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The first route for better roads and low traffic, except for some traffic around Kuthiran & Coimbatore. You could make better progress here if you were to pass through these areas early in the morning, mid noon or by late night. No scenery here though.

Folks, I'm looking for current route conditions:

a) Theni-Kumily-Vagamon
b) Vagamon-Karunagapally (Please suggest the best route)

Vagamon to Karunagapally via Pala, Thiruvalla, Kayamkulam is a feasible option.

Some updates from my recent Bangalore - Edappally - Bangalore trip. Took the regular highway (Hosur - Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore bypass - Kuthiran) both ways.

- Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri has some sections with fresh black top.
- Looks like a new flyover is under construction in Salem. This is after the two current flyovers and before the Coimbatore exit as you go from Bangalore towards Salem/Coimbatore/Madurai.
- There are also signs on the Salem - Coimbatore highway notifying of a new flyover construction a few KMs after you exit Salem towards Coimbatore.
- There is flyover maintenance work being done in Bhavani with traffic diverted to service lane (noticed this going towards Coimbatore but I don't recollect this from the return journey)
- There is flyover maintenance work being done before the Chengappally toll (going towards Coimbatore) with traffic diverted to service lanes (both ways)
- I am not yet sure if speed cameras on the Walayar - Vadakkunchery section are working yet.
- Kuthiran section is all patched up and fairly smooth. Traffic still sucks but you can get a respite from dealing with potholes. This may be short lived as monsoon is predicted to start around June 1st week.
- All work on the Vadakkunchery - Mannuthy section seem to be at a standstill. I am not seeing any progress (except for patches to smooth out potholes).
- Paliyekkara toll has exclusive Fast Tag lane with access enforced. There are other Fast Tag enabled lanes too. Passed through smoothly both ways.
- There is highway maintenance happening near Chalakkudy with traffic diverted to the service road.
- Encountered my worst traffic yet between Angamaly - Aluva. I hope it was a one-off, though I couldn't spot anything that could've contributed.
- There is a new restaurant "Ravana Bhava" immediately on the right after Vaigundam toll on the Salem bound side. It very well could be Saravana Bhava but I didn't see the "Sa" part of the name. I saw a good number of vehicles stopped there.
- Thoppur ghat has got fresh black top on the Bangalore bound side. Lane marking is pending in patches. Surface is smooth and devoid of the lumped up tar .

It is Saravana Bhavan. The 'a' has its light conked off (we also noticed it when we returned that way on 5/5). :)

Hi,

Planning to do Bangalore- Kalady, whats the best time to start, and how long does it take?

Hi folks,
I will be driving to Trivandrum tomorrow from Bangalore. Last time we had drove to TVM, we had started at 5 and as a result faced difficulty to locate good restaurants for breakfast. and we ended up having our breaky at some small joint.
so this time we decided that we leave by 6 am so that I can stop for breaky at Sai Sangeeth (50 kms before Salem) by around 7:45 and thats a lovely place.

Do you all have any suggestions for nice alternatives for breakfast and lunch on way to Trivandrum?
will be taking - Salem, Madhurai, thirunalveli - Nagercoil - TVM

Thanks buds.

Sai Sangeet at Thoppur (Indian oil bunk campus) is usually open around 6:15-6:30am, so 5am start should be good to reach there when they open, it is about 150km and a perfect place to break.
For lunch I think you can find lots of places near Madurai on the highway like Hotel Hari's, Valluvar, Temple trees etc. Nearer to Tirunelveli, Capsi is an option too.

Just did Chennai - Thirunelveli - Trivandrum - Thrissur - Chennai. Road conditions from Chennai to Thirunelveli is fantastic save for a small stretch in the Madurai bypass that is being worked on. About 50% of the Thirunelveli - Trivandrum stretch is good, but the final 80KM or so has a very average surface and lots of unruly traffic.

The less said about TVM - Chertala the better. I did this stretch on a sunday afternoon hoping that the traffic would be manageable but I was very wrong! Google maps was showing similar ETA for MC road & NH so I decided to drive via Alleppey. Though the surface is OK, the traffic was horrible. Trivandrum - Thrissur took 7.5 Hrs with one break. I guess it is always better to either take the train or drive during the night while travelling within Kerala.The Kollam bypass that was opened recently does help to avoid going into kollam city but the road itself is very narrow.
Thrissur - Chennai via ulunurpet was a breeze, there's resurfacing going on between Vikravandi & Tindivanam.

For a 5AM start, A2B after Salem is a good alternate. This comes on the left side and around 20Kms from Salem. For lunch it has to be Capsi near Gangaikondan or there are few options closer to Nagercoil.

Any update on the tunnelling and completion of the four laning at Kuthiran hill (in Kerala)? We had made a trip nearly 1.5 months back, and could make out that the work has been completely stopped.

Its not changed and nothing is being done to change the situation. 80% of the work is done and infact a car can pass through one of the tunnel, but the approach road is not completed at the end towards Thrissur.

Expect it to remain in the same situation until the central govt acts tough on the contractor.

Ok. Didnt receive an update on my query. Let me post the route that I took from Vagamon to Karunagapally

Vagamon(A)-Erattupetta-Kanjirapally-Ranni-Chengannur-Mavellikara-Oachira-Karunagapally(B)

Beautiful roads from Point A to B.

Pattambi to Pulamanthole is as bad as ever. Absolutely horrible stretch - potholes & diversions galore. Anyone travelling towards Malappuram side, please avoid.

https://localnews.manoramaonline.com...ad-camera.html

The article says that the cameras (placed every km or so) record the car number plate, speed and the time stamp. The data is processed at a central location to find the cars average speed also to arrive at speed violation.

Passed this stretch yesterday and found exceptionally disciplined drivers. Everyone stuck to 90kmph on dot. I too had my cruise set, with much displeasure from my better half, but slowly became mellow as she found there are no vehicles overtaking us stupid:

The number of signals are a pain though. But you can "compensate" for it before the next camera :D