Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sportsmind (Post 1860557)

Could someone update me on the present road conditions to calicut, especially to the ghat section/hair pin bends. This stretch is bad most times, is it still the same or has it improved.
Iam doing a week end trip to Calicut on my swifty.

Wayanad ghat section is currently in good condition. I had taken this route earlier this month to Bangalore. Some of the hair pin bends were in pathetic/dangerous condition few months back but now its much better.

Gundelpet-Muthanga ghat section is also in good shape. Watch out for some steep turns and speed breakers in this route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramkya1 (Post 1860855)

Road from Palakkad to Trichur is as usual very crowded and the road surface broken in many places, Trichur by-pass is in the same conditions, some sections are resurfaced and smooth. After the by-pass till Angamally the 4 laning work is going very slowly, IMO, many sections are tarred but there area couple of bottlenecks and switch backs, took me 3 hours of non-stop driving, jam from Alwaye.

Have to say that the road from Angamaly to Trichur is quite 'dangerous' these days, especially at night:

1. Abrupt changes from 4-lanes to two and back. People speed up in the 4-lane stretches only to panic-brake when the road narrows.

2. Insufficient sign boards to indicate the change from 4-lane to 2 and back. Sometimes people miss 2-lane to 4-lane change and end up in the wrong lane. Worse still, they continue on the wrong lane running opposite the traffic until the next change from 4-lane to 2.

3. No street lights, everybody is on high-beam and rarely switch to low-beam.

4. People cross the road anywhere and everywhere. Combined with point 3 above, it means you have to be doubly alert (and lucky) to avoid accidents.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarrySky (Post 1863261)

agree: Saw one accident due to this last week

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramkya1 (Post 1860855)

The whole experiene of driving to Cochin and back was not good compared to other states.

--Ramky
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Sadly, it is going to remain the same for quite some time. Take a look at this blog post that does a good analysis on the current situation of national highway expansion project in the state.

Roads to Nowhere??

I do not see any silver lining in the horizon.

Maybe, we need a new thread to discuss this.

-- Wind

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind (Post 1864153)

My point is, the work in Kerala is going at a snails pace compared to what I am seeing in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and some sections of North. The 4 tracking work is taking eons, many people are driving through TN to reach Trvandrum. Why should it take 15 years to complete 4 tracking about 150 KMs, from TN border to Angamally? The Angamally-Ernakulam stretch was done fast only because of Nedumbassery Airport.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ramkya1 (Post 1864350)

Densely populated state, a political culture of strikes and hartals, indifferent public. I am not defending what is happening. As you said, I take the excellent TN roads to TVM.

Highways should be exactly that, highways. I do not want to jostle with mopeds, autorickshaws and state transport super fast buses in a two lane road called highway.

Unfortunately not an iota of change is seen in the horizon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbraj (Post 1864436)

Unfortunately not an iota of change is seen in the horizon.

A very sad 'state' of affairs indeed!! For my Kerala trip in Septmber (I know we are only in May :)) I was planning to hit NH-47 @ Chalakudi via Valparai and then continue all the way till Chavara (Ashtamudi) but looks like this 4-laning might prove to be a pain:mad:

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 1866889)

@Cool_dube, you cannot predict the condition of NH47 after rains :D.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 1866889)

I was planning to hit NH-47 @ Chalakudi via Valparai and then continue all the way till Chavara (Ashtamudi) but looks like this 4-laning might prove to be a pain:mad:

For Chavara, another option is NH7-NH208 combination - BLR-Salem-Madurai-Tenkasi-Punalur-Kollam-Chavara.

Unless of course, you are keen on the Valparai route.:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 1866889)

For my Kerala trip in Septmber (I know we are only in May :)) I was planning to hit NH-47 @ Chalakudi via Valparai and then continue all the way till Chavara (Ashtamudi) but looks like this 4-laning might prove to be a pain:mad:

From Valparai, you can enter NH47 at Angamali without touching Chalakkudi. After Athirappilly, there is a lelft that leads you to Angamali (Take left at the junction that has direction to Munnar).

But, your Valparai route will eat up lots of time. If you are planning a single day trip from Bangalore to Chavara - that may be difficult.

Plan well to include time for all your sightseeing stops enroute.

I would be traveling to Padalam over this weekend.
This time i am planning to take Bangalore - Salem - Namakkal - Dindigul - Periyakulam - Theni - Cumbum - Kumily - Mundakkayam - Erumely - Plachery - Ranni - Pathanamthitta - pandalam (Thanks to joecherian ).
Planning to start around 5am from Bangalore.

Any recent updates on the roads after Theni, i have read some older posts saying roads are bit bad after Kumily.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbraj (Post 1867173)

For Chavara, another option is NH7-NH208 combination - BLR-Salem-Madurai-Tenkasi-Punalur-Kollam-Chavara.Unless of course, you are keen on the Valparai route.:)

I thought of that Raj but as you said, I AM keen on the Valparai route :) I might take this route on the way back though...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bijuks (Post 1867656)

But, your Valparai route will eat up lots of time. If you are planning a single day trip from Bangalore to Chavara - that may be difficult. Plan well to include time for all your sightseeing stops enroute.

Agreed - in all probability, I will stay put in Coimbatore for the previous night and then do the Valparai route at leisure. Might stay back in Kochi for the night if the drive ends up getting too leisurely :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 1872190)

I have done this Valparai route last month. Will post photos soon in the travelogue section.

Generally My Driver (since i dont know the roads well) takes the State Highways rather than the 4 laned(not yet) roads. We can do an average of 70 on these roads without any hassles and are is pretty good condition(at least some of them)