[ravib]

In current state, with available options via Hosur route or Chittoor route, IMO, the lesser pain option is Chittoor route given the traffic volume comparatively.

Even though there are traffic diversions in both the routes, Chittoor route offers lesser pain / less irritation than the Hosur route . Of course, for people living in South Bangalore it may be insane to drive via Chittoor route, but there is not much option left at this time - either go through the pain or leave at early/odd hours to go via OMR.

-----------------------------------------

Regarding Bommasamudram railway gate diversion, on a joking way, i can say, those 10 minutes of drive is no big deal for those who drive in Bangalore roads YOu can still manage it and save huge time to take that 10 minutes of diversion drive ONLY in day time strictly.

Night time, i won't recommend, and better you go via Katpadi/Vellore/Ratnagiri route.

-----------------------------------------

Regarding Chennasamudram to Kanchipuram & Kanchipuram to Sriperumbudur, here is my take.

Chennasamudram to Kanchipuram is much better and majority of work is completed though still some diversions exist around Kaveripakkam and few other bridges. But overall it is far better in the first 50 kms with good roads.

And then, between Kanchipuram to Sriperumbudur, work is really in slow progress and is still lot of pain in both directions ( Madras inbound or outbound). No choice unfortunately. I guess even if they do the work in brisk progress, it is going to take another year which is highly unlikely to happen.

By that time, i guess NE7 BCE expressway will be ready (hopefully).

With the news about KA section is complete for first 71 kms till KGF, if they open only that portion as first leg of BCE, we have to see how many more kms we need to drive to reach and join back to old NH4. Route King , our "Ampere" is the best person who can tell us that !

-Ravi

[lina]

Drove from Mahabalibpuram to Bangalore yesterday and I did Ranipet-Ponnai-Chittoor-Kolar-Bangalore.

The road from Ranipet to Ponnai is an absolute pleasure to drive on. Smooth, well-marked 2 lane ashpalt. Just have to put up with a little bit of Chittoor town.

DO NOT trust google to do Chittoor-Ranipet directly. Keep a stop on Ponnai bridge

[ampere]

Originally Posted by lina

The road from Ranipet to Ponnai is an absolute pleasure to drive on. Smooth, well-marked 2 lane ashpalt. Just have to put up with a little bit of Chittoor town.

Thank you for trying this! I was suggesting folks to try this out quiet some time back. But I was not sure then.

Also even this road will cut the two expressways in construction (Chitoor-Thatchoor Expressway and the Bangalore-Chennai Expressway). How was it crossing these construction sites?

I assume since this road wont have access to both these expressways, it would just be over bridge construction which you should easily be able to cross.


Your note on the bridge is apt. You need to cross the bridge at Ponnai and take the road on the other side.

[lina]

Originally Posted by ampere

Also even this road will cut the two expressways in construction (Chitoor-Thatchoor Expressway and the Bangalore-Chennai Expressway). How was it crossing these construction sites?

I assume since this road wont have access to both these expressways, it would just be over bridge construction which you should easily be able to cross.

Your note on the bridge is apt. You need to cross the bridge at Ponnai and take the road on the other side.

Yes, the road crosses both expressways. The expressways go above this road. It is a small patch of 1 lane road to go around the pillars. Did not cause any issues.

The Ponnai bridge is also superb. Here is a
pic

[ravib]

Thank you lina. Great updates.
I'll try this out in my next trip to Madras. I assume going through Chittoor town is less painful then going through Katpadi

-Ravi

[anandhsub]

Originally Posted by lina

Drove from Mahabalibpuram to Bangalore yesterday and I did Ranipet-Ponnai-Chittoor-Kolar-Bangalore.

Just to clarify: This was the route that you had taken?

[lina]

Originally Posted by ravib

Thank you lina. Great updates.
I'll try this out in my next trip to Madras. I assume going through Chittoor town is less painful then going through Katpadi

-Ravi

Yes, while going I went via Katpadi and theres way too much traffic. This is far more peaceful. Also, you can kind of bypass Chittoor like how I did. Refer this map from my timeline

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Just to clarify: This was the route that you had taken?


Attachment 2669859

Yes, this is the one!

[anandtheleo]

Originally Posted by lina

Drove from Mahabalibpuram to Bangalore yesterday and I did Ranipet-Ponnai-Chittoor-Kolar-Bangalore.

The road from Ranipet to Ponnai is an absolute pleasure to drive on. Smooth, well-marked 2 lane ashpalt. Just have to put up with a little bit of Chittoor town.

