[drive_factor]

Just upping this thread to know the current condition of this route.

This winter we are proposing to drive down from Jamshedpur to Kerala via Pune and Banglore.

For the section between AMRAVATI and PUNE, this is my planned routing:

Amravati > Karanja > Mehkar > Jalna > Aurangabad > Ahmednagar > Pune

gmap link http://goo.gl/maps/UoNjT

Requesting opinions.

Our overall routing from Jamshedpur to Pune is as bellow

• Day 1: Jamshedpur to Sambalpur, Orissa (Departing in afternoon from JSR and reaching SBP around 9PM)

• Day 2: Sambalpur to Amravati bypassing Nagpur by taking the ORR

• Day 3: Amravati to Pune (Shall try to reach early to attend a celebration in Pune)

[jeetaman]

I drove from Hinjewadi (Pune) to Bhilai on Dec 24th. I was on i20 CRDI. My route was:

Pune -> Ahmednagar -> Aurangabad -> Jalna -> Sindhhedraja -> Mehkar -> Karanja -> Talegaon -> Buti Bori -> Nagpur -> Bhandara (via bypass) -> Bhilai

Covered 982km distance. in 15:30 hours with total 60 min breaks.

Started at 7:45am from Hinjewadi. Considering working day, it was a bad decision to start late specially when I needed to pass thru' the crowed Pune city roads to reach Nagar highway. The 23 km stretch took 60 min. By the time I hit the Nagar highway, the traffic was up on the road.

Road Conditions:
1. Pune -> Nagar -> Jalna (4 lane road)
2. Jalna bypass to Sindkhedraja: as soon as you take left on the bypass road, the first 5 km stretch is ROAD TO HELL. It will certainly make you think *** - let me go back. Pot holes leave no space for you to drive on the road. Bad is by far a very decent description of the road condition. Once get pass the hell, it is one of the best two lane road I have driven in recent past. The road via Mehkar, Karanja, Nagpur is quite good. Stretches on bypass around towns are patchy needs to exercise care. Also, you cant avoid heavy traffic 75km before Nagpur. Between Karanja and Nagpur, I planned to cover 220 odd km in 3 hours. Looks like I made a mistake by not taking Amravati route (NH46) but landed up taking MSH6 via Talegaon, Buti Bori. It took 5 hours due to post sunset driving and heavy oncoming traffic.

3. Buti Bori: Once I hit NH7 at Buti Bori before Nagpur, the rest 280km journey until Bhilai was a song (except 2/3 km of stretches on ghat road).

Glad to be back at home town after a long time. And of course, need to plan my return journey. Don't want to think about it right now.

[RedTerrano]

I might be driving Pune -> Nagpur this weekend.
Google maps gives me three choices out of which this one sounds the more sensible one
Pune - Nagar - Jalna - Mehkar - Akola - Amravati - Nagpur

I am wondering if a Nagar - Aurangabad - Jalna detour be worth it, in the sense, are the roads better on that route? I have driven Aurangabad - Pune recently and was happy with most of the road.

Any other recommendations? Known problem areas?
Also, google maps shows 12 hours 16 minutes. Is this realistic?

[rocksolid]

Has anyone tried Nagar-Paithan-Ambad-Jalna-sindkhed raja route to Nagpur instead of the traditional Nagar-Aurangabad-Jalna route? I read this road is under preparation for 4 lane and may save us the trouble of going through Aurnagabad. I am thinking of traveling this route in 2015 June.

[rocksolid]

Any one knows the condition of road from Nagar to Paithan via Ambad to Jalna? I want to go by this route to avoid the traditional Aurangabad- Jlna route. Rest of the route to Nagpur is stadard with NH6 or Vardha Nagpur option. If there is a posting related to this please direct me to it. Thanks

[ameyawaghmare]

Originally Posted by rocksolid

Any one knows the condition of road from Nagar to Paithan via Ambad to Jalna? I want to go by this route to avoid the traditional Aurangabad- Jlna route. Rest of the route to Nagpur is stadard with NH6 or Vardha Nagpur option. If there is a posting related to this please direct me to it. Thanks

Sorry for the late reply but I guess this might help in future plans or the readers.
I did have this similar query some time back as Google maps did show the same route you have mentioned. One of my colleagues is a regular along this route and advised heavily to not take any bypass or alternate route around Aurangabad. I am not sure about the 4-lane status but I am yet to see any good 4-laned butter smooth roads anywhere around Aurangabad.

All the overnight buses, trucks and private vehicle drivers prefer to take the straight road that crosses all multiple signals in the city and continue towards Jalna.

We can try the NH211 (Dhule - Solapur Road) which acts as a bypass to the city but that is slightly a detour and the bypass road is as good as part of the city now. Plus, it adds to the confusion for a new person who isn't aware about roads around this city.

