[adisan]

Originally Posted by goandude

Is this road from Chennasamudram Toll plaza to Mulbagal completely 4 laned? If not how much is 2 lane?

Not completely 4-lane.

Mulbagal till Chittoor is 4-laned concrete divided roads.
From Chittoor the AP - TN border, it is mostly 4-lane divided roads. Work was on-going when I last went (around 6 months back).
From there till NH48 will be mostly 2-lane undivided roads, about 25-30 km.

[Mnjdnght]

A brief update from my recent Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore trip. I had to pick up, also drop off, someone from Kaggadasapura for the trip and hence chose the Chittoor route. I am taking this route after a very long time, the last being in 2016 September. Then, from what I recollect, Bangalore - Palamner section was 4-laned, lot of construction work between Palamner - Chittoor and rest was good 2 lanes between Chittoor - Ranipet - Walajapet. Lot of changes since then.

1. Bangalore - Chittoor: 4-lane all the way. I liked the drive better on KA black top better than AP white top. The white top sections had more undulations and some ragged joints making the drive not so smooth at reasonable speeds.
2. Chittoor - Ranipet: Around 60-70% is 4-lane with the approach sections on both ends a bit patchy but nothing much of a concern. There is a railway crossing which could hold you up a bit. We had a 5 minute wait around 6:30 AM. Rest is very smooth 2-Lane.
3. Ranipet: There is some work happening in Ranipet and hence there are some detours through the town. There is no bypass to Ranipet yet.
4. There are multiple options to join NH48. I found the one just after Ranipet and before Walajapet joining NH48 a bit after Arcot bridge, marked as SH40 on Gmaps, to be the quickest while going towards Chennai. On return I took the one exiting NH48 just before the Arcot bridge, going through Ranipet town avoiding the construction areas in the town.
5. I've a feeling that Naraharipet - Katpadi - Vellore may be a better and faster way to join NH48, depending on how road condition on that section is. Will try that another time.
6. Walajapet - Sriperumpudur - Poonamalee - Koyambedu: Nothing more to mention other than what others have recently posted on this and the other Bangalore - Chennai route thread.
7. Total toll one way came to Rs. 310 for me on this route. It comes to Rs. 450 for me on the Hosur - Krishnagiri route including Nice road toll from Bannerghatta road.
8. Looks like this route may work out quicker to go towards Chennai, exiting Bangalore early morning, even from the South (Bannerghatta road, Jaya nagar etc.)
9. But for those folks, returning to Bangalore will be quite a mess, unless entering Bangalore well past 9:30-10 PM.
10. Found good petrol bunks to be quick infrequent between Mulbagal - Ranipet. For some reason a couple of Reliance bunks on the way to Chennai didn't have Diesel in stock.
11. To give a sense of time taken, onward journey took me around 5 hr 15 mins with a stop of around 15 mins and return took me around 5 hr 30 mins with a stop of around 15 mins - both from/ to Kaggadasapura door-to-door.

[Bsimhan]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

[*]But for those folks, returning to Bangalore will be quite a mess, unless entering Bangalore well past 9:30-10 PM.[*]Found good petrol bunks to be quick infrequent between Mulbagal - Ranipet. For some reason a couple of Reliance bunks on the way to Chennai didn't have Diesel in stock.

On your point of entering into Bangalore, I prefer this route as my place is close to Kasturinagar. Traffic beyond this on Old Madras Road is terrible. The newly opened road from the Seva Nagar, Kalpalli side has added to the pile up. Plus the white topping on the 100 Feet Road is adding to the mess.

Regarding the diesel being out of stock at Reliance bunk, that's interesting. I travelled on the same route on April 26th and found this to be the case too. I normally fill up at the last Reliance Bunk in Tamil Nadu on this route and last time, I was disappointed. Had to fill in at a HP bunk a few kilometres further ahead. I thought it might have been a one-off situation, but in reading your experience, it looks like there's more to this. Thanks for the heads up on this.
Regards, Balaji

[ravib]

Completed a Bangalore-Madras-Bangalore trip again last weekend (3rd June Bangalore to Madras and 5th June Madras to Bangalore). Many things are covered by @Mnjdnght.

Compared to my previous trip update last month, here are few positive changes.
1) There is road relaying work happening before Kolar while going from Bangalore to chittoor side. The Kolar to Bangalore direction , traffic is diverted to take service lane for 3 to 4 kms, so it slows down and traffic piles up.
2) One nasty speed breaker in Palamaner Ghat section ( between Palamaner to Mogli/Bangarupalayam) is removed. Only barricade is present now, which is good.
3) Bad roads/potholes before Ranipet are all patched, so its all good now.
4) Active work is in progress to construct the new bridge which comes after Chittoor-Tirupati bypass in the right fork bypass towards Chittoor collectorate office. Hope it is done in next few weeks.


