[ACMerchant]

Just travelled on the Surat - Mumbai stretch and since my last post the roads have been patched but still certain sections remain but are small. Left Surat at 15.00 hrs and reached Mumbai at 21.00 hrs (home to destination) with an halt of about 45 minutes at Vapi. Traffic density is high as before but could get speeds of about 90 - 100 km/hr.

[narayans80]

Plotting a drive to Amadavad from Madras, shows Aurangabad-Yeola-Saputara-Navsari as the default option than routing me through Poona-Bombay. wow!

[bht]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Plotting a drive to Amadavad from Madras, shows Aurangabad-Yeola-Saputara-Navsari as the default option than routing me through Poona-Bombay. wow!

Do let know which route you take, I am also planning a BLR-->Rajkot drive and confused on which route to take, leaning towards Aurangabad one.
I'll be glued to the updates here

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by bht

Do let know which route you take

My drive is sometime away. However Parag has done (Mumbai - Ahmedabad : Route Queries) this last November.

From his updates, Aurangabad-Chikhli was done in 5.5 hours with some patchy sections between Niphad and Yeola. Please do take the Gangapur-Vaijapur, not the Lasur route from Aurangabad.

Technically this is a more peaceful route even under normal circumstances, given it avoids all MH high traffic zones including avoiding Bombay entirely.

During the holiday season of 2019, I took an off-the-book Hyderabad-Aurangabad-Indore-Jhabua-Godhra route. It was great fun driving the infamous NH59. I wouldn't recommend due to Kannad ghat mess and Chalisgaon-Dhule road expansion. I did avoid all the holiday traffic and the first jam I experienced only at Amadavad bypass.

[bht]

Originally Posted by narayans80

My drive is sometime away. However Parag has done (Mumbai - Ahmedabad : Route Queries) this last November.

From his updates, Aurangabad-Chikhli was done in 5.5 hours with some patchy sections between Niphad and Yeola. Please do take the Gangapur-Vaijapur, not the Lasur route from Aurangabad.

Technically this is a more peaceful route even under normal circumstances, given it avoids all MH high traffic zones including avoiding Bombay entirely.

During the holiday season of 2019, I took an off-the-book Hyderabad-Aurangabad-Indore-Jhabua-Godhra route. It was great fun driving the infamous NH59. I wouldn't recommend due to Kannad ghat mess and Chalisgaon-Dhule road expansion. I did avoid all the holiday traffic and the first jam I experienced only at Amadavad bypass.

Thanks, I did see his updates and he also suggested the same.
I am contemplating to drive further from Aurangabad on Day1, since its just 13-14hrs from Bangalore and should be able to push on for 3-4 hrs more since the plan is to start no later than 3am, may be Nashik should be a good stopover.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by bht

I am contemplating to drive further from Aurangabad

Aurangabad is ideal. Nasik is actually a detour.

Shirdi is a possible option, its 2 hours from Aurangabad. Though Shirdi-Kopargaon-Yeola is not in good condition.

[bht]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Aurangabad is ideal. Nasik is actually a detour.

Shirdi is a possible option, its 2 hours from Aurangabad. Though Shirdi-Kopargaon-Yeola is not in good condition.

Yes, Thanks for suggestion, this is what got me confused a little as well, Saputara/Hatgad looked like next option but with limited options ( most are too expensive for a night lay over).

May be the best option is to not book anything in advance and book on the go depending on the progress made...

[anupneelay]

Hello people - seeking some help from you guys.

I'm planning to do a Pune -> Statue Of Unity -> Ahmedabad trip post Diwali.
Google maps is showing 2 routes for Pune to Statue of Unity - via Nashik and via Mumbai. Which route would be better from Pune?

Also, any things to take care of as I will taking my car to Gujarat, I mean any state specific things, as I would be doing it for the very first time with my own car.
Thank you in advance!

[ACMerchant]

Originally Posted by anupneelay

Hello people - seeking some help from you guys.

I'm planning to do a Pune -> Statue Of Unity -> Ahmedabad trip post Diwali.
Google maps is showing 2 routes for Pune to Statue of Unity - via Nashik and via Mumbai. Which route would be better from Pune?

Also, any things to take care of as I will taking my car to Gujarat, I mean any state specific things, as I would be doing it for the very first time with my own car.
Thank you in advance!

IMHO Pune to SOU(Statue of Unity) via Mumbai will be better.
For SOU stay at Tent City? Which day of the week will you be visiting SOU?

