[kala]

Updates on the NH209/NH212 route to Wayanad based on my trip this weekend.

Several trenches right across the road (Similar to the road cutting done for water supply / drainage pipe laying during house construction in the city) in the stretch between Gundlupet and the forest checkpost, a few of which are quite deep. So drive carefully near villages in that stretch.

Re-tarring work in progress between Sivanasamudram and Malavalli on NH209. Interestingly the portions which have been re-tarred are the ones which were in excellent condition earlier also - don't see the logic of how they choose which areas to retar.

The narrow bridge across Cauvery near Sivanasamudra seems to be closed for HTV traffic now - Not sure if temporary or not, but they have placed barriers at both ends that will not allow vehicles above a certain height to pass. Wonder which route the bus / truck traffic takes now , possibly via Talakadu / T.Narsipura ?


Rest of the road in good shape except for the usual rough patches here and there on the Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet State Highway.

[binand]

Originally Posted by kala

The narrow bridge across Cauvery near Sivanasamudra seems to be closed for HTV traffic now - Not sure if temporary or not, but they have placed barriers at both ends that will not allow vehicles above a certain height to pass. Wonder which route the bus / truck traffic takes now , possibly via Talakadu / T.Narsipura ?

Unless they have lowered those barriers since my last trip (23/3), they are just enough to let buses through. I even crossed a bus in the middle of that bridge (it is usually a heart-in-mouth moment :-)

[kala]

Originally Posted by binand

Unless they have lowered those barriers since my last trip (23/3), they are just enough to let buses through. I even crossed a bus in the middle of that bridge (it is usually a heart-in-mouth moment :-)

Looks like they might have lowered them if they existed earlier (I had never noticed any barriers before but then may be they were there but were too high to notice ? And the last time I travelled was probably late March or the first week of April).

This time I did see a lot of people crossing the bridge on foot and 3 or 4 tourist buses parked on the Bangalore side of the bridge (near the junction) - So I assumed it was because they couldn't get across. Also a luggage carrier tempo which was in front of me stopped and was hesitating to cross since he wasn't sure if there was enough clearance - Not sure if he attempted it or not eventually, I overtook him and went across.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by kala

Updates on the NH209/NH212 route to Wayanad based on my trip this weekend.

....

Rest of the road in good shape except for the usual rough patches here and there on the Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet State Highway.

There was a big a dip in the middle of the road and I hit the dip at around 90kmph. Suspension wasnt enough to handle. IIRC it was 5 km after the Malavalli bypass end towards C. Nagar.

[binand]

Anyone familiar with the condition of the Gundlupet-Bathery-Kalpetta-Thamarassery-Calicut stretch AFTER this week's rains? Press reports say that there have been widespread damage across the state. I need to travel to Calicut on Sunday, and still wondering if (a) the rains will abate by then, and (b) the roads have stayed OK to drive on. The former info I can get from weather reports, but I need help from here on the latter question.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by binand

Anyone familiar with the condition of the Gundlupet-Bathery-Kalpetta-Thamarassery-Calicut stretch AFTER this week's rains? Press reports say that there have been widespread damage across the state. I need to travel to Calicut on Sunday, and still wondering if (a) the rains will abate by then, and (b) the roads have stayed OK to drive on. The former info I can get from weather reports, but I need help from here on the latter question.

I traveled CLT - BGLR on Wed evening. Nothing to worry about the road condition in KL side.
Its been raining daily in Wayanad for almost a month, hence I dont expect the road to deteriorate all of a sudden. Not much of heavy rain in KA side.

Muthanga - Gundlupet is in same condition - watch out of 5 trenches across road

Gundlupet - C. Nagar - Need careful driving. Once the potholes are filled with water, you cant make out where is pothole and where is good road. Suggest not to take this road in night or during rain. I had a tough time as I traveled around 7 PM ( peak traffic) in rain.

C. Nagar - Kollegal - Usual patchy road condition.
Kollegal - BGLR - Good roads.

Originally Posted by arjithin

There was a big a dip in the middle of the road and I hit the dip at around 90kmph. Suspension wasnt enough to handle. IIRC it was 5 km after the Malavalli bypass end towards C. Nagar.

I missed this again; but now I know the exact location.
its approximately 7.5 km from yelandur and 12.5 km from C. Nagar.

[binand]

Originally Posted by arjithin

I traveled CLT - BGLR on Wed evening. Nothing to worry about the road condition in KL side.
Its been raining daily in Wayanad for almost a month, hence I dont expect the road to deteriorate all of a sudden. Not much of heavy rain in KA side.

It apparently has. The heavy rains started perhaps over the last weekend, and so far the damages have been extensive in Kerala. Ernakulam Jn. railway station is practically closed. Flights to Calicut have been diverted. Here is today's Mathrubhumi report:

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/online/ma...4-05-09/kerala (in Malayalam)

It is these reports that are troubling me - in the normal course, I am quite experienced on this route, averaging a round trip every 6-8 weeks for the past 2 years or so.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by binand

It apparently has. The heavy rains started perhaps over the last weekend, and so far the damages have been extensive in Kerala. Ernakulam Jn. railway station is practically closed. Flights to Calicut have been diverted. Here is today's Mathrubhumi report:

It is these reports that are troubling me - in the normal course, I am quite experienced on this route, averaging a round trip every 6-8 weeks for the past 2 years or so.

