[indian21r]

Hi Anyone here planning to drive down to Hyderabad on 9th Evening/10th Morning.

[RoadTiger]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Drive Timing:

HYD-Solapur: 4hours

Solapur-Hadapsar:4hours

Hadapsar-Dehu Rd:1.5hrs

Dehu Rd-Panvel:1.5hrs

Panvel-Vashi Creek-EEW-Powai-Vikhroli-Jogeshwari-Borivali:1.5hrs

Thanks, ranjitp1. This is truly great news

I had done Mumbai - Satara - Pandharpur - Hyderabad on my return from Mumbai and boy, it was a loooong route though with very little traffic ... was 780 kms on the odo and about 13 hours of driving time !

Question - What route do you follow to get from Hadapsar to Dehu Road? Landmarks enroute would be appreciated !

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

Thanks, ranjitp1. This is truly great news

I had done Mumbai - Satara - Pandharpur - Hyderabad on my return from Mumbai and boy, it was a loooong route though with very little traffic ... was 780 kms on the odo and about 13 hours of driving time !

Question - What route do you follow to get from Hadapsar to Dehu Road? Landmarks enroute would be appreciated !

Distance wise IC Colony to Sainikpuri is 750kms via NH9 and 770kms via Pandharpur.

I go through Pune city whenever I take the NH9.From Hadapsar take the flyover and keep straight all the way till Swargate bus depot(AFMC onto your left,Turf club to your right).Be careful not to get into the BRTS lane on the extreme right of the roads(its very tempting to get onto the empty lane only to realise you are on the brts).At Swargate take a left towards Katraj and keep going till Katraj junction.At the junction straight takes you towards NH4 via the old Katraj ghat,right takes you to the Pune Bypass road.Take the right and join the Pune Bypass and it takes you straight to the MPEW junction at Dehu Road.From Hadapsar around 1pm,it takes me around 1-1.5hrs to reach start of MPEW.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...via=3&t=m&z=13

[RoadTiger]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Distance wise IC Colony to Sainikpuri is 750kms via NH9 and 770kms via Pandharpur.

From Hadapsar around 1pm,it takes me around 1-1.5hrs to reach start of MPEW.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...via=3&t=m&z=13

Thanks, ranjitp1 ! I have found Pune's roads to be very confusing. This road seems simple enough though a little long vs. going via Pune Rly station and Wakad. Probably, time taken would be the same.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

Thanks, ranjitp1 ! I have found Pune's roads to be very confusing. This road seems simple enough though a little long vs. going via Pune Rly station and Wakad. Probably, time taken would be the same.

True,i have found the route via station to be very messy and too many signals an intersections.After a long drive signals are the last thing I want!This Swargate route is wide and quick and very straight forward with no scope to get lost so I stick to this.Distance wise there is hardly anything in between the two routes.

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by indian21r

Hi Anyone here planning to drive down to Hyderabad on 9th Evening/10th Morning.

Couple of my frnds too are looking forward to join if someone's planning to drive.

Bus fares are close to airfares

[indian21r]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

Couple of my frnds too are looking forward to join if someone's planning to drive.
Bus fares are close to airfares

Bus fares are bad and getting a good bus is a big problem. I was considering asking my driver to get our car from Hyderabad for a return journey. But that does not look too viable. So now looking at a bus. If there anyone is planning to drive, I can join and we can share the expenses.

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by indian21r

Bus fares are bad and getting a good bus is a big problem. I was considering asking my driver to get our car from Hyderabad for a return journey. But that does not look too viable. So now looking at a bus. If there anyone is planning to drive, I can join and we can share the expenses.

My friends at the moment are relying on getting train tickets in Tatkal. But I seriously doubt that. Other thing I suggest is catching a bus from Solapur. There were seats available in a couple of buses(Super Luxury). May be you can try that too.

Sharing expenses is not an issue for them too, but getting a vehicle is. Lucky that I booked my bus tickets at the right time.

