:30Hrs and cleared the Walayar border by around 12:40hrs. That too even when parts of the four lane highway are not yet ready. I remembered those days; 30-35 years back when a private bus from Thrissur took around 1 hr 40 mins to reach Palakkad (through the two laned highway, with mandatory exists at Vadakkanchery, Alathur etc. etc.).

My folks travelled to Palakkad from Bangalore via Chamarajanagara on the last sunday. It was a gruelling 12 hours drive, since the road work on Kanakapura road and day time traffic ensured that the maximum speed they could drive was at the speed of the slowest vehicle on the road at that time. They had crossed Silk Board at around 10 o'clock, and could reach Nijaguna Residency Chamarajanagara only by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The slow moving traffic on the ghat section, followed by the traffic in Sathyamangalam town and of course the mess that's called L&T bypass ensured that it took them another 6 hours from there. From what they said, it's best to avoid this route till the roads are done up. Places where the road is being widened are extremely rough. Certain places are quite a challenge for vehicles with low ground clearance.

Then the protests would be for which junctions were left out without a flyover!The only solution is to have an elevated highway from Edappally to Walayar:Frustrati

Ranjit, the dream elevated highway would start at Kanyakumari and end in Mangalore. That is the only way to have a decent highway in Kerala. Pipe dream, of course!

Friends, what's the condition of Sullia-Panathur-Ballal-Cheemeny-Payyanur route? Is it better than regular Sullia-Mulleria-Cherkala-Payyanur-Kannur route?

Hi, I have a road trip coming up from Kochi to Bangalore.

Thinking of going via Palakkad, Walayar, L&T Byepass, Annur, Sathyamangalam, Chamarajanagar, Kolligal, Maddur.
Halt at Maddur and then proceed next day to bangalore.

Has anyone taken this route recently ? How is the road condition ?

You will not have any problem till Neelambur or Karumathampatty, except the L&T bypass mess. The road to Annur from either of the two places (the latter involves paying Rs.85 toll for just 3-4km of 6 lane highway before you turn off to the Annur road) is decent shape, usual TN 2-lane roads. Sathyamangalam town will be busy if you're passing through during day time.

The Dimbham ghat section is also in good shape, but it's a hit or miss affair concerning traffic. One broken down truck or accident is all it takes to cause an hours long jam. After the ghat section and till Kollegal, the roads are not that great. Your progress will be slow because of road widening work (and traffic if travelling during daylight hours). Kollegal-Maddur - no idea. Maddur to Bangalore is the Bangalore-Mysore highway, 4 lanes with decent surface and mad traffic on weekends.

IMO, you're better off sticking to the Mannuthy-Palakkad-Salem-Hosur route - with short breaks for food and refreshment instead of breaking the journey across two days.

If you want to avoid toll, you can as well try Kochi-Mannuthy-Vadakkanchery-Nenmara-Pollachi-Mangalam-Avinashi-Omallur-Dharmapuri-Palacode-Attibele route. You can start late in the afternoon and stay at Pollachi and resume early next morning, if you're more comfortable that way.

Agree with silversteed. I think the money you spend on toll is easily recovered if you stick to the cbe - salem - Hosur road. Add to that, the convenience and time saved. Unless you have strong reason to take to the route you had mentioned, I would recommend Cbe-Salem route.