[PRADEEP KUMAR]

folks,
Planning a trip to Top slip/vaalpaari from chennai.
Kindly update on this route.

tnx

[rpads1]

Perambalur to Thuraiyur . Road is good, though narrow with no divider, making you slow down when a vehicle comes the other way. However the road condition is great . It should not take you more than 45 minutes at an avg maintained speed of around 60.

[rameshnanda]

Is there any recent takers of Karur-Trichy route? How is the road condition now?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Is there any recent takers of Karur-Trichy route? How is the road condition now?

I hear 4L work is still on-going.
People are still using the Musiri side of the SH.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by ampere

I hear 4L work is still on-going.
People are still using the Musiri side of the SH.

Yeh. I know this. I took this NH in May this year and this was the worst under construction road I have encountered so far. So, thought of getting a status on current condition.

When you say other side of the river, its the SH25 right? But, that won't connect to Karur right? SH25 leads to Namakkal.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

When you say other side of the river, its the SH25 right? But, that won't connect to Karur right? SH25 leads to Namakkal.

Ramesh, Yes my mistake. In that case I am not sure if there is any option
to bypass the NH67.

[RGK]

Planning to go to dharapuram via trichy from chennai. The best road option available is Chennai - Dindugal - Oddachatram - Dharapuram which will be around 500kms, where as Chennai - Trichy - Karur - Dharapuram is 465km exact, but Trichy to Kulithalai is still horrible.
If SH 25 is used till musiri, then need to take left (cross kaveri bridge) to reach Kulithalai and take right to Karur. This is good option, but I need to go Trichy town for some personal work.
Will update in a day after completing the trip.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by RGK

Planning to go to dharapuram via trichy from chennai. The best road option available is Chennai - Dindugal - Oddachatram - Dharapuram which will be around 500kms, where as Chennai - Trichy - Karur - Dharapuram is 465km exact, but Trichy to Kulithalai is still horrible

Try this:

Madras-Ulundurpettai-Kallakurichi-Athur-Rasipuram-Namakkal-Karur-Kangeyam-Dharapuram

Madras-Ulundurpet = known evil 4-lane
Ulundurpettai-Athur = 4-laning mostly done, 2-lane at few bypasses
Athur-Rasipuram = decent surface
Rasipuram-Karur = NH7 = runway
Karur-Kangeyam = good 2-lane
Kangeyam-Dharapuram = good 2-lane

This would add like 20-30 km, but travel time would be much lesser avoid Musiri or Kulithalai routes to Karur.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Try this:

Madras-Ulundurpettai-Kallakurichi-Athur-Rasipuram-Namakkal-Karur-Kangeyam-Dharapuram

Madras-Ulundurpet = known evil 4-lane
Ulundurpettai-Athur = 4-laning mostly done, 2-lane at few bypasses
Athur-Rasipuram = decent surface
Rasipuram-Karur = NH7 = runway
Karur-Kangeyam = good 2-lane
Kangeyam-Dharapuram = good 2-lane

This would add like 20-30 km, but travel time would be much lesser avoid Musiri or Kulithalai routes to Karur.

+1. Completely with Narayan. Even I take this route to go to Coimbatore from Chennai. To comment about Ulundurpet-Attur, the work is completely done. But, all bypasses are 2 laned highways and I think that is how they planned it.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Try this:

Madras-Ulundurpettai-Kallakurichi-Athur-Rasipuram-Namakkal-Karur-Kangeyam-Dharapuram

Madras-Ulundurpet = known evil 4-lane
Ulundurpettai-Athur = 4-laning mostly done, 2-lane at few bypasses
Athur-Rasipuram = decent surface
Rasipuram-Karur = NH7 = runway
Karur-Kangeyam = good 2-lane
Kangeyam-Dharapuram = good 2-lane

This would add like 20-30 km, but travel time would be much lesser avoid Musiri or Kulithalai routes to Karur.

This route was extensively used by Omni buses when the Trichy to Tindivanam road construction was going on. They go from Attur to Tiruvanamalai and join Tindivanam and avoid the horrible traffic jams occured during the 4 laning of NH45.

To add, Karur to Dharapuram is always fantastic with high quality toping and there is no need to touch Kangeyam and the distance is also lesser.