[indian21r]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

My friends at the moment are relying on getting train tickets in Tatkal. But I seriously doubt that. Other thing I suggest is catching a bus from Solapur. There were seats available in a couple of buses(Super Luxury). May be you can try that too.

Sharing expenses is not an issue for them too, but getting a vehicle is. Lucky that I booked my bus tickets at the right time.

I am also waiting for tatkal so that there maybe some cancellations on the buses. Travel in India during festivals feels like winning a lottery. :-)

I would love to see the day we can get seats without planning ahead.

[bblost]

Did a weekend drive. Hyderabad-Pune-Hyderabad.

Hyderabad - Solapur: Decent 2 lane road. The tarmac is a little bad in some places. You can safely drive between 60-80 kmph. Avoid driving between 9 PM and Midnight. There are a lot of volvo's that get on the road. Some of them are rashly driven and have multiple headlights.
Just before you reach the 90 degree turn for Pune-Solapur, on your left is a hotel called Khan Chacha.
1/2 Tandoori Chicken and 2 Roti's cost me Rs 154.
Absolutely no alcohol permitted on the premises making it a very decent option if traveling with Family and wanting to eat Non-Veg.

Solapur - Pune.
The first 90 odd kms are quite bad. Lots of diversions and rough tarmac.
The quality of road picks up after you cross Indrapur.
Four lanes start and help salvage some of the time that has been lost on the earlier poorer sections.
Yesterday's drive back was a nightmare.
I left Pune at around 12:15 PM. Filled up Petrol at a bunk near Sangam bridge. The first 150 kms were covered quite decently. But the last 50 odd kms took over 4 hours.
I reached Khan Chacha's restaurant at 8:30 PM.

After a very quick dinner, I drove on towards Hyderabad. Since I was tired and also travelling alone, I kept lower speeds. Finally reaching home at 2 AM.

[mobike008]

I missed this drive

Originally Posted by bblost

Solapur - Pune.
The first 90 odd kms are quite bad. Lots of diversions and rough tarmac.
The quality of road picks up after you cross Indrapur.
Four lanes start and help salvage some of the time that has been lost on the earlier poorer sections.

Oh! so that section still remains the same? Lot of truck traffic on this stretch and absolutely no chance to overtake them

btw, its Indapur

Originally Posted by bblost

Yesterday's drive back was a nightmare.
I left Pune at around 12:15 PM. Filled up Petrol at a bunk near Sangam bridge. The first 150 kms were covered quite decently. But the last 50 odd kms took over 4 hours.
I reached Khan Chacha's restaurant at 8:30 PM.

After a very quick dinner, I drove on towards Hyderabad. Since I was tired and also travelling alone, I kept lower speeds. Finally reaching home at 2 AM.

280 kms to Solapur in 8 hours? That's definetly a nightmare

5.5 hours to Hyderabad from Solapur at night is decent. I make it a point never to cross 110kmph during night drives

[ranjitnair77]

I drove from Hyderabad to Pune on 29/12. It took around 9.5 hours including a 30 minute stop for lunch. I started at 6am and was in Pune by 3:30pm.

The route that I took was the NH9, all the way. This has to rank as one of the most tedious drives around with bad roads, horrible truck traffic and a lack of anything fun along the way. Do this drive if you really have to.

Originally Posted by bblost

Did a weekend drive. Hyderabad-Pune-Hyderabad.

Hyderabad - Solapur: Decent 2 lane road. The tarmac is a little bad in some places. You can safely drive between 60-80 kmph.

It's not a very nice stretch but manageable, in my opinion. As RoadTiger says, the 25-35 km stretch at Humnabad is very strange. It appears as if the top surface of the road has been scratched off leaving behind a very rough surface. There are the occasional shallow potholes.

The KA stretch is mostly poor with rough roads for 50% of the way. Much less truck traffic here.

The real frustration begins when you cross over to MH where the roads are narrower and the truck traffic picks up.

All in all, you should be able to do Hyderabad-Solapur in 4.5 to 5 hours. I really didn't see any major congestion points.

Originally Posted by bblost

Solapur - Pune.
The first 90 odd kms are quite bad. Lots of diversions and rough tarmac.

