[silversteed]

Originally Posted by binand

A second flyover in Salem bypass is now opened for traffic. When coming towards Bangalore this one starts immediately after the currently completed one ends. About a hundred metres at the ramps at both ends are yet to be surfaced properly, but traffic - local and intercity - is using it quite happily.

The flyover under discussion has both the lanes (towards Coimbatore/Karur and towards Bangalore) having a 100 metre stretch that needs surfacing. Low slung cars were seen moving slow while the locals just zipped by. This was the situation on April 20/21. Despite the rough patch, crossing Salem has become a lot easier now, than how it used to be.

Originally Posted by binand

The traffic calming system on wheels that TN cops use have now spread northwards from Krishnagiri. Noticed them at a couple of locations even on the upslope/ghat section before Hosur. Be aware.

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

You mean the interceptor? That was one thing missing along this route and which made the drives so effortless.

The moveable metal barricades. Yet to see an interceptor on this stretch, though there are talks on installing fixed speed cameras (from KELTRON)

[binand]

Originally Posted by silversteed

though there are talks on installing fixed speed cameras (from KELTRON)

Forgot to mention this. Because of press reports of large-scale deployments of speed cameras on the Kerala side, this time I had installed Waze on my phone and was using it as the mapping/navigation app connected to Android Auto. These are my observations (and this might be more relevant in a Waze-related thread):

1. Waze correctly (I hope! Obviously I have no way of assessing type I/type II errors) informed me about all speed traps along the route.

2. Waze navigation sucks. It just sat there "calculating route" while Google Maps did so in a jiffy.

3. Waze UI is also not very readable when compared to Google Maps. And the Google Maps one also sucks (during daytime) if your turn on headlights for any reason.

4. Waze absolutely needs a feature to import saved places from Google Maps. I definitely don't want to manually save all of them once again.

[rajesh1868]

Originally Posted by binand

I think except at Attibele toll (where all lanes are Fastag enabled) and the L&T bypass at Coimbatore, the dedicated lane is functional just fine on all booths till Thrissur.

Originally Posted by NPV

Most/probably all tolls have dedicated lanes on this route (don't know beyond Walayar). However, during long weekends, as a traffic control measure, they sometimes open them up for cash payment as well (so that any vehicle can use the lane).

There was much traffic, but except in Krishnagiri, Fastag lanes were kept exclusive which saved me lots of time. In Attibelle, I was asked to proceed without payment as the scanner could not read the tag and there was a heavy rush

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The moveable metal barricades. Yet to see an interceptor on this stretch, though there are talks on installing fixed speed cameras (from KELTRON)

Ah, those. Have seen them during my drives in the past. Also, I had asked a cop on these when I offered him a lift. Said it's here to stay!.

Originally Posted by binand

this time I had installed Waze on my phone and was using it as the mapping/navigation app connected to Android Auto.

I use waze from Cochin to Walayar just to detect the speed cams. It works really well in detecting the cam but for the map it sucks big time. For map/navigation, it's always Gmaps.

[4Runner]

Originally Posted by vasant.guru@gma

Thank you so much Sir! Will stick to the normal route

Just a follow up to this, we had the most whirlwind tour to Kochi. We drove from BLR to Kochi on Sunday morning at 4 am and reached Kochi at 130 PM. We then left from Kochi on Monday around 1 PM and reached home by midnight. The reason for the longer time taken to get back home was because we took it quite easy and I had the most amazing car wash experience at Metro car wash, Kochi.

The roads are fantastic right up to Thrissur, especially the section between Salem and Coimbatore. It is an absolute pleasure to drive on. From Thrissur onwards, it gets a little bad with lots of traffic lights on the highway located at intersections for towns enroute.

Absolutely crazy 24 hours spent in Kochi. We had dinner at Seagull, a famous place that came highly recommended along the harbour. You can spot ships coming in and leaving while sipping on a cold beverage. The Fort Kochi beach was very dirty and thronged by locals and tourists which made hanging out there a not very attractive proposition. The next morning we drove to PuthenThodu beach which is about 30 minutes south on the road to Alleppey. This was spotless and had no visitors other than a few fishermen. Loved this place.

Here are a couple of pictures from the drive. I was the sole driver and used a 2015 Tata Sumo Gold GX.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Yet to see an interceptor on this stretch, though there are talks on installing fixed speed cameras (from KELTRON)

My friend was caught for speeding before Salem on last weekend. It was an RTO interceptor and it seems they are having a road safety awareness drive. Penalty was INR 400, there was 25 mts talk by the team of traffic safety and the whole thing was getting recorded by some local TV team.

I had driven through the same stretch around 6 pm on Saturday evening, but didn't notice anything unusual.

[Bibin]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

My friend was caught for speeding before Salem on last weekend. It was an RTO interceptor and it seems they are having a road safety awareness drive. Penalty was INR 400, there was 25 mts talk by the team of traffic safety and the whole thing was getting recorded by some local TV team.