[ameyawaghmare]

Originally Posted by rocksolid

Any one knows the condition of road from Nagar to Paithan via Ambad to Jalna? I want to go by this route to avoid the traditional Aurangabad- Jlna route. Rest of the route to Nagpur is stadard with NH6 or Vardha Nagpur option. If there is a posting related to this please direct me to it. Thanks

Sorry, I misread your earlier post. I thought of it as a query on the road that connects Waluj to Paithan Road (probably called as Walmi Road)and then onwards to NH211 on which one can eventually connect to Jalna Road in the outskirts of the city crossing airport near the Cambridge School T-junction/flyover.

[drive_factor]

What is the latest update on this route?

In Dec 2014 while driving from Jamshedpur to western sea coast we took this section between NAGPUR to PUNE

OUTBOUND
NAGPUR-PUNE (Via Amravati - Karanja - Mehkar - Jalna - Aurangabad)
https://goo.gl/maps/krUeC23Xyiz

This stretch was excellent till Amravati, good till Kanranja and progressively got horrendous as we crossed Mehkar and onwards. We were completely worn down by the time we reached Pune

Thus while coming back we took below route:

INBOUND
PUNE - NAGPUR (Via Aurangabad - Jalna - Deaulgaon Raja - Chikhli - Khamgaon - Akola - Nagpur - Raipur)
http://goo.gl/maps/E1s0H

We found the second route less tiring not because the road surface was any better, but it was less crowded compared to the route via Mehkar.

Thus this year too we are planning to take the Rout 2 unless it has deteriorated in any way.

Requesting opinions.

[AkshatR]

A friend and I drove down from Pune to Nagpur on 8th Nov for Diwali in a Santro. We left Pune at 4 am and reached Nagpur at 4pm .
Route:
Sec-1: Pune (4 am) --> Nagar (6am) --> Aurangabad by-pass (7:30am)
Overall road quality great. Nagar - Aurangabad was a breeze since the road was excellent for the first 50-60 km. Pune - Nagar was also good but the speed was limited due to the pre-dawn driving.
Sec-2: Aurangabad --> Jalna (9:30am) --> Mehkar --> Malegoan --> Karanja (12:30pm)
Moderate road quality, 2-Lane; lot of truck traffic. Jalna, Mehkar, Malegoan and Karanja all have a by-pass which is good. GPS took us from Jalna to Sindkhed raja via Deaulgaon Raja
Sec-3: Karanja --> Amarvati (1:45pm)--> Nagpur (4pm)
Carpet road. NH 6 is awesome. speedometer over a 100 on an average except for the occasional speed breaker.

Stops:
Breakfast 20mins between Aurangabad and Jalna
Refueling 5mn between Karanja and Amarvati. (There was only one pump over 50 odd kms, so better to refuel at the pumps on Karanja bypass)
Lunch 25min at Nandgaon Peth

No tolls courtesy Maharashtra CM except on the Amarvati Nagpur 140 km stretch where there were 4 toll booths with tolls as Rs 80, Rs 10, Rs 41 and Rs 51. Please note the 1s
Wish there would be an option where I pay once for the entire stretch and then zip through the following booths.

Originally Posted by drive_factor

What is the latest update on this route?

Requesting opinions.

[RedTerrano]

Did the same route mentioned by AkshatR above a few days back

1. Time taken varied on the two runs. I left Pune at 3:00 AM and managed to reach Nagpur in 9 hours. On the way back, I left at 1:30 PM and reached Pune in 12 hours! Idiots driving with high beams at dusk, village full of drunkards dancing at someone's wedding procession and heavy truck traffic resulted in the extra 3 hours.
2. Watch out for those speed breakers. Huge ones as well as those rumbler type chassis breakers. Almost all of them with no markings painted. Most of the times, no road signs either. Speed breakers become an epidemic as you approach Aurangabad.
3. Watch out for moronic drivers. I was doing 120-130 and I spotted a man with a small kid on a bike ahead, driving correctly in the left most lane. As I neared him, I beeped to let him know I would pass him in the next few seconds. Imagine my horror, when, instead of ignoring me/checking his RVM, this idiot decides to turn and look back, effectively also turning his bike, right into my path. Fortunately I managed to avoid him. I literally took a pee break immediately, smoked and managed to calm myself down.
4. Watch out for moronic drivers, especially near Nagpur, who feel it is below their dignity to use indicators or mirrors before switching lanes or turning.
5. Number of tolls (4) and prices are still the same. I always carry change, so no hassles there. Tolls need to be paid only on the Amravati-Nagpur stretch. For the rest, where toll booth exist, make sure you take the right most lane, marked cars. You just crawl through without paying. (Crawl because these lanes too are full of unpainted speed breakers!) Looks like, as per the new directive, personal / non commercial 4 wheelers are toll exempt now.
6. I drove off with a full tank and reached Nagpur on it. On my return journey, I topped up at Shri Ram petrol pump at Sindkhed Raja (30KM before Jalna). This is on your left while coming from Nagpur. This is a big petrol pump, and I chose it as lot of truckers were fuelling up there. Sorry, don’t know if it is CoCo
7. I took a dinner break at Kamat’s on the Aurangabad Nagar patch. Well lit up, clean, hygienic place with good tasty food. I wanted to stop at Smile Stone but was not sure if it is still open.