I would use the adjective horrible. Think of it as a diversion every 100 meters. Bad roads, a diversion onto a (relatively) smooth road and bad rood again. The roads being constructed are at different levels (the new road being a few inches higher) so the suspension goes bang-bang when you take the diversion.

The situation at the railway crossing at Tembhurni is unpredictable. There is every chance of a delay happening here. I was lucky to get by in a few minutes at crawling speeds but I could see a very long line of vehicles in the reverse direction.Tembhurni to Indapur is pretty bad too with trucks and tractors carrying sugarcane (it's crushing season, I guess).

Originally Posted by bblost

The quality of road picks up after you cross Indrapur.
Four lanes start and help salvage some of the time that has been lost on the earlier poorer sections.

By this point, I was desperately looking for smoother roads, but alas. You still have to drive through dusty and crowded Indapur. A brilliant new road begins a few kms before Indapur but the Indapur bypass is not yet ready. The first 30-40 odd kms after Indapur is fantastic. 4 laned, clearly marked roads. Just when you finally have a smile of relief on your face, some diversions begin and you are back to rough roads-smooth roads-rough roads for the next 30 minutes. The last 40 odd kms into Pune is fine.

I'll try the Pune-Satara-Pandharpur-Mohol-Solapur-Hyderabad route, as suggested by ranjitp1, on the way back next week and report.

My sincere advice. Don't do this drive at night. Don't do this drive during the day unless you absolutely, positively have no choice. There's a much better alternative worth considering: Hyderabad-Shamshabad-Lohegaon .

[RoadTiger]

Did Hyd - Pune - Hyd on the weekend.

Did Hyd - Pune (start of MPEW) via Solapur - Indapur - Swargate - Katraj - Start of MPEW in 10 hours with hardly 20 mins of break time. Started 645 am and reached 445 pm. Am sure with an earlier start like at 4 am or so that allows one to get to Zaheerabad and beyond before the towns wake up, one can do in slightly better times.

Hyd (HiTech City) - Solapur : Took about 4.15 hours to reach start of Solapur bypass ... Road condition in AP is ok. Good news is that the 25-30 km 'moon crater' surface near Humnabad has been patched up - so driving at 80 kmph is possible without fearing for your car's well-being Dont get me wrong - Its still fairly poor surface - but at one point of time it was positively threatening. Other than that, the road surface in Karnataka and MH is actually better than in AP (can you believe that!)

Solapur (start of bypass) - Indapur : Frustrating. Took 3 hours to cover 110-odd kms, thanks to heavy truck traffic, the odd slow-moving sugarcane tractor and 40 minutes at the Tembhurni railway crossing. Trucks had lined up for 3-4 kms either way and it took 40 mins despite being fairly ahead in the 'car line' that waits to get across the crossing. It took nearly 20-25 mins to cross Tembhurni town too.

Indapur - Hadapsar - Swargate - Katraj - MPEW start : Indapur to Hadapsar is 95% four-laned so 110-120 kmph was easily possible. Thanks to ranjitp1 for recommending the Swargate route. Perhaps the best to get to MPEW side from Hadapsar.

On the return, did Pune - Satara - Pandharpur - Solapur - Hyderabad : Took the route for religious reasons and with about a 4 hour break in total and some night driving, did the 650 kms in nearly 15+ hours.

My ride : My RoadCruiser Fiesta 1.4 TDCi - swallowed up the miles, the potholes, the undulations and everything thrown at it with poise ... I had no significant fatigue or any aches/ pains despite driving for nearly 22 hours over 2 days ! I cant imagine doing that in a lot of cars that dont have good ride quality. Mileage : Close to 20 kmpl

[midlifecrisis]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

Did Hyd - Pune - Hyd on the weekend.

Did Hyd - Pune (start of MPEW) via Solapu

Thanks for the update. How's the tarmac between Solapur and Indapur ?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

Thanks for the update. How's the tarmac between Solapur and Indapur ?

Diversions all over the place,potholed at many places,no road shoulder at places.This section is the most time consuming sector.