[Shanna]

Hey, Just came back on Saturday after a week's stay. Absolutely no issues at all. No checks except for speed limit on Bhigwan - Solapur stretch. Do not cross 80 Kmph on this stretch. You will see small vans or pickup cars with camera fitted on top and if caught you are fined . Same case on Mumbai Pune expressway, there are multiple cameras fitted onnthis stretch, you cross 100 KMPH and you receive an e challan on mobile for Rs.1000/- with photo.
Road from Naldurg to umerga is lil bad but easily drivable.
Rest everything is ok. Have a great and safe drive.

[dpkbehera]

Would appreciate any update on the roads conditions between Hyderabad and Pune especially after the heavy rainfall few days back. Also any other useful information for ex speed limits on certain sections, vehicle checking etc. would be great.

[dpkbehera]

Did Hyderabad to Pune today. It was a smooth drive all the way through. The stretch between Maharashtra border and Sholapur has improved a lot since a year or so.

[pickdj]

Just did the Pune Hyderabad route in my 2017 Octavia TSI style plus. Pune -solapur was smooth as expected. Not much traffic. Google did go slightly crazy just after Naldurg when it tried to send us on a small track instead of continuing straight. If your phone does this, try zooming out and you will see that you are on the right road anyway. We stopped over at Gujrat hotel as per advice from a TBHPian in this thread. Decent hotel. Overall it took us 10 hours including 2 bio breaks and one longish lunch. Started 730am and reached bang on 530pm. I am surprised😀.

[forcooler]

Did the route from Hyderabad till Indapur last week. Agree with the posts above, Omerga to Solapur stretch has greatly improved, the stretch is even tolled now. Compared to what it was even 2 years ago, it's a blissful drive now. Omerga has a bypass and Naldurg stretch though still undivided is smoother and a bit wider. It took just under 4 hours from Patancheru to the Solpaur T-junction

One thing to note on the Indapur Solapur stretch is Speed camera vans; we didnt overspeed as such so didn't have to worry, but we did get stopped at a toll plaza and were "asked" if we we were overspeeding, not sure how that system works!

We also noticed a fan in KA (Humnabad) but dont think it was operational.

[ramjiramu]

I did a Pune to Hyderabad drive on 11th Nov and please note below few useful tips:

- Bigwan - Solapur - Omerga is heavily guarded by speed camera vans. Speed limit varies from 60 - 80 on this stretch.

- I saw traffic police casually waving hands to all passing cars to stop even though we were under speed limit. They were taking pictures on mobile phones also on this stretch. Maybe they are just expecting innocent drivers to stop to harass or waste time. I didn't stop and for speedsters, there is big checkpost/barricade before Naldurg incase those waving hands are missed.

- Google maps shows diversion after Naldurg for unknown reasons and please don't even think about it. Even now, Google maps is showing a diversion here. Follow NH65 blindly.

- After Sadashivpet you will encounter lot of 2 wheelers and regular city/town traffic which will slow down overall journey.

- Overall, entire stretch of road between Pune and Hyderabad is very smooth and a pleasure to drive.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

- Bigwan - Solapur - Omerga is heavily guarded by speed camera vans. Speed limit varies from 60 - 80 on this stretch.

- I saw traffic police casually waving hands to all passing cars to stop even though we were under speed limit. They were taking pictures on mobile phones also on this stretch. Maybe they are just expecting innocent drivers to stop to harass or waste time. I didn't stop and for speedsters, there is big checkpost/barricade before Naldurg incase those waving hands are missed.

Hi ramjiramu,

Thanks for your update.

Police waved hands at you, you didn't stop and they let you go? If you don't stop when the police waves hands, will they not be offended? And will it not be an offense?

I am asking this because I am thinking of ordering some equipment from Hyderabad, for which I need to visit the manufacturer once. But if the Telangana police is trying to extract money in spite of not over-speeding, then I need to look in the other direction, Gujarat. I regularly go there since last 15 years and never faced such harrassment.


