Route questions : Pune to Gujarat

[dtgada]

hi.. wanted to know the best way to travel from pune to gujarat (vapi to be more specific). someone suggested that the pune - nasik road is pretty bad and it makes sense to come all the way to new bombay thru the expressway and then go to thane via panvel and head north to gujarat.

need suggestions?

[hvkumar]

Via Bombay is the best route option.
Advised not to take the Thane road from Kalamboli, best is to come towards New Bombay, turn off at Turbhe and cross the creek at the Airoli bridge.
Proceed via Mulund and Thane and take Ghodbunder road to reach NH8 - a fast drive from there all the way to Vapi.

[hvkumar]

Here are detailed instructions for going from Pune road to Ahmedabad road (NH8):

Zero point is Kalamboli where the Pune- Bombay expressway ends.

Keep going towards Bombay. you will cross several flyovers through Kharghar
and Belapur. Belapur can be identified by the large number of office
buildings to the left (including Konkan Bhavan, Park Hotel). After Belapur,
the road climbs up a hill and comes down to the other side. The traffic
signal at that junction is the Uran Phata. After crossing that signal you
will cross Nerul (you will see the light pillars of a cricket stadium on
your left), and you climb up a flyover after crossing Nerul.

Ahead of the Nerul flyover, you will see a complicated flyover coming up
(the Turbhe flyover). Over the flyover is Bombay (it curves away to the
left). Your road is the road to Thane (marked straight)( keep to the right
and avoid going on the flyover). This place is Turbhe. Keep going straight
and you will reach a messy junction with a signal and then a flyover curving
away to the left. Keep to your left (flyover starts to the right) and keep
going straight.

You are now going on the Thane- Belapur road - goes through industrial area.
First you will cross Turbhe Railway Station (RS) on your left. Then you will
see another flyover curving to the left - keep going down straight. After
this, you will see the Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Complex (DAKC) to
your right. Messy road just concreted with several incomplete stretches. You
will cross the Rabale and Kopar Khairne RS to your left.

The road goes down into a subway and at the signal in the subway, turn left.
This is Airoli, and the subway (after you turn left) goes under the railway
line. DONT go straight although that also goes to Thane.

Keep going on this road ( the Airoli Bridge road) and you will cross the
Thane Creek (1 km bridge), at the end of which there is a toll gate (Rs 25).
Followed by an octroi gate.

You will hit the Eastern Expressway - flyover going from left to right. Left
goes to Ghakopar/Bombay, straight to Mulund, and you turn right towards
Thane. Down this road after 1 km is a signal after which is a toll gate (Rs
25). After the toll gate, you will see trucks line up and a stone tower,
indicating that you have left Bombay and entered Thane. The road goes up a
slope and when you come down that slope you see a flyover. Go over the
flyover. 1 km down the road around a long curve, you will see another
flyover - go on it - and this is a 1.5 km elevated road.

After you come down this long flyover, you will see yet another flyover -
sign boards saying Ahmedabad, Nasik (on flover). DO NOT take this flyover -
go underneath (left side). The road meets traffice coming from the left, and
curves to the left to meet first a small junction, then a small round. Keep
going straight - you are now in the Ghodbunder road. You will see the
Cinemax multiplex on your left, Ford showroom on your right.

That is it - go on this road 16 kms and you will reach the NH8 junction at
Ghodbunder (immediately after a toll gate - Rs 15), which is after you climb
up and down a small ghat.

At the NH8 junction, turn right (left goes to Dahisar/Bombay) and it is all
the way.

[spadival]

hvkumar, I guess this applies to Surat as well? Approximately, how long does it take for the journey from Pune to Surat?

[hvkumar]

Yes, it is the same route. From Thane to Surat is 260 kms. Time duration would be as follows:

Pune-Thane, 3 hours (worst case, with high traffic)
Thane-Surat, 5 hours
Allow for 1 hour break.
Increase time for slow speeds by 1 hour
Not more than 10 hours for the Pune-Surat drive.
No traffic blockages en route.

[dtgada]

thanx hvkumar.

its quite surprising that via mumbai turns out to be the best option. ending up taking a route running on two sides of the triangle when there should have been a good straight road from pune to gujrat - would have saved lots of time and kilometers.

is a direct pune - gujarat road not there or its too bad?

[hvkumar]

The route via Nashik does not really save much distance and takes longer time. Besides, that would mean driving on bad mountain roads. On the other hand, if you go via Bombay, you have the advantage of the expressway and the good NH8.