Overall, an enjoyable drive as in the delta area most of the rivers were surprisingly flowing in peak summer because of heavy rains.
BHPian Yieldway17 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
I had a quick run to Peralam last weekend and returned this Wednesday.
Onwards, I took Tindivanam-Pondy-Cuddalore-Sirkazhi-Deithiswarankovil-Mayiladuthurai-Peralam. I didn’t find shortcut to bypass Pondy as I went past it well after 10pm and was not worth the effort as town traffic was light. New highway from Cuddalore to Sirkazhi is standard fare now but I really hate driving this bumpy concrete highway.
For return, I took Peralam-manganallur-aduthurai-tirupananthal-sthiyathoppu-vadalur-enyveli-panruti-koliyanur-villupuram-tindivanam just for seeing how the road is between Sethiyathoppu and Koliyanur.
Tirupananthal Bypass is operational but it has a bad setup on the Kumbakonam end (similar to how this highway joins GST Road at Vikravandi directly on to the highway).
The asphalt highway was such a bliss compared to the concrete mess the other highway is. Need to be cautious of a lot of confused two wheeler riders coming against you on fast lane though.
Anaikarai bridge was a short blitz of 60 seconds and I only could let a small smile of how I miss but not really miss the old Anaikarai experience.
I continued after Vellar bridge and Sethiyathoppu bypass instead of taking the usual Vridachalam exit.
Surprisingly, the roads were fine all through to Koliyanur from there. They have relaid most of the broken parts but they didn’t pave it wide, just 2 lanes with no shoulders, so overtaking etc. can be a pain, but I didn’t really hit any potholes or bad patches. There are the abandoned stretches where you have to switch sides and patched sections but it was mostly fine as I was expecting a much bad road. Except for Vadalur and Panruti town traffic, I was able to maintain 60-70kmph fine.
Sadly I could see no signs of the new contractor beginning any work on this stretch yet. Encountered heavy rain after Panruti and with low visibility exited towards Villupuram at Koliyanur and joined GST Road at Villupuram bypass and rain continued all the way till Tambaram. Koliyanur to Vikravandi was heavily damaged late last year due to rain and flooding in the area and I don’t know its recent status but should be okay to drive through.
Overall, an enjoyable drive as in the delta area most of the rivers were surprisingly flowing in peak summer because of heavy rains.
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