Did they not chase you or send an e-challan when you did not stop?

[ramjiramu]

Hi Rahul,

I don't think so that these kind of Police checks are for extracting money from innocent people. My point of view was more towards waste of precious time for long journey travelers like me.

In my case, I didn't sense it as a compulsory stop as Police are waving hands at everyone in general. Maybe, they are trying to slowdown the traffic to take pictures of the number plates to check them online before we reach Omerga check post.
On top, I wasn't sure if it was for me or vehicles in front or behind me. All I could see is that one person was taking photos on mobile and another was waving hand and few other just stood by the road and watching.

Also, I didn't stop because I know I didn't speed anywhere or violated any rules. I did check for traffic challans online to be sure and none for me so far.

By the way, they are not Telangana police, this was between Solapur and Omerga hence it should be Maharashtra Police.

[zosoin]

I did the Pune-Hyd trip in my Ritz last month during Diwali. The door-to-door distance turned out to be 605 km and it took 10.5 hours to cover that distance. This was my first long distance drive with my wife and 4-year-old kid.

Pune-Hyderabad
We started from Pune on 11th Nov at 10:55 AM and reached Hyderabad at 21:25 PM. It took us about 2 hours to reach the Pune-Solapur expressway. Even along the expressway there was heavy 2-wheeler traffic due to Diwali holidays. The road was wonderful once the highway started till Omerga where there was congestion due to the narrow roads and heavy traffic.* We stopped at Hotel Gujrat as suggested in this thread which was surprisingly desolate.
Traffic again picked up after Zaheerabad till the entry point of Hyderabad ORR at Muthangi. The Hyderabad ORR is a gem of a road and you can skip the entire Hyderabad traffic. I covered the last 100One of the ORR exit is just 15 km away from my home in Hyderabad.

Hyd-Pune
We started from Hyd on 29th Nov at 8:45 AM and reached our home in Pune at 7:30 PM. It took us almost 2.5 hours from Patas (near Pune) to reach our home in Wakad because of heavy traffic.

Sidenotes:
1. Breaks : Pune-Hyd stretch has very few options for taking breaks. Hotel Gujrat near Basavkalyan was the only decent option. You have better options in the return journey from Hyd-Pune near Zaheerabad and many after crossing Solapur
2. Cops: There were few speed camera vans nearing Solapur during the onward trip. All documents were checked by TS police during the return trip. Thanks MeITY for the Digilocker app! All that was exchanged was a nod.
3. Tolls: All the tolls along the route were Fastag enabled and mostly a breeze to pass through. The toll one-way worked to be Rs 630.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

By the way, they are not Telangana police, this was between Solapur and Omerga hence it should be Maharashtra Police.

Oh yes. I realised it long after posting; past the edit window. If it is between Bhigwan and Omerga, it would be MH police. Sorry for the wrong reference.

It is frustrating to see that the real car thieves escape with stolen or hijacked cars, the idiots / goons continue to drive on the wrong side. Police does not notice such people and they are after the PUC and the insurance of the carowners. They are after the cars from the other state. My remarks about doing business in TS were in the flow of this frustration and in the wake of my past memories of TS police in Hyderabad.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Did Pune - Hyderabad - Pune trip on 04 - 08 December 2020. Here are the details:

An enjoyable drive in contrast to many other highways.

Most of my past drives from Pune have been in the direction of Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Satara and Nasik. On all these routes, one has to navigate through a mix of high speed cars, dangerously driving high speed bikes, slow moving bikes / two wheelers / three wheelers / trucks. When I go on Mumbai - Ahmedabad highway, I have to deal with the trucks simultaneously occupying all the three lanes almost all the time. I went to Rajkot last month. After leaving the hectic Ahmedabad highway at Kheda at 8:30 pm, I was hoping for a relaxed drive. But the roads were under construction all the way till Rajkot in the four hours journey.

Even on the Pune - Mumbai expressway, returning from Mumbai in the evening / night is no less than a task. Whether you drive at 80 or at 100 or at 110 - 120, you will find others madly chasing and flashing lights impatiently to overtake you. You just cannot drive at a constant speed, be it 80 or 100. And the ghat is in chaos after 9 pm.

Go towards Ahmednagar and you have to navigate half of this 120 km stretch through urban traffic. Even if I start from Ahmednagar at 9 pm to reach Pune at 11:30 pm, I still come across good amount of traffic on the highway and in the Pune city.

The road belongs to others too as much as to me. We all co-exist on the road. If I wish no trucks / tempos (or less number of them), it will translate into a weaker economy and it will ultimately reflect less business trips (as well as the leisure trips) for me. Many of those two wheeler riders are working at the industry (my customers). So I have a reason to go on a drive as long as they keep moving on the road.

But such road / traffic situation transforms an enjoyable drive into a arduous task. Though you maintain a decent average speed on these roads, the drive becoms a bit fatiguing. Against this background, Pune - Solapur - Hyderabad highway was such a pleasure to drive. It offered me a decent combination of traffic density, traffic manners and road condition. I could drive at constant 80 kmph with minimal application of the brakes in relatively thin traffic on good road.

Why 80 kmph? And how did it feel?

Normally I drive at 80 - 100 kmph on highways. I had read on this thread that the police have speed guns in Bhigwan - Omerga section and they fine those exceeding the limit of 80 kmph. So I decided to be within 80 kmph. Initially I had to convince myself (and control too, reluctantly) to be within 80 kmph. But within half an hour of driving at 80, I realised that 80 is better than 100. You can go steady at 80 constant on this highway (of course barring the urban stretches). Going steadily at 80 (like in auto throttle) on relatively empty highway makes a very very relaxing drive without a significant difference in the duration of your journey. In fact, a few cars going at 100 - 120 overtook me but they were still together at the toll plaza. Today we cannot have such drive on Mumbai - Pune expressway (in the evening) or Mumbai Ahmedabad highway or Pune - Kolhapur or Pune - Ahmednagar or half of the Pune - Nasik highway.

Pune - Hyderabad journey

Pune - Solapur was done in 04 hrs 15 min plus dinner break, though I started in the peak evening hours. Started at 06:30 in the evening, from Market Yard area and reached Solapur at 11:45 in the night including dinner break of 1 hr.

Road till Uruli Kanchan was full of traffic; more so between Hadapsar and Uruli Kanchan. In spite of this, 4 hrs 15 minutes is decent duration.

Started from Solapur at 5:10 am after a night halt. Reached Patancheru at 10:45 am including a break of 1 hour 30 minutes for the breakfast. The break was long because I reached the restaurant (the only good one on this stretch) 45 minutes before they could serve me.

Hyderabad - Pune journey

I started from Patancheru at 5:30 pm and reached Solapur at 11 pm including 1 hour dinner break. Continued to Pune and reached Pune in 3 hours 45 minutes plus time for the breaks. I had started from Hyderabad in the evening after a hectic day at work. So took more and longer breaks in Solapur - Pune stretch.

Road condition

As pointed out by the other members, roads are all good. Pune Solapur is all breeze. There is a small bad patch (diversion) immediately after exiting Solapur. After Solapur too, the road is good but the flyover construction has been initiated at most of the towns en route. So the diversions with bit rough road have been provided here.

The diversions are properly marked and there was a signboard regretting the inconvenience at the exit of every diversion.

At a few places in Telangana, traffic police were vigilant on the road, looking out for seat belts, masks, films and over-speeding.

Stay and eateries

Stayed at Hotel Nila at Solapur. Chose this because of it's proximity to the highway. lt is a simple, clean, no-frills, no-nonsense hotel. Adequate and cost effective for a business traveller. Got up at 4 am, had a good bath with hot water and got going at 5:05 am.

Next stop was Hotel Gujarat at HP petrol pump, just before Basavkalyan. I reached here at 7 am sharp; in 2 hours after starting from Solapur.

There aren't many good pure veg hotels on Pune Solapur road. I found one Hotel Swagat, located at 450 m after the Patas toll plaza. It turned out to be a good one. This decent, clean hotel with good interiors served me a good quality food. I was bit sceptical because I was the only customer in the hotel. But the manager and the waiter gave me good service and food. Dinner and tea together took 1 hour here. There is one good hotel at Tembhurni bypass too, I had food there in past. If I chose to halt there this time, it would have been too late for the dinner.

On Solapur - Pune road, I could spot two good pure veg hotels immediately after crossing Solapur. One was Hotel Vasudev and the other was within few hundred meters of Vasudev; I don't remember the name.

Between Solapur and Hyderabad, the only option is Hotel Gujarat at Sastapur. The food here was ok. Not great but just manageable.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Did Pune - Hyderabad - Pune trip on 04 - 08 December 2020. Here are the details:
d.

Thanks for the excellent updates. Are the speed camera vans active during night also?

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Thanks for the excellent updates. Are the speed camera vans active during night also?

I did not see any police van in Bhigwan - Omerga stretch. But there was one (it was an Innova) after Basavkalyan flyover at 9 pm.

[aniketbapat]

Just to update on the police vans and speed checks , the Pune Solapur route has police vans at random points with a speed gun and in general Maharashtra speed check points and camera networks seem upgraded , to date I have travelled mum-hyd and mum-goa or mum-bglore more than 5-6 times each but this time in last month I got 2 speed Challans on Kolhapur side when going to Goa and on Solapur side when going to Hyderabad , even on expressway I got one recently so kudos to traffic police , definitely seems more surveillance but hopefully they also increase speed limits and bring it inline with the roads at least 100kmph on all above highways

On road for Hyderabad I did travel last month and good news finally the naldurg road is relaid although still one lane but it's a lot better now , there are less diversions till omerga but can improve on MH side between Solapur and omerga still there are 6-8 diversions and the diversion roads are pretty bad .

[sunny13]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Did Pune - Hyderabad - Pune trip on 04 - 08 December 2020. Here are the details:

An enjoyable drive in contrast to many other highways.

Most of my past drives from Pune have been in the direction of Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Satara and Nasik. On all these routes, one has to navigate through a mix of high speed cars, dangerously driving high speed bikes, slow moving bikes / two wheelers / three wheelers / trucks. When I go on Mumbai - Ahmedabad highway, I have to deal with the trucks simultaneously occupying all the three lanes almost all the time. I went to Rajkot last month. After leaving the hectic Ahmedabad highway at Kheda at 8:30 pm, I was hoping for a relaxed drive. But the roads were under construction all the way till Rajkot in the four hours journey.

Even on the Pune - Mumbai expressway, returning from Mumbai in the evening / night is no less than a task. Whether you drive at 80 or at 100 or at 110 - 120, you will find others madly chasing and flashing lights impatiently to overtake you. You just cannot drive at a constant speed, be it 80 or 100. And the ghat is in chaos after 9 pm.

Go towards Ahmednagar and you have to navigate half of this 120 km stretch through urban traffic. Even if I start from Ahmednagar at 9 pm to reach Pune at 11:30 pm, I still come across good amount of traffic on the highway and in the Pune city.

The road belongs to others too as much as to me. We all co-exist on the road. If I wish no trucks / tempos (or less number of them), it will translate into a weaker economy and it will ultimately reflect less business trips (as well as the leisure trips) for me. Many of those two wheeler riders are working at the industry (my customers). So I have a reason to go on a drive as long as they keep moving on the road.

But such road / traffic situation transforms an enjoyable drive into a arduous task. Though you maintain a decent average speed on these roads, the drive becoms a bit fatiguing. Against this background, Pune - Solapur - Hyderabad highway was such a pleasure to drive. It offered me a decent combination of traffic density, traffic manners and road condition. I could drive at constant 80 kmph with minimal application of the brakes in relatively thin traffic on good road.

Why 80 kmph? And how did it feel?

Normally I drive at 80 - 100 kmph on highways. I had read on this thread that the police have speed guns in Bhigwan - Omerga section and they fine those exceeding the limit of 80 kmph. So I decided to be within 80 kmph. Initially I had to convince myself (and control too, reluctantly) to be within 80 kmph. But within half an hour of driving at 80, I realised that 80 is better than 100. You can go steady at 80 constant on this highway (of course barring the urban stretches). Going steadily at 80 (like in auto throttle) on relatively empty highway makes a very very relaxing drive without a significant difference in the duration of your journey. In fact, a few cars going at 100 - 120 overtook me but they were still together at the toll plaza. Today we cannot have such drive on Mumbai - Pune expressway (in the evening) or Mumbai Ahmedabad highway or Pune - Kolhapur or Pune - Ahmednagar or half of the Pune - Nasik highway.

Pune - Hyderabad journey

Pune - Solapur was done in 04 hrs 15 min plus dinner break, though I started in the peak evening hours. Started at 06:30 in the evening, from Market Yard area and reached Solapur at 11:45 in the night including dinner break of 1 hr.

Road till Uruli Kanchan was full of traffic; more so between Hadapsar and Uruli Kanchan. In spite of this, 4 hrs 15 minutes is decent duration.

Started from Solapur at 5:10 am after a night halt. Reached Patancheru at 10:45 am including a break of 1 hour 30 minutes for the breakfast. The break was long because I reached the restaurant (the only good one on this stretch) 45 minutes before they could serve me.

Hyderabad - Pune journey

I started from Patancheru at 5:30 pm and reached Solapur at 11 pm including 1 hour dinner break. Continued to Pune and reached Pune in 3 hours 45 minutes plus time for the breaks. I had started from Hyderabad in the evening after a hectic day at work. So took more and longer breaks in Solapur - Pune stretch.

Road condition

As pointed out by the other members, roads are all good. Pune Solapur is all breeze. There is a small bad patch (diversion) immediately after exiting Solapur. After Solapur too, the road is good but the flyover construction has been initiated at most of the towns en route. So the diversions with bit rough road have been provided here.

The diversions are properly marked and there was a signboard regretting the inconvenience at the exit of every diversion.

At a few places in Telangana, traffic police were vigilant on the road, looking out for seat belts, masks, films and over-speeding.

Stay and eateries

Stayed at Hotel Nila at Solapur. Chose this because of it's proximity to the highway. lt is a simple, clean, no-frills, no-nonsense hotel. Adequate and cost effective for a business traveller. Got up at 4 am, had a good bath with hot water and got going at 5:05 am.

Next stop was Hotel Gujarat at HP petrol pump, just before Basavkalyan. I reached here at 7 am sharp; in 2 hours after starting from Solapur.

There aren't many good pure veg hotels on Pune Solapur road. I found one Hotel Swagat, located at 450 m after the Patas toll plaza. It turned out to be a good one. This decent, clean hotel with good interiors served me a good quality food. I was bit sceptical because I was the only customer in the hotel. But the manager and the waiter gave me good service and food. Dinner and tea together took 1 hour here. There is one good hotel at Tembhurni bypass too, I had food there in past. If I chose to halt there this time, it would have been too late for the dinner.

On Solapur - Pune road, I could spot two good pure veg hotels immediately after crossing Solapur. One was Hotel Vasudev and the other was within few hundred meters of Vasudev; I don't remember the name.

Between Solapur and Hyderabad, the only option is Hotel Gujarat at Sastapur. The food here was ok. Not great but just manageable.

Thanks for the updates and detailed information. Any special precautions or documents we need to carry for COVID checks?