Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Hi,

Planning to go to Thiruchendur from Trivandrum airport in the next few days, please suggest the best route

1. TVM airport to Thiruchendur
2. Thiruchendur to Kollam

I have done Kollam--> KanyaKumari--> Thiruchendur earlier, and returned to Kollam via, Thenmala, there was some 40 km stretch of extreme bad road before tenkasi, couldn't make a note of the stretch, just went by Google maps, want to avoid that stretch this time.

Please advise.
Shailesh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gannu_1 (Post 4399883)

Speedcams have been setup near the Walayar toll booth. Spotted two of them on either side of the toll booth manning the lanes independently. Not sure if they've already started working.

Noted the same this morning while travelling to Palakkad. Its about 3 to 5 kms after the toll plaza while travelling towards Palakkad. There was an interceptor located on the lane towards Coimbatore at 10.30 am.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sansvk (Post 4405332)

As per Kerala MVD speed limit on 4 laned roads is 90kmph but in the Walayar-Alathur (and return) section there are many places with 50kmph signs, so are these cameras targeting violation of the lower speed limits ?

Updates from a weekend trip to Palakkad:

Drove to Palakkad after more than a year and found that driving on this route isn't as enjoyable any more. Main reasons for this are the numerous number of zig zag police metal barricades at several places right from Hosur and also the mushrooming "development"/urbanization along many stretches that has actually made the national highway a town/city road with numerous cyclists, two wheelers (all without helmets), autos, small goods carriers and the like, vehicles driving on the wrong side along shoulders, the list goes on :Frustrati
Adding to this is the huge lines at toll plazas, more on that in the Fastag thread.

Onward:With a 5am start and 2 breaks, reached Palakkad around 12:45pm.
There was some rain in the evening but not too much of a bother.
There are new speed cameras (not sure if they're operational yet) starting at Vattapara (just before the Pampam Pallam/Walayar toll) and can be seen every 2-3Km all along till Alathur, don't know if they continue beyond that.
I think this is a good move to keep speeds in check since there are numerous junctions with some of them having traffic lights.

Saw one interceptor vehicle stationed on the other side of the road just after the speed camera.

Return:Started from Palakkad around 1pm and reached Thoppur around 4:45pm without any breaks. At the beginning of the ghat road there was a traffic jam and we lost 30 minutes due to a truck with a crane that had toppled from the other side and had to be pulled up by another larger crane.
From Krishnagiri onwards, the Bangalore driving heroes took over the highway with rash driving, cutting across lanes and even sneaking in from the sides at the toll plazas :deadhorse
Managed to reach Attibele by 7pm, stopped for dinner near Bommasandra and reached home by 9:30pm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4405336)

This time I noticed a pattern with the 50Kmph signs - these are placed just before you approach a junctions/signal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4406188)

Return:Started from Palakkad around 1pm and reached Thoppur around 4:45pm without any breaks. At the beginning of the ghat road there was a traffic jam and we lost 30 minutes due to a truck with a crane that had toppled from the other side and had to be pulled up by another larger crane.
.

I was also there in the traffic jam from 3pm to 3.15pm .
Trailer lorry had crossed the median and was towards the upward traffic.Lucky some space to squeeze through.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4406188)

Updates from a weekend trip to Palakkad...

I have more or less the same story to tell, regarding this stretch.

Onward - Friday. Passed E-City at around 4:30 in the evening, when it'd started drizzling. By the time we passed Attibele, it was close to an hour, thanks to the weekend traffic and the rain that got heavier. From then onward, the intensity of rains kept increasing till we stopped for a break at the NHAI amenity complex at Vaiguntham and resumed at around 8:30PM. Then, the traffic thinned out and so did the rain, and we were able to make it to Palakkad by 11-ish.

Must say the hazard light mania was more pronounced on the highway. The bright side was, many of these greenhorns stuck to the right lane, so they could see the median clearly, leaving the left lane free. This helped avoid many puddles and in general maintain a safe speed all along.

Return - Sunday. Left Palakkad at 1:30 or so. Passed Walayar toll booth at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The drive was smooth and uneventful till Salem, after which all hell broke loose. We were crawling on the Thoppur ghat for almost half an hour, thanks to the lorry that toppled, and then for about a kilometre before the toll booth which we passed at 6 PM. Crossed E-City toll at 8.

****

About 2km before the Walayar toll booth (in CBE direction), spotted a couple of cameras (facing either direction) set at the fender level on the median, with the sensor wires laid across the road. No flash light, just the cameras. Maybe some sort of data collection is being done, to assess the speeds on this stretch. I remember seeing a similar setup somewhere near Salem too, but that was many months ago, before the barricade fever caught up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gajadonga (Post 4406227)

I was also there in the traffic jam from 3pm to 3.15pm .
Trailer lorry had crossed the median and was towards the upward traffic.Lucky some space to squeeze through.