I had driven through the same stretch around 6 pm on Saturday evening, but didn't notice anything unusual.

Oh my god, they also have started? I have seen Police Patrol vehicles relaxing by the side of the road at multiple places in TN. but have never seen them catching anyone.

Just reached Bangalore couple of hour back from Angamaly and didn't notice any special drives today though. Passed Salem around 7AM, so there were not much traffic too!

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Bibin

Oh my god, they also have started? I have seen Police Patrol vehicles relaxing by the side of the road at multiple places in TN. but have never seen them catching anyone.

Just reached Bangalore couple of hour back from Angamaly and didn't notice any special drives today though. Passed Salem around 7AM, so there were not much traffic too!

This happened early morning around 8 am. Even I have noticed few of these vehicles parked on TN roads, but doing nothing.

Will wait for more updates on this from others.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by Bibin

I have seen Police Patrol vehicles relaxing by the side of the road at multiple places in TN. but have never seen them catching anyone.

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Even I have noticed few of these vehicles parked on TN roads, but doing nothing.

Tend to agree with the findings. As a frequent traveler on the three states:-
1. Karnataka Highway Police - hardly seen on the road. Many times if they are on the road, they are "piloting" some busy body. The exceptions I have seen were always on the Chamrajnagar & Mandya districts, where I have seen "radar running" and checking of documents etc. Their vehicles seems to be modern than the others with each of them having a camera etc.
2. TN Highway Police - always seen on the national highways. Most of the time, they have their light bars turned on and are seen parked in visible areas. But the staff generally would be more on a "wait & watch mode". But I have also seen them real quick to arrive at the scene when some accidents/road blocks happen.
3. Kerala Highway Police - always seen on the national & state highways. They don't have any speed radars (another "Interceptor" vehicle; has that). But they are into stopping of documents and charging "spot fines" for petty cases. My understanding is that they have a daily report to give on the violations detected and the amount of fine collected.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by binand

2. The traffic calming system on wheels that TN cops use have now spread northwards from Krishnagiri. Noticed them at a couple of locations even on the upslope/ghat section before Hosur. Be aware.

This stupid thing has been placed all over the bangalore - kumily route. The idiocy is hard to beat, blocking a tolled highway to create traffic jams and let every vehicle that's not paid toll on to the highway. Placing them on uphill sections where traffic is slowed to a crawl is the icing on the cake. Quite a few places had broken glass scattered near these, obviously from accidents caused by the smart idea, district cops on a power trip, harassing people as usual.

The system is a mess, no service roads anywhere, fastag is not enabled except for specific lanes and about facilities like rest rooms, don't even think about it.

[NPV]

On a recent drive, noticed that a new branch of Sree Saravana Bhavan has opened up for business on the NH 7. It is about 4Km after the Krishna Inn/McD (HP bunk campus) and 1 to 2 Km before the A2B (BP bunk campus).

Did not stop here, but the branding is similar to their other branches like the NH 7 Kaveripatnam bypass (3Km after Krishnagiri toll) and the one in Vaigundam NHAI amenity complex on NH 47.

[Repsol]

I have a trip planned to Alleppey this weekend. Just read somewhere that there are speed cameras installed every 5 km from Walayar to Kuthiran section. Anyone got any updates on that? Also, what is the speed limit on this road?

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Repsol

I have a trip planned to Alleppey this weekend. Just read somewhere that there are speed cameras installed every 5 km from Walayar to Kuthiran section. Anyone got any updates on that? Also, what is the speed limit on this road?

Not quite sure of the speed cameras being active, but there could be interceptors stationed on those stretches where you think you can floor it. Speed limit is 90kmph on 4-lane divided highways inside Kerala, and unofficially the cops manning the interceptors allow a 5-7kmph margin. The sensors on the roads were installed a few weeks ago, on certain locations.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Speed limit is 90kmph on 4-lane divided highways inside Kerala, and unofficially the cops manning the interceptors allow a 5-7kmph margin.

When going from Bangalore, just after the Walayar toll, there is a speed limit signage for 50kmph. Such boards can be seen on the stretch between Walayar-Palakkad-Alathur. Are these 50kmph limits enforced (if yes, how ?)

It's very confusing and also difficult to reduce speed drastically from 90kmph to 50kmph. I generally just stick to 50kmph on most of this stretch on the left lane but find other vehicles zooming past. Haven't driven on this stretch in about a year though.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by NPV

When going from Bangalore, just after the Walayar toll, there is a speed limit signage for 50kmph. Such boards can be seen on the stretch between Walayar-Palakkad-Alathur. Are these 50kmph limits enforced (if yes, how ?)

It could be enforced, as I have seen Interceptor vehicle in that area. Palakkad Dt. Police has an interceptor vehicle whose favourite spots are this highway and certain stretches in the state highway from Palakkad to Ottapalam. My understanding is that the low speeds are due to the area having lots of big establishments on both sides of the road. It is pretty much like a town road (from Walayar till around Chandra Nagar byepass at least).