[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by neo45007

I will be doing Bangalore - Nagpur - Bhopal in Oct end and same route in return.

neo45007 - I intend to do the same route in December. However, please be aware that Nagpur - Bhopal (NH69) has taken a beating due to heavy rains/increased traffic and is in a pretty bad shape as of 2 weeks back. Given the reputation of MP roads, I am not very sure if this stretch will be repaired once the rains abate. Do post an update once you have driven this stretch.

Cheers

[neo45007]

@ Anuj : With your new Safari; It should be doable if u don't feel tired or If u have one more driver with u. (Try to leave BNG by 3 AM if possible).

@ Cooldude : I recently did Bhopal - Itarsi and YES; the roads were pathetic.
I will definitely do BNG - NGP; but till Bhopal - will think twice.

[neo45007]

Just completed Bangalore to Nagpur trip non-stop. (via Hydbad)

Details below :

[cool_dube]

Reviving this thread as I need to make this trip in December. A couple of queries:

a) Last year I took the JNORR - Gachibowli - Miyapur cross - Medak Road - Medchal route to bypass Hyderabad. Is this still the best option?

b) Assuming I take the above route to bypass Hyderabad, any recommended stop overs for a quick/early lunch on this stretch? Am hoping to start from Bangalore by 4 AM and reach HYD around 11 AM.

c) Last I heard, around 100 kms of road b/w AP/MH border and Hinganghat was under 4-lane work. Does that still hold good?

Thanks in advance...

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Last I heard, around 100 kms of road b/w AP/MH border and Hinganghat was under 4-lane work. Does that still hold good?

Yes. I drove from Hyderabad to Nagpur on 10 September 2011. I remember to have driven on a lot of diversions after crossing Adilabad. Some stretches were really bad thanks to monsoon rains as detailed here.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Yes. I drove from Hyderabad to Nagpur on 10 September 2011. I remember to have driven on a lot of diversions after crossing Adilabad. Some stretches were really bad thanks to monsoon rains as detailed here.

Thanks Ravi. The status is pretty much the same as when I drove on this stretch in December 2010. This is a testimony to the dismal pace at which work is progressing on this part of the project.

Guys - any inputs on the other queries of mine?

[dave7377]

Condition of Nagpur Hyderabad stretch as follows. (Did this trip on 3rd Nov)

Nagpur -hinganghat-wadner: excellent
Wadner-kranji- bad roads
karanji-pandharkawada(17kms) again good roads
pandharkawada-25kms before adilabad: one side of four lane road is good
thereafter again four lane excellent road till hyderabad.
Left Nagpur at 0530 and reached hyderabad at 1200 hrs.

@ Cool_dube- Regarding Nagpur Bhopal.
Condition of regular route nagpur betul hoshangbad bhopal still remains bad. Even advani rath yatra made it a skip. However there is a different route- Nagpur-Chindwara-pipariya-Hoshangabad-Bhopal which is only 50 kms more than regular route is excellent road.
i have travelled Nagpur-Chindwara on 02 Nov. -Very good roads
Chindwara-Pipariya: Good roads passes throughsatpura forest. involves some ghat sections
Pipariya-hoshagabad (SH-22)-Good toll roads (travelled on 26th Oct)
Hoshangabad-Bhopal: Some bad patches around mandideep.

[cool_dube]

Very useful information - thanks for the detailed update!

Originally Posted by dave7377

Nagpur -hinganghat-wadner: excellent

Good to know this. Does it mean that this stretch is completely 4-laned?

Originally Posted by dave7377

Wadner-kranji- bad roads

Should be okay as this is only a ~ 40 km stretch.

Originally Posted by dave7377

karanji-pandharkawada(17kms) again good roads

Again, is this stretch 4-laned?

Originally Posted by dave7377

pandharkawada-25kms before adilabad: one side of four lane road is good

This would be the AP/MH border.

Originally Posted by dave7377

Left Nagpur at 0530 and reached hyderabad at 1200 hrs.

Excellent - so given this, Bangalore-Nagpur should be doable in 14 hours including a couple of short breaks.