Standard pain points - that i don't expect to change anytime in near future.
1) Two nasty speed breakers/humps in Hoskote junctions. Especially the ones in return journey when we get down from the bridge towards Bangalore.
2) Bad joints in all bridges in AP concrete roads.
3) God knows why it takes ages for just fixing 100 to 200 meters repair work in several bridges in AP, mainly around Palamaner.
4) Few metres of bad section after Chittoor bypass, about half a km in front of Chittoor collectorate office and then in return direction , in front of Vellore CMC chittoor campus.

There is no major improvement between Chennasamudram toll to Sriperumbudur. So nothing much to add.

While going, i experimented the below route between Thirvalam-Ammur-Walajapet-Chennasamudram toll via village/MDR roads, to see if it helps to escape traffic in Ranipet town and bridge construction diversion, but it really didn't. So it is better off to stick to straight route via Ranipet to join NH48 rather than the below route.

https://goo.gl/maps/1iZAW2vxNyh1BSbo8

-Ravi

[ravib]

Completed another Bangalore-Madras-Bangalore trip via Chittoor route again in mid-june. Onward was on 17th June and return to Bangalore on 22nd June.

Two good improvements compared to my previous trip in early June.

1) Finally, the bad roads under the Railway under pass below the railway track before Ranipet SIPCOT and after Thiruvalam is fixed, after many many years.
2) All bad roads around Ranipet are patched and now smooth. No potholes.


After Ranipet became a district now, new collectorate office is ready to open soon. Once it opens, we can expect more traffic around that area.

-Ravi

[Everlearner]

I travelled from Bangalore(GangaNagar) to Chennai(Iyyappanthangal) last Saturday. Left Blr around 1:00 PM and reached Chennai at 9:30 PM door to door including lunch and dinner breaks.

That said, the route is 99% good and congestion free. There are small bad patches of road near Palamaner, but nothing deal breaker. The traffic from Kanchipuram to Chennai had lot diversions due to construction activity and combined with traffic, the progress was slow.

Before covid, I used take Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Kanchipuram route to cover door to door in ~ 6-6.5 hours including breaks, this time it took 8.5 hours.

Post Ranipet, Gmaps kept trying to reroute me to alternate route via Perambakkam-Sengadu-Poonamalle instead of Ranipet-Kanchipuram-Sriperumbudur. The diversions looked like small roads, hence ignored the suggestion and stuck to Kanchipuram route. Not sure if I should have taken the GMaps suggestion. If anyone is aware of this route, please pitch in so that I can keep in mind for future travel.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

Post Ranipet, Gmaps kept trying to reroute me to alternate route via Perambakkam-Sengadu-Poonamalle instead of Ranipet-Kanchipuram-Sriperumbudur. The diversions looked like small roads, hence ignored the suggestion and stuck to Kanchipuram route. Not sure if I should have taken the GMaps suggestion. If anyone is aware of this route, please pitch in so that I can keep in mind for future travel.

No, ignore the Gmaps re-route. Sticking to Ranipet and joining NH via the town/market area is the fastest possible to go towards Chennasamudram toll and then to Kanchipuram.

-Ravi

[saisree]

An RTI reply regarding the unfished sections between Chittoor and AP border. Came in my FB feed

[ravib]

Thanks saisree. Atleast some information and line of sight than totally being in blindsided.
Yes, i did notice at very small negligible improvement in front of CMC Vellore chittoor campus when i drove end of october after Deepavali trip. But nothing to feel happy about.

If this section between Chittoor bypass-bridge to all the way till AP/TN border is rectified, we can save about 10 to 15 minutes more, hopefully!

-Ravi

[srvm]

Originally Posted by saisree

An RTI reply regarding the unfished sections between Chittoor and AP border. Came in my FB feed

Originally Posted by ravib

...
Yes, i did notice at very small negligible improvement in front of CMC Vellore chittoor campus when i drove end of october after Deepavali trip. But nothing to feel happy about.
.....

Drove yesterday (25/12/2022) from Bangalore to Vellore (via Chittoor bypass-Katpadi) and back to Bangalore. (So I can't comment/update on the last stretch in AP around Zion hill Church on the Chennai route).

