[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by MuraliR

@Surprise, can you also please comment on Sriperumbudur - Oragadam - Padapai - Vandalur - Mambakkam - Kelambakkam - Kovalam : please.

From your above post, i guess Sriperumbudur - Oragadam - Padapai - Vandalur section is good.

Any idea on the balance stretch?

You will have difficulty in crossing the railway track at Vandalur.
Vandalur-Kelambakkam is good. Not very sure about Kelambakkam-Kovalam. The distance is less and I hope it should be decent.

[MuraliR]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

You will have difficulty in crossing the railway track at Vandalur.
Vandalur-Kelambakkam is good. Not very sure about Kelambakkam-Kovalam. The distance is less and I hope it should be decent.

Vandalur Railway track difficulty in terms of time? Or do I need to get prepared for a traffic jam?

[MAS]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

You will have difficulty in crossing the railway track at Vandalur.
Vandalur-Kelambakkam is good. Not very sure about Kelambakkam-Kovalam. The distance is less and I hope it should be decent.

The railway track at Vandalur was closed long time back (atleast 18 months back) for the construction of an over bridge. Last week while returning from Trichy, i saw the bridge was not operational. Not sure if anything has changed during this week.

Originally Posted by MuraliR

Vandalur Railway track difficulty in terms of time? Or do I need to get prepared for a traffic jam?

After crossing Padappai and travelling some distance towards Vandalur, take a left on Mudichur Road to reach Tambaram. Then proceed towards Vandalur. Take left after the Zoo. The roads are okay from Vandalur to Kelambakkam. Kelambakkam to Kovalam is a short distance and the road was bad when i took that road about 3 months back.

[MuraliR]

Originally Posted by MAS

The railway track at Vandalur was closed long time back (atleast 18 months back) for the construction of an over bridge. Last week while returning from Trichy, i saw the bridge was not operational. Not sure if anything has changed during this week.



After crossing Padappai and travelling some distance towards Vandalur, take a left on Mudichur Road to reach Tambaram. Then proceed towards Vandalur. Take left after the Zoo. The roads are okay from Vandalur to Kelambakkam. Kelambakkam to Kovalam is a short distance and the road was bad when i took that road about 3 months back.

OK, then what is suggested - do I continue on Poonamallee road, and turn right at the bypass or do I take the Sriperumbudur : Oragadam road.

What is the best to reach Kovalam? I do not mind travelling 15 to 30 mins extra.

[MAS]

Originally Posted by MuraliR

OK, then what is suggested - do I continue on Poonamallee road, and turn right at the bypass or do I take the Sriperumbudur : Oragadam road.

What is the best to reach Kovalam? I do not mind travelling 15 to 30 mins extra.

Take a right turn at Sriperumbudur and proceed to Kovalam via Oragadam - Padappai - Mudhichur - Tambaram - Vandalur - Kelambakkam.

Going to Poonamalee and taking the Chennai By-pass is also an option, best suited if you are reaching Sriperumbudur early morning.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by MuraliR

Vandalur Railway track difficulty in terms of time? Or do I need to get prepared for a traffic jam?

Originally Posted by MAS

The railway track at Vandalur was closed long time back (atleast 18 months back) for the construction of an over bridge. Last week while returning from Trichy, i saw the bridge was not operational. Not sure if anything has changed during this week.

I was referring to the traffic jam. I am not sure if its still closed. I was driving on the GST yesterday towards Chennai and noticed many vehicles piled up near the railway gate at Vandalur.

Frequent travellers on this route should confirm about the current status.

[MuraliR]

The right at Sriperumbudur towards Oragadam starts with a bad patch initially, gets better upto Oragadam. Quite bad after that - very narrow too.
Saved on time though.

[rajag]

In the first week of November, I traveled from Bangalore to Chennai. I decided to enter town from Tambaram as I had some work in South Chennai.

