Bangalore To Pondicherry: Road Condition & Route


#31
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#31
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
Another quick update on the road conditions.

Route taken was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Pondy & return the same way.

415am - 1030am, with 1 breaks of breakfast (30min in Saisangeeth, Vaniyambadi). Note that Saisangeeth had dishes (dosa, poori, pongal, vada) at 620am! Started early due to the expected maddening crowd due to the Ramzan long weekend. My BIL had to wait for an hour @ Attibele toll when he reached there at 6am.

All conditions remain same except for the only below mentioned item.
(1) Cheyyar bypass still is bad, but about 3-4 speedbreakers in all.

On return had lunch at Hotel Saravana Bhavan (nothing to do with the original one) at https://goo.gl/maps/zjrRAUHqt2q. The quality of the standard veg meals was good. Of course, we had a few Biriyani from Star Biriyani (Ambur) take away for the night!
 
#32
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#32
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
Another quick update on the road conditions, did a Blr - Pondy - Blr again. While returning, had to drop a friend in Thiruvannamalai & decided to take an age-old route & update the condition here.

Route taken was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Pondy & return was via Pondy - Tindivanam - Gingee - Thiruvannamalai - Chengam - Singarapettai - Thirupathur - Bargur - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore.

Pondy - Thiruvannamalai: 10am - 1230pm, 2.5 hrs. Leisurely drive. Had company for discussions, taking things very sedately. Had a 15-min coffee break @ Indian Coffee House (opp to JIPMER) & another 15-min break @ TRUE, Auro Foods. @ Thiruvannamalai, a break of 2-hrs to meet some friends.
Thriuvannamalai - Bargur: 230pm - 4pm, 1.5 hrs, normal drive.
Bargur - EC City: 430pm - 630pm: 2 hrs.

Pondy - Tindivanam: As usual, excellent.
Tindivanam (via bypass) - Thiruvannamalai: As usual, very good 2 lane carriageway.
Thiruvannamalai - Chengam - Singarepettai: Very wide 2-lane carriageway excepting in villages/small towns. So wide that even if the opposite party is overtaking, you need not go to the sand shoulder of the road. No potholes, etc. Very good condition. You will know it when you hit those sections. Whenever you see a village/small town, the roads will narrow down, so reduce your speed. Speedbreakers are there sparsely as well. In most places, you can carry 90kmph easily.
Singarapettai - Thirupathur: 2-lane carriageway. Just that, 2 lane. Can't overtake easily, very curvy too, but traffic is sparse. Every village has speedbreakers. Considerable 2-wheeler traffic as well. No pot holes, very good condition.
Thirupathur - Bargur: Thirupathur will see considerable traffic. Inside the town, pathetic roads. But not for long. Again, very wide 2-lane carriageway all the way upto NH. Very good condition.

Overall, a great route. It is just that you are 2-lane for a lot longer compared to Cheyyar - Vandavasi route.
 
#33
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#33
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
Just a quick update of the last week round trip. A new culvert being built, somewhere near Moranam, between Arcot & Cheyyar. This is a small deviation, may be muddy during rains, but nothing major to worry. This is the only new update on the route, folks.
 
#34
@shri

@shri

V6
#34
Joined
Nov 28, 2015
Messages
193
Likes
58
Location
na
CasualSurfer said:
Another quick update on the road conditions, did a Blr - Pondy - Blr again. While returning, had to drop a friend in Thiruvannamalai & decided to take an age-old route & update the condition here.

Route taken was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Pondy & return was via Pondy - Tindivanam - Gingee - Thiruvannamalai - Chengam - Singarapettai - Thirupathur - Bargur - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore.

Pondy - Thiruvannamalai: 10am - 1230pm, 2.5 hrs. Leisurely drive. Had company for discussions, taking things very sedately. Had a 15-min coffee break @ Indian Coffee House (opp to JIPMER) & another 15-min break @ TRUE, Auro Foods. @ Thiruvannamalai, a break of 2-hrs to meet some friends.
Thriuvannamalai - Bargur: 230pm - 4pm, 1.5 hrs, normal drive.
Bargur - EC City: 430pm - 630pm: 2 hrs.

Pondy - Tindivanam: As usual, excellent.
Tindivanam (via bypass) - Thiruvannamalai: As usual, very good 2 lane carriageway.
Thiruvannamalai - Chengam - Singarepettai: Very wide 2-lane carriageway excepting in villages/small towns. So wide that even if the opposite party is overtaking, you need not go to the sand shoulder of the road. No potholes, etc. Very good condition. You will know it when you hit those sections. Whenever you see a village/small town, the roads will narrow down, so reduce your speed. Speedbreakers are there sparsely as well. In most places, you can carry 90kmph easily.
Singarapettai - Thirupathur: 2-lane carriageway. Just that, 2 lane. Can't overtake easily, very curvy too, but traffic is sparse. Every village has speedbreakers. Considerable 2-wheeler traffic as well. No pot holes, very good condition.
Thirupathur - Bargur: Thirupathur will see considerable traffic. Inside the town, pathetic roads. But not for long. Again, very wide 2-lane carriageway all the way upto NH. Very good condition.