[anupneelay]

Originally Posted by ACMerchant

IMHO Pune to SOU(Statue of Unity) via Mumbai will be better.
For SOU stay at Tent City? Which day of the week will you be visiting SOU?

Thank you! Any suggestions on the timeframe when I should try to cross Mumbai?
I'd ve visiting SOU most probably on 26th or 27th Oct i.e., Wed or Thurs.

[ACMerchant]

Originally Posted by anupneelay

Thank you! Any suggestions on the timeframe when I should try to cross Mumbai?
I'd ve visiting SOU most probably on 26th or 27th Oct i.e., Wed or Thurs.

For SOU :-
*https://statueofunity.in/# most of the details you will get here. Also install app as it is much better to book tickets - Please note from one mobile registered in the app you will be able to purchase only six tickets for any attraction. All Payments are digital
*Google maps for route and travel time from your home to SOU and plan to leave accordingly. Road condition good from Mumbai to SOU via Netrang and Rajpipla.
*As I have visited in June 22 ideal days are days of the week except weekends and holidays. If you have to go then better to take the priority pass or else will have to wait in the queue for long time.
*The laser show is the ultimate and hence better to select vising SOU @ 16.00 hrs so can take your seat for the show by 18.30 hrs.
*Please plan your attractions since it will be slightly warm(most probably) and if senior citizens are there they may be tired.
Hope this helps.

[sankdadevil]

Traveled from Pune to Vadodara a few days back.

Condition of road from Pune to Mumbai (Expressway) is very good. Expressway to Ghodbunder road is the usual chaos and the jam at Fountain Hotel is excruciating. Keep calm and carry on...

After that the roads are smooth with manageable potholes till Gujarat border. You can easily cruise at 70-90 KMpH on this patch. Once you cross the border, the road noise itself will change with most of the patch till Navsari motorable in the 60-80 KMpH range.

Then the nightmare begins... The patch from Navsari till Bharuch is a peek-a-boo game where we are tasked with finding the road between the potholes One can manage about 30-40 KMpH on average on this patch. The road condition after crossing Bharuch is excellent with a possibility to maintain cruise control between 80-100 KMpH. However, the sudden narrowing of the highway width at 3 different places on this patch means constant bottle-necks leading to lengthy traffic snarls.

I hope to find better roads on the way back. Fingers crossed!!

[TheDarkKnight]

I am planning to travel to Surat this weekend on my motorcycle, and the last time I had travelled by car in July the potholes were pretty bad and there was a dent on the door sill due to a huge crater that I failed to see due to rains.

Have the road conditions improved as I read in a few posts earlier or is it advisable to book a train ticket directly to avoid the hassle.

Cheers.

[sankdadevil]

Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight

I am planning to travel to Surat this weekend on my motorcycle, and the last time I had travelled by car in July the potholes were pretty bad and there was a dent on the door sill due to a huge crater that I failed to see due to rains.

Have the road conditions improved as I read in a few posts earlier or is it advisable to book a train ticket directly to avoid the hassle.

Cheers.

Navsari to Surat will be painful. Otherwise it's just the usual NH story.

[Dieseltuned]

I just did a round trip from Mumbai to Bharuch over the Diwali days. Roads were empty and managed to cruise through Ghodbunder both ways albeit with some body massage thrown in free by the road authorities.

Mumbai till Gujarat border the NH 48 is smooth ride, just look out for some pot holes around manor.

Post gujarat border at Bhilad/Vapi all the way till Bharuch you will be playing a cat and mouse game with potholes, torn layer of road surface, wrong side riders, etc.

Roads especially when you approach Vapi and Surat go for a real toss and please be very careful.

There are 2 bridges under construction, One just after Kadodara near Surat and one just before hitting Ankleshwar, Plan your trip to avoid jams at these 2 places. Best would be to cross these 2 places in afternoon 2-4 pm.

I hit a pothole somewhere around Vapi and the tyre was a total loss as it developed a cut and bulge on the side wall. Mind you I was doing a leisurely 60-70 kmph and I see some morons zooming down at excess of 100 kmph, god bless them.
Thankfully the full size alloy and spare on the City came to the rescue.

High time some authority looks at maintaining this important piece of NH.

One more thing I noticed is post the Cyrus mistry tragedy some reactive action has been taken and there are some sign boards which have come up around the accident spots, problem is the boards are at the accident spot, ideally they should have been atleast 200-300 meters before the spot , warning the driver that are approaching a danger spot. It seems that the warning boards have been put up just as a formality and tick mark activity and serve no purpose.

As I said in my last post, DO NOT travel on this piece of NH after dark, its simply not worth the risk.