Before Sriperumbudur, I turned right towards Oragadam. First 500 meters or so was bad, then it varied between excellent and OK till Oragadam. At Oragadam there is an intersection with Apollo tyres on your left. You need to turn left here to head towards Vandalur/Tambaram. Here there is a flyover construction going on and about 500 meters of distance (cannot call it road) towards Manimangalam is very bad. I was fortunately in a Tata Safari and could go past all this peacefully. Was sad to see a Honda City struggling and trying not to scrape its belly all over the place.

From there roads are again good till you hit Mudichur. There is a board marking a left turn to Tambaram and straight leads to Vandalur. I was told that the intersection at Vandalur had a flyover construction going on and was bad. Turned left towards Mudichur. This is a two lane road with a median in the middle upto Tambaram. This entire stretch was packed with innumerable potholes. I had the additional pain of dealing with some buses from Sanmina whose drivers were hell bent on proving that they owned the roads there. The distance is certainly less, but the condition of roads is a pain. If you have vehicles with poor ground clearance, stay off these roads till they get it fixed.

[kiran]

Need help on getting to Chennai bye pass road from Pallavaram. Can I take 1) Pallavaram-Pammal-Anakaputhur-Bye pass road or 2) Pallavaram-Tiruneermalai road-Byepass road. I am coming from Pallikarnai and need to go Ambattur. I just want to cut the traffic along the inner ring road.

[kirantp]

Friends,

We will be making a trip to Tambaram during 1st week of Feb. Can any of you please let me know a decent route from Bangalore - Tambaram to drive in a low GC car such as ANHC loaded with 5 people in it?

Thanks in Advance.
Rgds,
KTP

[kala]

Originally Posted by kirantp

We will be making a trip to Tambaram during 1st week of Feb. Can any of you please let me know a decent route from Bangalore - Tambaram to drive in a low GC car such as ANHC loaded with 5 people in it?

I had found SH113/Darkas road to be reasonably OK when travelling between Sriperumbudur-Tambaram in February last year and then again in April. Only about 3 kms between SH113 turnoff to Darkas road and Somangalam was really bad, and the last 1 or 2 kms as you enter Tambaram was somewhat potholed as well, the rest of the road was OK. But I could do that distance of 26 kms in about 35 minutes without any bellyscrapes on my Ford Figo with 3 people onboard, and gave me the advantage of not having to touch Chennai city at all.

Not sure about how good these roads are right now. Trip report of my travel in February last year is here : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2256994

[DWind]

Originally Posted by kiran

Need help on getting to Chennai bye pass road from Pallavaram. Can I take 1) Pallavaram-Pammal-Anakaputhur-Bye pass road or 2) Pallavaram-Tiruneermalai road-Byepass road. I am coming from Pallikarnai and need to go Ambattur. I just want to cut the traffic along the inner ring road.

Not sure you can now join the Bye-pass at Anakaputhur / Tiruneermalai Road now. Even if you do you would need a vehicle with good ground clearance. Your best option is joining bye-pass at Porur or going back to Tambaram if you want to avoid Ring road and Metro construction activities.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by kiran

Need help on getting to Chennai bye pass road from Pallavaram.

Except for Tambaram station, you don't see any jams between Pallavaram and Tambaram on GST. I usually take it around 4-430pm on my highway drives.

[kiran]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Except for Tambaram station, you don't see any jams between Pallavaram and Tambaram on GST. I usually take it around 4-430pm on my highway drives.

But wouldnt it be too long for me? I feel like to take Porur route to touch the Bye pass road. My intention is to go towards Ambattur.

BTW any toll gates on the bye pass road?

[bala80]

You can drive straight from Blore - Chennai till maduravoil and then take the chennai bypass from there to reach Tambaram without having to enter chennai. Road conditions will be good all through.

Originally Posted by kirantp

Friends,

We will be making a trip to Tambaram during 1st week of Feb. Can any of you please let me know a decent route from Bangalore - Tambaram to drive in a low GC car such as ANHC loaded with 5 people in it?

Thanks in Advance.
Rgds,
KTP