Overall, not an enjoyable drive. Too frustrating and stressful.

[bigwheelz]

Has anybody done Pune-Nagpur route recently. Planning to drive to Kanha next month. Would appreciate any updates.
Have booked a hotel near Nagpur airport for overnight stay and will proceed to Kanha next morning.
What would the right halt location for overnight stay while returning to Pune? Want to cover as much as possible on first day. Aurangabad seems to be the breakpoint. Please suggest.

[AkshatR]

You would enter Nagpur from Amravati side and not from the airport side. So I think you can choose another hotel.
Way back Aurangabad is a good choice

[bigwheelz]

Update on the Pune-Nagpur road. I drove n 25th Apr 16.
Pune - Ahmednagar - I started at 4:00 am. Reached Nagar by 6:00 am. Since it was early morning, went through the city (not bypass). The roads are excellent and no tolls. For cars, the rightmost lane is marked with a height barrier which prevent trucks and other large vehicles from entering.
Ahmednagar - Aurangabad - The road while going towards Aurangabad is broken at lots of places. I drove at the extreme left end to avoid these. Could manage speeds of 60-70km/hr. It seems then the new 2 lane road is built on the road towards Ahmednagar. They did not repair the old side of the road. This means that the road from Aurangabad to Ahmednagar is in excellent shape. Did 100+ while returning back.
Auranagbad - Jalna - good roads.
Jalna - Sindhkhed Raja - single lane without divider. The direct road now has fresh coat. One need not go through Deulgaon Raja to reach Sindhked Raja. Sparse traffic. Could manage speeds of 70-90.
Sindhkhed - Mehkar - This is the worst stretch of the route. Single lane, broken roads and too narrow to overtake. Roads go through villages which further slows you down. The only saving grace is less traffic. There is a new restaurant just before Mehkar Bypass (Hotel Garva). Clean toilets and better hygiene.
Mehkar to Amravati - Good roads, less traffic. Can manage 80-100 speeds easily.
Amravati - Nagpur - Excellent NH6. Fantastic roads. Can easily manage 100+.

With 3 breaks of total 1.5 hours, it took 14 hrs to reach Nagpur hotel (Near Airport). It helps if you start early and avoid city traffic in Pune, Nagar, Aurangabad.

I continued by journey towards Kanha national Park. After Nagpur the roads are good till Ramtek. But toll fees is exorbitant. Paid 90+95 as toll only for around 60 kms. The rest of the roads further till MP border is under construction. Cant figure how they can charge for the roads not yet built. These part of NH once done will be a fantastic drive through the woods.
At the MP border there is a integrated checkpost for trucks. If you see the trucks lined up on the road, do not stop behind them. This being a singe lane road, carefully overtake and go through the checkpost. Once in MP, the road conditions improve and are good to excellent. Even the road to Kanha from Nainpur is smooth (its narrow but smooth drive)

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Did the same route mentioned by AkshatR above a few days back

Originally Posted by bigwheelz

Update on the Pune-Nagpur road. I drove n 25th Apr 16.

I am planning to drive down to Raipur tomorrow. I will be near Amravati by 2 pm. What are the good vegeterian eteries before or after Amravati for lunch?

Also there is a good possibility that I will have to make a night halt at Nagpur. Can anyone suggest good clean budget hotels in Nagpur?

[anupam084]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Also there is a good possibility that I will have to make a night halt at Nagpur. Can anyone suggest good clean budget hotels in Nagpur?

You can try hotel Amir in nagpur.Here is the link. http://www.hotelamirnagpur.com/contactus.php
This hotel doesn't have a dedicated parking space but if booked in advance they will arrange for a parking slot right in front of the hotel.

Also if you are planning to stretch the drive for 2 days you can make a night halt in amravati itself. Amravati to Raipur is four laned throughout and it will hardly take you 6-7 hours to cover this part.The old fashioned two laned road from jalna to amravati is the most frustrating part of this drive.

All the best for your drive and please give us an update on the road condition after your trip.