Started at 2.30 PM and reached Trichy at 7.00 PM and took an hour break. Want to test Trichy-Karur ( I have been so far doing either Trichy-Thogaimalai-Aravakurichi-Mulanur-Dharapuram or Trichy-Dindugal-Dharapuram after the road work started between Karur-Trichy) and the road was very bad till "Thiruparaithurai" (16 kms). Became frustrated and suddenly it was a pleasant surprise to see a butter smooth road after crossing "Pettaivaithalai". The Trichy-Karur (NH67) ends after hitting NH7 (Karur-Dindugal) and one need to take right again either go to Coimbatore, Tirupur and Dharapuram. I was able to cover in 1 1/2 hours at a sedate speed.
It is again smooth ride till Dharapuram with almost NIL traffic in the night.

I retested this again while returning back and able to reach Trichy from Karur in 1hr 15 minutes as I did a day trip. Kulithalai and Lalapet bye pass were completely done. Road markings, Sinages are going on and also the Toll plaza is getting completed. Trichy - Karur is excellent from 16th kms onwards and the total distance would come 85kms if you take the NH7 byepass to reach Karur town.

Since the entire road is not going to have median in centre, the drive may be very risky due to huge volume of Sand lorry traffic and the road reminds me the famous & risky Chennai ECR.

[ramzsys]

NHAI calls the Karur-Trichy part of NH67 as wide 2 lane and toll is going to start soon i guess. But whatsoever, i felt relieved to bypass Karur, or else driving through Karur is a nightmare due to 2 wheelers.

Originally Posted by RGK

I have been so far doing either Trichy-Thogaimalai-Aravakurichi-Mulanur-Dharapuram.....

RGK, can you give the road conditions(proper 2 lane? road surface?) of the above route.

thanks.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by RGK

Trichy - Karur is excellent from 16th kms onwards and the total distance would come 85kms if you take the NH7 byepass to reach Karur town.

So its just the first 16 km from Trichy that's a problem ? And rest is a smooth drive to Karur ? Would'nt taking Trichy-Musiri-Kulithalai-Karur help in that case ? You can join directly at No. 1 tollgate and don't need to do any sort of city traffic. However Trichy-Musiri is a mixed bag, its smooth one time and awful another time, primarily due to sand mining

[RGK]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

RGK, can you give the road conditions(proper 2 lane? road surface?) of the above route.
thanks.

It is two laned from Trichy - Thogaimalai - Periapalayam and single laned till Aravakurichi. The advantage is less traffic and the road surface is good except the blind curves. Preferrable for day journeys. Need to know the road direction clearly as one have to take right and 1st left at three locations.
This road totally bye-passes Karur, but starts from heart of the Trichy town i.e near the Mainguard gate.

Originally Posted by narayans80

So its just the first 16 km from Trichy that's a problem ? And rest is a smooth drive to Karur ? Would'nt taking Trichy-Musiri-Kulithalai-Karur help in that case ? You can join directly at No. 1 tollgate and don't need to do any sort of city traffic. However Trichy-Musiri is a mixed bag, its smooth one time and awful another time, primarily due to sand mining

Exactly the 1st 16kms is bad from Trichy. There are no big pothholes, but the road is in bad condition. Normally I take right after Samayapuram toll gate and cross Toll gate, Old Coleroon bridge, Tiruvanaikoil, Cauvery new bridge, Anna statue and take right to join karur road. Crossing this stretch would take a max of 20 minutes.
The Musiri road is famous for speed breakers and I do not prefer.

Once the remaining 16km is done, Dharapuram to Trichy will become a cake walk drive and I think Chennai-Udumalpet & Chennai-Pollachi will become shorter and can be covered fast using this route by avoiding the Dindugal-Oddachatram-Palani route.

The sad part is that there is no sign of any expansion work on the entire 16kms .

[RGK]

Latest update from my side - Did a trip to my DPM during last week for pongal and returned on 16th Wednesday. As said before the Trichy to Kulithalai is still not done.

Till Thiruparaithurai, it is very bad barring Pettaivaithalai. No signs of any work there in the entire 16km stretch. Atleast the highways dept can fill the patches.

The Karur bye pass is complete and touches the NH7 and one has to take right turn for Kovai, Tirupur and Dharapuram. The bye pass is longer and consumes around 10kms extra than the usual one.

[RGK]

Latest update on Karur- Trichy Road

No improvement till the initial 15 kms from Trichy Maingaurd gate junction.

Road Work is completed near Mukombu and Thirupurathurai. Bridge has to be completed at Pettavaithalai. After this, the road is excellent till Karur.

Toll plaza is ready but not started collection due to the pending work.
Sand lorries, No markings and singages pose danger and need to be extra careful during night.