Overall, a great route. It is just that you are 2-lane for a lot longer compared to Cheyyar - Vandavasi route.
Click to expand...
Planning a trip soon, this will come handy. Thank you @CasualSurfer
 
#35
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#35
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
A quick update on the default route. Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Pondy

1. Cheyyar bypass has been freshly relaid. The only sore point in the route has been taken care of now.
2. I had updated that a culvert is being built near moranam earlier. The exact location is 16-17kms from Arcot right turn, i.e. just before Kalavai Kootroad.
 
#36
H

hemantp

V6
#36
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
216
Likes
63
Location
Bangalore
Hello,

I will be driving to Pondicherry this weekend from Bangalore and wanted to confirm if Bangalore -> Krishnagiri -> Vellore -> Tidivanam -> Pondicherry the best option when road condition and time to travel are considered?

From some posts above (particularly from CasualSurfer) it seems the case but still wanted to confirm to latest.

Thanks.
 
#37
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#37
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
hemantp said:
Hello,

I will be driving to Pondicherry this weekend from Bangalore and wanted to confirm if Bangalore -> Krishnagiri -> Vellore -> Tidivanam -> Pondicherry the best option when road condition and time to travel are considered?

From some posts above (particularly from CasualSurfer) it seems the case but still wanted to confirm to latest.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the late response. The best option is still the same. I did travel on this route last weekend. Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Pondy is the best option.

Although I came back (in KSRTC Volvo) by Pondy - Tindivanam - Gingee - Thiruvannamalai - Chengam - Singarapettai - Uthangarai - Mathur - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore. It was pretty smooth from the bus, it looked so. But I will be soon travelling in this route to reconfirm how it felt to be in a car. Till then go via Arcot - Cheyyar option.
 
#38
H

hemantp

V6
#38
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
216
Likes
63
Location
Bangalore
Thanks.

I took same route to and fro and both times the journey took 6:30 hrs total with actual driving time ~ 5:40 hrs.

Even though 60 KMs more than other route Google shows as best option, this route seems predictable. Also don't see time factor involved much here except for Bangalore traffic as while going I started at 6:45 AM from Bangalore and coming back started at 10 AM from Pondicherry.

Pondicherry - Arcot is around 130 KM and 1x1 lane without divider, still can be easily done in 2:30 hrs with some bad roads in patches (rare).

Arcot - Bangalore on NH48 is ~ 240 KM and took me around 3:10 hrs.

Only 2 important points to remember here:

1) While going towards Pondicherry, exit from NH48 after Vellore to join Arcot - Kanchipuram road (SH5?) is tricky - one has to be aware about upcoming traffic from Chennai side.

2) Watch out for junction / bypass that comes near Vandavasi road around 1 hour after taking Arcot road. Its tricky and better look at what google maps shows before actually taking that turn as GPS / Maps could go for toss / rerouting for those 10 secs till you actually get on correct road with traffic from both sides.
 
#39
E

eigenvalue

V4
#39
Joined
Jun 11, 2015
Messages
57
Likes
55
Location
TN-91
Hi
I will be driving to vallimalai from vridhachalam on the coming days, so wanted to confirm which route is better to take.
option1. vridhachalam - ulundurpet - villupuram - gingee - chetpet - arani - ranipet-vallimalai
option2. vridhachalam - ulundurpet- thirukoilure- thiruvannamalai- polur- arani - ranipet - vallimalai
Not sure of the road conditions in option1 but google tells me as the easy option.
Could you guys throw some light on road conditions and help me choose the best option.
Thank you.
 
Last edited:
#40
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#40
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
eigenvalue said:
Hi
I will be driving to vallimalai from vridhachalam on the coming days, so wanted to confirm which route is better to take.
option1. vridhachalam - ulundurpet - villupuram - gingee - chetpet - arani - ranipet-vallimalai
option2. vridhachalam - ulundurpet- thirukoilure- thiruvannamalai- polur- arani - ranipet - vallimalai
Not sure of the road conditions in option1 but google tells me as the easy option.
Could you guys throw some light on road conditions and help me choose the best option.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
I have driven on this route till Ulundurpet. So my choice would be Virudhachalam - Ulundurpet - Villupuram Bypass - Tindivanam Bypass - Thellar - Vandavasi Bypass - Cheyyar Bypass - Arcot - Ranipet - Vallimalai.

Ulundurpet - Tindivanam Bypass: is a full divided 4-lane. 1-2 hrs (from Virudhachalam) depending on traffic.