I was mentioning about road conditions, not about the general damage.
Rain is expected to subside by tomorrow. So you should be fine, but a small risk is always there.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by binand

It apparently has. The heavy rains started perhaps over the last weekend, and so far the damages have been extensive in Kerala. Ernakulam Jn. railway station is practically closed. Flights to Calicut have been diverted. Here is today's Mathrubhumi report:

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/online/ma...4-05-09/kerala (in Malayalam)

It is these reports that are troubling me - in the normal course, I am quite experienced on this route, averaging a round trip every 6-8 weeks for the past 2 years or so.

Quick update. I drove today to calicut. Roads are still perfect. No issues at all. Lots of bamboos have fallen over. But no blockage of roads. The forest has come to life after the rains. Very nice drive. Heavy rains and very low visibility as I was coming down the churam. Will upload a small video later.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Quick update. I drove today to calicut. Roads are still perfect. No issues at all. Lots of bamboos have fallen over. But no blockage of roads. The forest has come to life after the rains. Very nice drive. Heavy rains and very low visibility as I was coming down the churam. Will upload a small video later.

Thanks. I drove down yesterday, and can pretty much confirm what you said - roads are all just fine, the forest is alive with lush greenery, the churam is brilliant. It started raining as soon as I entered the forest, reducing my speed through Wayanad considerably. And boy - from Adivaram to Calicut, 45km, took me 2 hours. Terrible traffic.

The Teramballi-Senthamarahalli stretch (between Kollegal and Chamarajanagar) is deteriorating quickly and badly. Hopefully NHAI is taking note. They ideally ought to re-align the highway so that it can be of full width and appropriate quality.

The walls built to block access to the Kaveri bridge (this bridge is called Sivanasamudram Bridge) are triggering a lot of economic activity in the area. Buses now terminate their journeys at either end of the bridge. Their passengers then cross the bridge and take a bus that starts from the other end. There are now Tata Ace and similar vehicles that offer to take passengers across the bridge for money, plus a number of small tea stalls etc. have sprouted here. :-)

Several weddings in the KA side (maybe about 25) slowed my progress. Plus I started later than usual (9:30 AM) so eventually arrived home only past 6 PM.

[tharian]

Did a weekend trip to Calicut and back via Chamrajnagar for a change from the usual Mysore SH.

Left on Saturday morning by 630 and was at Calicut by 2p with stops included.
On the onward journey, this is a good option since traffic is low all the way , except of course from Batthery to Calicut which has traffic always. Roads are well paved and much more fun since they are single lane.
Chamrajnagar to Gundlepet is around 30 kms of which around 15kms are patchy but can do decent speeds still. Look out for small bridges on this stretch. I had a world rally car moment when I didn't notice a small ramp and went almost airborne.
At Gundlepet, since there are no decent eataries or rest rooms on the way, we headed towards Coffee Day which is 3 kms one way to the opposite direction which we did on the way back too.
Approach to the forest, I hit almost all the trenches dug by the villagers in good speed .
After many years of travelling this route, we spotted a herd of elephants and this was soon as we were approaching the border. They are so sensible, the leader so me approaching , stopped, I did too, then realized they were waiting for me to move so they could cross.
Almost ran over a different species of monkey. The mother had crossed, and I noticed the baby at the side who I knew would dart across. Luckily I was at slow speed, jammed the brakes and luckily did not hit. The next scene was the best, the mother was holding her hand out and the baby runs right into her arm and hugs her.
The speed breakers should stay, which was why I was slow at that point.

Traffic in Kerala, especially 2 wheelers are annoying. I couldn't figure out why they cannot move over to the side and let a car through. I did not experience that in Karnataka.
On the way back, left by 930 and took little more than the time we took to get there with lesser stops. The reason being, traffic all the way from Calicut to the forest and then from Chamrajnagar to Bangalore. Being a Sunday with so many tourist spots on this road, I was thinking the usual SH would have been better.
Instead I decided, I will still take the Chamrajnagar route, but travel on weekdays or leave very early.
The traffic from Malvalli to Bangalore is annoying to say the least.

[ramzsys]

There's some environmental price we are paying for good roads: 2,667 Trees to be Cut for Widening of NH 212 Linking State With Kerala

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/stat...cle2232724.ece

Originally Posted by kala

The narrow bridge across Cauvery near Sivanasamudra seems to be closed for HTV traffic now - Not sure if temporary or not, but they have placed barriers at both ends that will not allow vehicles above a certain height to pass.

Yesterday i returned to Bangalore through NH209 at the midnight and had a butterfly in stomach moment seeing the large concrete blocks on road; thankfully the bridge was not closed.

The height barrier still stays.

[tharian]

Some pictures I took on the way.

[Rajeevraj]

Returned to Bangalore from Calicut today via Ch.nagar route. Started at 5.45 and was home by 1.45 with an hours break at nijaguna. Not sure if I was imagining it, but I felt that that gundlepet-Ch.nagar stretch was smoother. Felt that some sections had been relaid. Nijaguna is very expensive for what they offer and wife was not happy with the ladies rest rooms. But still a good place to take a break and stretch your legs.

Encountered the 'white walls' discussed in detail here. Because I had read about it here, was not surprised. But can be dangerous for somebody who is unaware.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Returned to Bangalore from Calicut today via Ch.nagar route. Started at 5.45 and was home by 1.45 with an hours break at nijaguna. Not sure if I was imagining it, but I felt that that gundlepet-Ch.nagar stretch was smoother. Felt that some sections had been relaid.

Yes, some sections were relaid recently, I encountered only a very small rough (negligible) stretch when I traveled earlier this month.

Nijaguna is a little pricey but hardly any other alternate options for a break at Chamarajanagar. Maybe Rajdhani outside the Bus stand but not sure how the food and restrooms there are.