Originally Posted by dave7377

@ Cool_dube- Regarding Nagpur Bhopal.
Condition of regular route nagpur betul hoshangbad bhopal still remains bad

Yes - heard that!

Originally Posted by dave7377

However there is a different route- Nagpur-Chindwara-pipariya-Hoshangabad-Bhopal which is only 50 kms more than regular route is excellent road.

Thanks a ton - will explore this option. Approximate time for Nagpur - Bhopal via this route?

[dave7377]

Nagpur-Hinganghat-wadner is four laned.

karanji-pandharkawada : i dont exactly remember if it was fully four lane operational or one side. but i could easily maintain sapeed in excess of 100 as it was early morning.

pandharkawada-25kms before adilabad: yes this is the border area with slightly more traffic but still not many pot holes and so one could maintain decent speed.

yes bangalore nagpur should be doable in 14 with breaks. also ask someone how to by pass hyderabad using ORR (if thats possible as i dont know if ORR is fully operational linking this side of NH-07 with bengaluru side.)

Nagpur- chindwara:126 kms 2 hours
Chindwara- piparia:130 kms 2.5 hours as passes through forest, so ghat sections
Piparia- hoshangabad: 74 kms 1 hour or may be 1 hour 20 min. good toll roads
hoshangabad- bhopal:74 kms: now this road i had travelled sometime back during peak time so took around 1hr 40 min
so total distance of around 404 kms should take around 7 hours.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by dave7377

yes bangalore nagpur should be doable in 14 with breaks

Awesome - that's what I had in mind too!

Originally Posted by dave7377

also ask someone how to by pass hyderabad using ORR (if thats possible as i dont know if ORR is fully operational linking this side of NH-07 with bengaluru side.)

I don't think it is and that is the reason for query #1 on my earlier post C'mon guys - any inputs?

Originally Posted by dave7377

so total distance of around 404 kms should take around 7 hours.

I would still end up doing the Hoshangabad-Bhopal stretch which is supposedly the worst on the Nagpur-Bhopal sector. Anyways - thanks yet again! Will keep the group posted on which route I end up taking.

[mayankjha1806]

Bumping this old thread up again, any latest updates on Bangalore - Nagpur? Is the road laying work going on in patches complete, also 100Kms before Nagpur the road conditions had gone really bad, has it improved?

Thinking of doing Bangalore-Raipur Drive as even after petrol price rise the overall cost is coming to be significantly cheaper than flight fare.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Thinking of doing Bangalore-Raipur Drive as even after petrol price rise the overall cost is coming to be significantly cheaper than flight fare.

Hey Mayank - did you finally do this drive? If so, can you please share the latest conditions?

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Hey Mayank - did you finally do this drive? If so, can you please share the latest conditions?

Yes we did the drive in the first week of July and the road conditions are alright i.e. not bad except about 20Kms close to Nagpur because the construction work is still going on.

Are you planning a Nagpur trip or driving further than Nagpur?

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Yes we did the drive in the first week of July and the road conditions are alright i.e. not bad except about 20Kms close to Nagpur because the construction work is still going on.

Does it mean that the AP/MH border area is in good shape now? Last year the Hinganghat-Karanji stretch was pretty bad.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Are you planning a Nagpur trip or driving further than Nagpur?

If I drive, I would be going all the way to Raipur. Any tips on bypassing HYD and NGP other then the regular expressway/ring-road bit?

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Does it mean that the AP/MH border area is in good shape now? Last year the Hinganghat-Karanji stretch was pretty bad.

If I drive, I would be going all the way to Raipur. Any tips on bypassing HYD and NGP other then the regular expressway/ring-road bit?

Till about 20Kms before Karanji and few more Kms after Karanji the roads are bad. Earlier when we did the trip the roads near Nirmal and Adilabad were also getting built, these were completed now.

Passing Nagpur wouldn't be a trouble, after passing Nagpur for about 50 odd Kms the road is a single lane one (Old style) and that is a major pain if you are stuck behind a slow moving truck.

When are you planning the trip, there might be another RPR trip that we might do in Diwali.