Here is the update regarding poor roads around Chittoor:
1. Fresh, smooth tar road now from Iruvaram junction to Chittoor Collector office

2. The only bad stretch is about 200m of poor road just after Chittoor Collector Office towards Gangasagaram.

3. Roads around CMC Chittoor campus are fixed and smooth now in both directions.

4. The junction where Bangalore-Chennai direction traffic crosses Chittoor-Gudiyattam road used to be narrow and poor. Even Chennai-Bangalore bound traffic shares the same road space since that direction carriageway is still under construction. It is still same narrow but the poor section is very short (about 5-10 meters only). Was very easy & quick to navigate even though there was slush due to constant rain and drizzle.



Other observations:
Slight rain and drizzle throughout the journey made travel pleasant. However, I started my return from Vellore around 5.15pm. It was dark by the time I crossed Chittoor bypass. Since it was raining constantly with poor visibility, I kept to 70-80 kmph speeds and avoided rightmost lane fearing water stagnation / aquaplaning. But many vehicles (mostly cars) drove at much higher speeds as though it was daytime with perfect visibility and no rain!! When there were 2 or more idiots doing insane overtaking maneuvers, there was always a 3rd car (usually a Swift) tailgating them doing even more stupid and dangerous maneuvers!
So I was not surprised one bit, when there was a accident involving multiple vehicles/rear endings right opposite to Empire/Vegetarea near Narsapura around 9.15pm. Several cars had smashed boot, rear bumpers, front bumpers etc.
I wonder when our people will let 'common sense' overtake 'urgency to reach destination'.

[Secretariat]

Originally Posted by srvm

Here is the update regarding poor roads around Chittoor:
1. Fresh, smooth tar road now from Iruvaram junction to Chittoor Collector office

2. The only bad stretch is about 200m of poor road just after Chittoor Collector Office towards Gangasagaram.

3. Roads around CMC Chittoor campus are fixed and smooth now in both directions.

No 2 is also fixed now. So the entire stretch through Chitoor Collectorate has a fresh tarred road. Miracles do happen !

The few metres of getting off and getting on to the four lane road near the railway crossing at Zion Hill remains as it was, to remind us of the bone jarring of the last few years.

[anandhsub]

Came to Bangalore from Chennai earlier today. Absolutely no issues on this route now. Smooth sailing all the way from Chennasamudram to Hoskote except for the speed breakers that come out of nowhere and a few barriers strategically placed by restaurants ( Krishna grand, Balaji bhavan and Anand bhavan are 3 I counted).

However wrong way driving has increased massively in the concrete sections especially from chittoor to nangli toll. Probably due to the lack of a service road.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

No 2 is also fixed now. So the entire stretch through Chitoor Collectorate has a fresh tarred road. Miracles do happen !

The few metres of getting off and getting on to the four lane road near the railway crossing at Zion Hill remains as it was, to remind us of the bone jarring of the last few years.

OMG - Thats a new year gift. Thanks for the super update Secretariat. Appreciated.
Yes, only once in a blue moon Miracles happen , but by reading the frustration and pain our team bhpians had and gone through between Chennasamudram Toll to Sriperumbudur, this happiness is miniscule

-Ravi

[saisree]

No idea if this was posted earlier in this thread

"Ranipet-Chittoor NH to be widened into 6-lane up to AP border"

The stretch between Walajah/Ranipet and Chittoor crossing Thiruvalam, Serkadu and Nannamangalam in Tamil Nadu will be converted in to Six lanes and will merge with the existing 6 lane cement road on the AP border. This will make the entire stretch between Bengaluru-Chennai via Kolar, Chittoor a 6 lane highway. Hope it gets completed soon.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to widen a 28-km stretch of NH 40, from Ranipet to the Andhra Pradesh border, into a six-lane road. Presently, it has two lanes, and four lanes in a few places.

Source

[srvm]

Originally Posted by saisree

No idea if this was posted earlier in this thread

"Ranipet-Chittoor NH to be widened into 6-lane up to AP border"

The stretch between Walajah/Ranipet and Chittoor crossing Thiruvalam, Serkadu and Nannamangalam in Tamil Nadu will be converted in to Six lanes and will merge with the existing 6 lane cement road on the AP border. This will make the entire stretch between Bengaluru-Chennai via Kolar, Chittoor a 6 lane highway. Hope it gets completed soon.
...

The roads around Serkadu were wide, smooth & scenic. I would miss the greenery if they cut the trees lining up that wonderful section. Roads closer to Ranipet near BHEL township and Tiruvalam probably need only a wee bit widening to allow safe overtaking of trucks in the presence of local traffic.