Bangalore to Coimbatore & back: Road condition & total toll paid

Creta gave an overall average of 15.5km/ litre for the trip. Paid ₹665 as toll.

BHPian GKR268 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

I did a solo Bengaluru-Coimbatore drive on 21st December 2024. Posting here the overall journey with the road conditions.

Tanked up to full fuel level, my creta diesel 2018 model. Got air pressure tested on all tyres the night before.

Started 4am from Bengaluru (HSR Layout). Google maps showed the conventional route Bengaluru-Hosur-Rayakottai-Dharmapuri-Salem-Avinashi-Coimbatore. Total distance of 350km and approx 6 hours 40 minutes. I planned to take a break at Salem which is approximately the mid point in this journey.

The start of the trip was a breeze till Hosur with virtually no traffic in Bengaluru/ Electronic City Flyover. Even Hosur to Rayakottai stretch has considerably improved (although some construction work seems to be ongoing perennially at few places). Some loaded trucks were as usual trying to outpace each other at low speed blocking all lanes. Watch out - the stretch especially in and around Hosur has speed breakers at almost all traffic intersections and there is usually some traffic (wrong side scooters, tempos etc.) trying to cross at the intersection. Barring this stretch, overall roads till Rayakottai is good to drive with ample reflectors, lane markers etc put in place by NHAI. Only grudge is the high beam from incoming traffic. While halogen high beams are manageable, the LED ones are a pain! Chennai bound traffic takes the exit at Rayakottai and the road towards Salem gets sparse with traffic. The condition of the 4 laned road is excellent till Thoppur ghat section. At the Thoppur ghat section, while it is a 4 laned road, the incline is steep. One needs to be careful with loaded trucks trying to navigate the curves as well as certain car/ tempo drivers trying to play a Michael Schumacher on these stretches. Overall driving caution is recommended. Post Thoppur the stretch till Salem is awesome.
I reached Salem around 7.15 am. Took a 40 minutes break at Sri Saravana Bhavan’s Aasai Dosai. The place is located under a flyover on the opposite side (towards Bengaluru) but on the main highway itself. It has ample parking, clean washrooms and a good authentic South Indian breakfast menu. It is also a full fledged hotel with standard rooms available mostly for an overnight journey break. Highly recommend this place for its overall ambience, cleanliness and breakfast. Location link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/1A5Y1iLzi765...s.preview.copy

From Salem till Coimbatore, the roads are 4 lane/ 6lane with overall road condition being good, very good and excellent depending upon the stretches. One can easily maintain good driving speeds. The roads do not have any potholes although there are certain gaps in the median on some of the stretches but you have ample road signs placed conspicuously which indicate these gaps and intersections.

Traffic started building up at the outer part of Coimbatore (there is a fair amount of road work going on in Coimbatore). I reached my destination at Coimbatore around 11.15 am. Overall it took 7 hours 15 minutes with a 40 minute break at Salem.

Creta gave an overall average of 15.5km/ litre for the trip. Paid ₹665 as toll. Break up as follows:

• Electronic City: ₹60
• Attibelle: ₹35
• Krishnagiri: ₹90
• Thoppur: ₹120
• Omalur: ₹95
• Vaiguntham: ₹75
• Vijayamangalam: ₹70
• Changapally: ₹120

Travel tip: start early from Bengaluru (by 4.30 am) so that you avoid the daily morning traffic for almost 50% of the trip.

Did the return to Bengaluru on 26th December. Took the same route back. Started at 4am from Coimbatore and reached bengaluru at 11.30 am. Journey break at Salem at the same eating joint. Overall the return journey was good except that after Krishnagiri, google maps directed me to some internal road till Bengaluru outskirts. This was a two laned road with speed breakers and potholes and mostly had private tourist bus and truck traffic. The drive was a pain at this stretch. Later on realised that this road led to the avoidance of the attibelle toll plaza which explained the presence of private buses and trucks in this stretch. Overall learning was not to blindly follow Google maps. Hope the above helps my fellow BHPians in planning their Bengaluru-Coimbatore trips. Till next time, drive safe!

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