DO NOT trust google to do Chittoor-Ranipet directly. Keep a stop on Ponnai bridge

Attachment 2669715

Thanks for this suggestion, took the Ponnai route today. Just reached Chennai. Took the Tiruttani-Tiruvallur-Ponnamallee as it was showing same ETA in early morning. The drive time equalled my 2016 and 2017 drive times

[Madrasin_selvan]

Drove from Bangalore to Chennai via Chittoor, some notable highlights on the route

- Murugan Idly Kadai is opening a new outlet after Kolar, could see the board but could not decipher if its open for customers

- On the concrete section, some of the expansion joints on the bridges have been black topped and you can expect some relief over here

- Mogili ghat has been made into a Thoppur, the series of accidents last month has culminated into this. Rumble Strips, Tin barricades, small uneven speed breakers you call it, they have it over here. Traffic moves snail paced over here and night travellers just be cautious as this isn't one set of strips or barricades it would be close to 10.

[ravib]

Drove from Bangalore to Tirupati on 29th Oct and returned today 3rd Nov morning from Madras to Bangalore , both via chittoor route.

Madrasin_Selvan covered the updates i wanted to share .

Most important thing for everyone to know is, Palamaner Ghats downhill drive towards Mogili/Bangarupalayam is a pain to drive now as it is new thoppur type ghat road. But its needed to avoid accidents due to mindless over speeding vehicles. But what they did is bit way too much than necessary and piles up traffic.

Way too many rumble stips and iron barrels. Really need to slow down to avoid damage to car and for our own safety too.

Today to beat long weekend traffic, left Madras Pallavaram at 6 am sharp and with less traffic all the way till Chennasamudram toll, and painful service roads with all pot holes, could reach Ranipet Amirtha veg restaurant around 8 am for yummy breakfast. Then decided to try out Ponnai road as mentioned in few posts back and it was a good scenic 2L drive all the way till TN border. Once you enter AP , the road narrows down to tight 2L road but still good, but the biggest pain is to get-in and get-out of Chittoor town. I was hoping being a sunday , the traffic is less but no luck. But overall , its a slow drive with additional 5 kms.

Still a decent option to take as alternative to Chittoor-Katpadi-Vellore route and traffic mess.

With very less traffic beyond chittor, was able to reach C.V.Raman Nagar at 12 noon, so overall it was about 5.15 minutes drive and a 45 minutes breakfast break is a good timing in current situation.

-Ravi

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ravib

Then decided to try out Ponnai road as mentioned in few posts back and it was a good scenic 2L drive all the way till TN border. Once you enter AP , the road narrows down to tight 2L road but still good, but the biggest pain is to get-in and get-out of Chittoor town. I was hoping being a sunday , the traffic is less but no luck. But overall , its a slow drive with additional 5 kms.

I would still suggest Ponnai compared to Katpadi. As regards to getting out of Chitoor you can do detour. Drive down towards Ranipet where you meet the bypass. Hop into the 4-lane at that point.

[Madrasin_selvan]

Drove back to Bangalore yesterday and thought starting at 12 Noon from Chennai would be good as I would be driving through Chittoor. The reason being, I have never encountered heavy traffic on this stretch except near Hoskote Toll Plaza.

The trip turned out to be an ordeal. I ended up clocking 11.5 hours end to end with stops. In the first diversion after the toll, ended up spending close to 1.5 hours with minimal movement of vehicles. The scenario was better in the other diversions thanks to the presence of police.

People went on a mad rush to refuel at each bunk they could see, some cars had their bonnets popped up, few got stuck in the slush trying to overtake the others and some drove completely on the opposite side as well. It's better to start a day early or day later than go through all this.r going to take this decision, its better to start a day early or day later than go thorough all this.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Madrasin_selvan

Drove back to Bangalore yesterday and thought starting at 12 Noon from Chennai would be good as I would be driving through Chittoor. The reason being, I have never encountered heavy traffic on this stretch except near Hoskote Toll Plaza.

The trip turned out to be an ordeal. I ended up clocking 11.5 hours end to end with stops. In the first diversion after the toll, ended up spending close to 1.5 hours with minimal movement of vehicles. The scenario was better in the other diversions thanks to the presence of police.

.

Yes, usually there will be some traffic pile up in Hoskote Toll compared to all other tolls in OMR. You meant, you drove on Sunday and started at 12 noon and reached around midnight with 11+ hours travel?

Because, as i mentioned below, i drove on sunday morning and reached in little over 5+ hours drive.

-Ravi

[Madrasin_selvan]

Originally Posted by ravib

You meant, you drove on Sunday and started at 12 noon and reached around midnight with 11+ hours travel?

Because, as i mentioned below, i drove on sunday morning and reached in little over 5+ hours drive.

-Ravi

Yes, you read it right, it was just too many cars plying on that route.

[Everlearner]

I travelled from Tirupati to Bangalore on Sunday 3rd Nov via Chittoor. Started around 2 PM from Tirupati and there was high traffic though I don't know if it's normal. Google maps showed that there is a road block near Nangali and suggested alternate route via Baireddipalle with a saving of nearly 1 hour. I'm glad that we took this suggestion and the alternate route had good roads for most of the length and was traffic free.