Tindivanam bypass - Arcot: is an excellent wide 2-lane where you can easily maintain 70-80kmph. Good road conditions too. Be careful when driving in the morning / evening college timings. No facilities in this section though. You can cover this 90km sedately in 1.5 - 2 hrs.

Another 0.5 hrs for Vallimalai from Ranipet.

I haven't driven on routes you had mentioned. Most SH in TN are good excepting very few. So you can try other routes on your return. If you need help in getting those bypasses correct, let me know, I have the exact Google Maps route for these bypasses.
 
#42
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#42
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
eigenvalue said:
@casualsurfer
Thanks a ton. It would be of help in clearing my dubieties if the google map link of the same is linked here.

Is this the route you suggested,Sir?

Once again thanks for your timely pointer
Click to expand...

You can follow the route exactly, except for Arcot. No need to go into Arcot town. You can join the Chennai-Bangalore highway & in about 200m you will get a chance to U-Turn for going into Ranipet (Palar river bridge). The slight left turn into Ranipet will come just as you cross the Palar river.
 
#43
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#43
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
Thought to update a few other routes that I had taken last weekend. Tried these routes since I haven't tried them for sometime.

Onward
Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Mathur - Uthangarai - Singarapettai - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondy.

From Electronic City to Pondy in 5hr 15min. And 7hrs++ door to door. Started at 12pm & reached 7pm++. Most of the roads are motorable. You have to be careful as the gradient difference between wide 2-lane (road being widened in many sections) to normal 2-lane is unpredictable. Most of these sections are within the village boundaries. Such 1feet gradient between the road joints are a let down, but even then there is considerable advantage going through this road, especially fuel savings. You save close to 80+ kms. And much less traffic. Just make sure that Thiruvannamalai has no functions during those days of your travel. Crossing Thiruvannamalai can eat up between 15-40min depending on that. Between Singarapettai - Thiruvannamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam, in many sections, you can maintain at 80/90kmph pretty easily. There are potholes/top layer peeled off, but nothing unmanageable. Maintain between 70-90kmph, you should get through pretty quickly. There are a few restaurants which have come up. One notable place is Chola, just outside Thiruvannamalai (https://goo.gl/maps/SiQwBXStBc32). KSRTC stops here as well. Bathrooms were clean & food is decent too.


Return
Pondy - Tindivanam - Thiruvannamalai - Thanipadi - Naripalli - Theerthamalai - Harur - Morappur - Kambainallur - Karimangalam - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore.

7+ hrs for door to door. Started at 2pm & reached home at 9pm++. There is no place to break post Tindivanam in this route. Although you will find lots of village shops (fresh pakoda, bajji, fruits, etc), none for proper/reliable branded shops around. And no restroom break options available, if with family. The road condition is smooth overall. There are some patches (uneven, small potholes, top layer came off), but minimal. Very curvy roads as well. Good scenery for a change, as the route passes through a reserved forest too.

Both route options has plenty of Indian Oil / HP outlets. And both can't be driven in late evening / nights, if not used to blinding headlights and driven on undivided roads. Both had 20min lunch break + 20-30min of bathroom / tea / fuel breaks.
 
#45
C

CasualSurfer

V6
#45
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
388
Likes
313
Location
Bengaluru
CasualSurfer said:
Onward
Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Mathur - Uthangarai - Singarapettai - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondy.
Click to expand...
This is 314kms door-to-door. 280+ kms from Electronic City to JIPMER (Pondy Entrance).

CasualSurfer said:
Return
Pondy - Tindivanam - Thiruvannamalai - Thanipadi - Naripalli - Theerthamalai - Harur - Morappur - Kambainallur - Karimangalam - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore.
Click to expand...
This is 351kms from door-to-door. 330+kms from Electronic City to JIPMER (Pondy Entrance).

Forgot to mention the laning of these roads.
Bangalore - Krishnagiri: 6 lane highway
Krishnagiri - Tindivanam: 2 lane undivided carriageway in both routes (some places are wider, 2.5-3 lanes).
Tindivanam - Pondy: 4 lane highway

The usual / standard route is Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Ambur - Vellore - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Pondy. This is 375kms door-to-door. 355kms from Electronic City to JIPMER (Pondy Entrance). It has maximum 4/6 lanes. Only 90+ kms of Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam is 2 lane, that too in good condition as of May.

The other usual suggested (one of the shorter distance routes) is Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Bargur - Thirupattur - Uthangarai/Singarapettai - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondy. This will avoid the worst (not so much now though) of the bad sections between Krishnagiri - Mathur - Uthangarai. Its a 20+ kms detour. The only drawback is the morning/evening peak traffic & heavily potholed roads in-around Thirupathur (although for very short ride 2-3kms only). Haven't traveled in this section for quite sometime now.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom