[hserus]

Originally Posted by narayans80

What's that supposed to mean?

I visit 2-3 times a year, weekends included. As a norm, we take an online ticket and go. Longest wait time was 1 hour on Christmas Day of 2017, it took more time to park, get in and out of town than the actual darshan.

Has taken like 10-20 minutes waiting time at the most, usually take the 2000 or 2030 slot of online ticket, which is just ahead of the Shej Aarti.

I mean if you join the general queue without buying online tickets you will have to wait much longer than fifteen or twenty minutes.

[speedmiester]

Traveled to Shirdi last week. Took the Ahmednagar route from Pune as I was staying closer to Airport. Took me 4Hrs to reach Shirdi with a Breakfast stop.
Roads are in good condition until Ahmednagar, I took the bypass and except for bad patches of about 1-1.5KMs, rest of the bypass is in good condition.
From Ahmednagar to Shirdi, the roads are rough, but manageable. I was in my Ecosport, so not much issues with potholes and rough sections. Need to be bit careful in a Sedan.

[rakesh_r]

Did Pune-Shirdi-Shani Shinganapur-Pune on the extended weekend(Shiv Ratri)
1- Day 1- Pune-Shirdi via Ahmednagar,
Avoided the Nagar bypass road since the roads were in extremely bad condition. Pune to Ahmednagar, good roads.
Ahmednagar to Shirdi- potholed roads, stuck to extreme left or right since the centre of the road was extremely bad.
Stayed at MTDC Pilgrims Inn since it was just 200m from the main Samadhi (Was convenient for my aged parents), rooms were pretty mediocre but the food was good, better than some of the restaurants outside.
2- Day 2- Shirdi to Shani Shinganapur
Had heard lot of horror stories on the road conditions. Decided to hire a cab since didn't want to take the risk. Got a Swift Dzire ZDI which had 3.0Lac plus Km run on the odo but with a busted lower arm. The roads were pretty much bad from Rahuri till Shani Shinganapur. Moreover being a Saturday it was pretty much crowded.
3- Day 3-Shirdi to pune via Ahmednagar
Surprisingly the Shirdi-Ahmednagar stretch was even worst with potholes big enough to damage the alloy wheels and tyres. Fortunately, the Ahmednagar-Pune stretch is in excellent condition and was able to maintain three digit speeds.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Avoided the Nagar bypass road since the roads were in extremely bad condition.

Not anymore. This (Pune to Shirdi : Route Queries) update on this thread is how it was 15 months back. I can confirm this, since I took the bypass partly following Google Maps around 27 Dec 2018.

Had heard lot of horror stories on the road conditions.

I haven't taken Rahuri-Shani Signapur since the horror drive of Xmas 2017. Ever since I've always taken the parallel road through Vambori which is in decent condition. You'll have to do Nagar-Aurangabad for a short distance and do Ghodegaon-Shani Signapur.

[vivek95]

Nagar bypass is in excellent condition

I drove Mumbai--Wardha--Mumbai via Pune--Nagar--Aurangabad--Jalna--Karanja from 21st to 22nd June 2020 . Here is an update on two sectors relevant to this thread --

1. Pune to Nagar -- Excellent 4 lane road all the way. The median is sort of ugly until Shirur. However post Shirur, it gets aesthetically better too. The stretch near Wagholi in Pune has been improved too, earlier it used to get a bit narrow with poor medians, now however the road is widened and height of median is increased. Pune has developed and extended too much on the Nagar highway. Overall, the road surface is very smooth and plenty of eateries on the way ( partially closed though). You can get into some and have food while some others are only take-away. Our fond stopover Smilestone restaurant was closed though.


Nagar road in Pune City wore a deserted look






Pune--Nagar--Aurangabad--Jalna highway ( Maharashtra state highway no. 5 )














2. Nagar bypass -- Excellent supersmooth 2 lane road all the way. It is 25 kms in length until you hit the Aurangabad side, the Shirdi exit obviously comes a bit earlier. The entire bypass is now in pristine condition. Highly recommended. We took this bypass on our way back at night whereas onward we passed through the city.

[Simhi]

Originally Posted by vivek95

2. Nagar bypass -- Excellent supersmooth 2 lane road all the way.

I have been always avoiding the Nagar bypass while going to Shirdi. I will give it a try during my next visit. I hope the road sustains and remains in good condition post the monsoon too.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vivek95

2. Nagar bypass -- Excellent supersmooth 2 lane road all the way.

Was only a matter of time. Last June Google Maps took you through Nagar MIDC to avoid the bad sections. The 15 km it took me last June was in drivable form except some bridges where you have to slow down to 2nd gear speeds.

Negotiating Nagar is a pain in late mornings. While its not as bad as Solapur, it can get on your nerves. Aurangabad is much easier to negotiate. So the bypass is a welcome relief.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Was only a matter of time. Last June Google Maps took you through Nagar MIDC to avoid the bad sections. The 15 km it took me last June was in drivable form except some bridges where you have to slow down to 2nd gear speeds.

Negotiating Nagar is a pain in late mornings. While its not as bad as Solapur, it can get on your nerves. Aurangabad is much easier to negotiate. So the bypass is a welcome relief.

True that. Nagar bypass towards Shirdi is 15 kms whereas when continued towards Aurangabad side, its 25 kms. Aurangabad has superwide roads and for someone driving beyond towards Jalna like I did, the city has 4 flyovers back to back. So I agree, Aurangabad is easy to negotiate through the city even though it seems to have a nice 4 laned bypass. Also, the partial lockdown helped me big time.

I think Nagar witnesses a lot of outside traffic criss crossing the city than Aurangabad. You have vehicles coming via direct roads from major cities such as Pune, Mumbai (via Kalyan), Shirdi, Solapur, Aurangabad.

[bj96]

Originally Posted by vivek95

2. Nagar bypass -- Excellent supersmooth 2 lane road all the way...

I have to ride beyond Indore next month around Diwali in a low GC bike. Is the Nagar bypass still good (after rains)? For going towards Indore is it advisable to take Pune -Nagar Bypass -Shirdi-Malegaon-Indore or go via Nashik (NH60) ?

Thanks in advance.
-BJ

[hserus]

Originally Posted by bj96

I have to ride beyond Indore next month around Diwali in a low GC bike. Is the Nagar bypass still good (after rains)? For going towards Indore is it advisable to take Pune -Nager -Shirdi-Malegaon-Indore or go via Nashik (NH50) ?

Stick to the NH route. More food options and less bad stretches en route.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by bj96

I have to ride beyond Indore next month around Diwali in a low GC bike. Is the Nagar bypass still good (after rains)? For going towards Indore is it advisable to take Pune -Nagar Bypass -Shirdi-Malegaon-Indore or go via Nashik (NH60) ?

Thanks in advance.
-BJ

I haven't driven that side after my last trip. Hope others pitch in I suspect the Nagar bypass road might be holding up fairly good post monsoons.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by bj96

Nagar Bypass -Shirdi

Nagar-Shirdi was was like Minesweeper in Jan. I saw a post here saying the same in early March. Shirdi-Malegaon was also bad when I enquired. For now Nasik route is a better evil.

[narayans80]

The first 20 kms out of Shirdi are absolute horror now. There's about a 2-3 km section that looks like its been nuked. Even the remaining part of the 20 km section has huge craters. Things were better after this till Rahuri where I exit the way.

Happened to try the Sangamner-Shirdi route as well. The last 16 km starting from the backside of Shirdi airport is in very good shape. Remaining 25-30 km is mostly OK with small bad sections. Pune-Sangamner was nothing to write home about and the 3 year old 4-lane sections are already gone for a toss.

[ashvek3141]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone recently travelled from Lonavla to Shirdi? How are the roads and which is the preferred route for the same?

Also for the return, I'll be driving from Shirdi to Kolhapur; and I used to usually take Nagar city road. But what I read here is that the roads are is poor condition and it is best to choose the Nagar-bypass(which which was earlier avoided by many).

Kindly advice.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Also for the return, I'll be driving from Shirdi to Kolhapur; and I used to usually take Nagar city road. But what I read here is that the roads are is poor condition and it is best to choose the Nagar-bypass(which which was earlier avoided by many).
Kindly advice.

Whether you cross *Ahmed*nagar city or bypass it the roads are equally bad. Watch for Google Maps suggestions and avail of them, drive carefully.