Traffic was moving very slowly when we began the ascent on the ghat road, just a few vehicles managed to squeeze through on the left lane, after which the rescue/recovery crane arrived and began it's work and then it took like 20 minutes before traffic started moving again. In a way this helped us since we were stopped very close to the accident spot and had first mover advantage. When I reached the Thoppur toll, the lines were not too long.

Quote:

Originally Posted by silversteed (Post 4406256)

About 2km before the Walayar toll booth (in CBE direction), spotted a couple of cameras (facing either direction) set at the fender level on the median, with the sensor wires laid across the road.

I remember there were 2 or 3 more places on the Palakkad-Alathur stretch with a pair of black cables/wires going across the lanes, but did not notice the low level cameras anywhere, possible I missed spotting them.

EDIT:Adding an update on Salem flyovers construction - 2 flyovers, almost back to back (with an exit into Salem in between them) have opened up for traffic and now just one more is under construction near the Salem steel plant signal. From the NH 47/544 exit, it took just about 10 minutes to cross Salem. My only concern is that these flyovers have very narrow lanes, 2 in either direction, but with all long trucks taking them, if one of them were to break down or meet with an accident, it will cause a big traffic snarl. To add to this, many of the Salem city 2 wheelers are also taking them, so overtaking can become challenging due to lane width. I also saw 2 places where couple of 2 wheelers had stopped on the left and were having a casual conversation!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4406330)

Adding an update on Salem flyovers construction - 2 flyovers, almost back to back (with an exit into Salem in between them) have opened up for traffic and now just one more is under construction near the Salem steel plant signal. From the NH 47/544 exit, it took just about 10 minutes to cross Salem...

I've had the misfortune of trailing behind two slow trucks hogging either lane of the new flyover last week. Yet, I took less time than having to wade through the city traffic and the two traffic circles. The flyovers could've been made wider, I agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4406330)

I also saw 2 places where couple of 2 wheelers had stopped on the left and were having a casual conversation!

Every new road will demand its share of blood, and with that done, such idiocy will wane away. Cruel? Yes. But these imbeciles are inviting an accident and they will not learn the easy way. Q.E.D
:Frustrati

I am travelling tomorrow (May 30th) from Bangalore to Guruvayoor. I am thinking of taking the Mysore, Gudalur, Nadugani, Perinthalmanna, Pattambi route for a change of scenery having been taking the main highway for a while now. However, with the impending monsoons am getting a bit jittery about this route. Reasons,

a) Are there known stretches on this route where there would be heavy water logging (As an example, though not on this route, Edappally, Eranakulam etc. are notorious for turning into streams with knee deep water during monsoons)
b) Any known good and clean hotels at Nilambur (I've stopped at KTDC Vazhiyoram before), Perinthalmanna or Pattambi for food and bio breaks?

If it is better to stick to the regular highway, is it better to go through Thrissur or take the turn off at Alathur and go via Chelakkara, Wadakkanchery, Kecheri? Any known water logged areas on these routes?

I am a bit paranoid about this because this is the first time I am taking my hydrophobic car (most of you can guess :)) to Kerala during monsoons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght (Post 4406682)

I am travelling tomorrow (May 30th) from Bangalore to Guruvayoor. I am thinking of taking the Mysore, Gudalur, Nadugani, Perinthalmanna, Pattambi route for a change of scenery

I would recommend against this; given that it is a weekday you will end up spending couple of hours extra on the road in miserable traffic (your average speed over a sizeable distance within Kerala would be 30-40 kmph).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght (Post 4406682)

Don't think water logging will be an issue. But during heavy rains, Nadugani ghat is prone to landslides. Again, unless the monsoon kicks off in full force tomorrow itself as predicted, it should not be a major cause for concern.

There is a nice little cafe (I think it is called Cafe Cuppa-there in google maps) just after Nilambur Town on the right side. Some nice snacks and rest rooms were also neat.

Having said that, would second what Binand recommended. Apart from Gundlepet Gudalur where the traffic is light, roads are great and scenery is nice, the rest of the route before and after is not much fun really. Especially the long stretch inside Kerala.

I had driven Bangalore-Guruvayoor early April, went through Thrissur- Crossing Thrissur was pretty ok apart from a couple of small jams inside town.

I regularly do the Wayanad/Gudalur routes to Calicut/Tirur and compared to that the NH is such a breeze to drive with the 6/4 lane roads all the way to Thrissur (apart from the Kuthiran section of course). So would recommend you stick to this. The 'scenic nature' of the gudalur route is not really worth the extra effort.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght (Post 4406682)

...
If it is better to stick to the regular highway, is it better to go through Thrissur or take the turn off at Alathur and go via Chelakkara, Wadakkanchery, Kecheri? Any known water logged areas on these routes?

The Alathur-Chelakkara-Wadakkanchery-Kechery route is good. Update from two weeks ago. But you may not find a huge advantage in terms of drive time because of the relatively narrow and winding roads. Through Thrissur, you will have to brave the city traffic but you get the advantage of 4-laned roads till Mannuthy (except Kuthiran).