[Shanmd]

Did a part of this route in May.

Food..
http://www.amravationline.in/city-gu...an-restaurants

Take the Nagpur-Raipur bypass. The first 10 odd kms are horrible, but rest is super smooth. You never enter Nagpur that way..

And the roads till Raipur are in great shape. Have a fun drive.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Travelled Ahmednagar - Raipur - Ahmednagar recently.


Ahmednagar to Raipur: on Sunday, 03rd July.
Ahmednagar :6 am
Amravati : 2 pm including 45 min for tea / breakfast
Raipur : 11 pm including 1 hour 45 min for lunch / dinner / tea

At the time of entering Nagpur, I somehow missed the left turn to bypass. I had to pass through the city. Though I had to drive slower in the city, it was not too slow as it was a Sunday.

2-3 stretches of highway between Nagpur and Raipur are single lane, passing through forest. With continuous truck traffic, the speed here was restricted to 30-40 kmph.

Put up at Hotel Grand Arjun near Jaistambh. Bargained to get Rs. 1705 (with taxes) for double occupancy including the buffet breakfast. The breakfast menu comprised Dosa, Poha, Sambar, Paratha, Curd, Bread-butter, Juice, Sprouts, Banana and Tea / Coffee.


Raipur to Nagpur: on Monday, 04th July.

We finished our work in Raipur at 5 pm on Monday, 03rd July. So we left Raipur at 6:30 pm and reached Nagpur at 12 midnight, including 1 hour 15 min break for tea and dinner. The evening traffic in Nagpur, Bhilai and Durg slowed us down.

Put up at Hotel Amrta at Sitabuldi in Nagpur. Bargained to get Rs. 1800 per night (with taxes) for double occupancy, including the buffet breakfast. The breakfast menu comprised Idly, Wada, Poha, Sambar, Bread-butter and Tea / Coffee.


Nagpur to Ahmednagar: on Tuesday, 05th July.
In the morning, we visited a factory in Hingna MIDC.
Hingna MIDC: 12 noon. Reached the highway via Wanadongri, Pendhari (along ORR).
Ahmednagar: 11:30 pm including 2 hour 30 min for lunch, dinner and 2 tea breaks. Took the lunch (Varhadi food) at Hotel Atithya after Amravati. Took the dinner at Hotel Amarpreet at Aurangabad.

There was some confusion near Karanja and we missed the Karanja bypass.

Throughout the journey, I drove my SX4 at 70 to 90 kmph, except Karanja to Jalna (40 to 70 kmph due to local daytime traffic as well as the trucks). Topped-up at Reliance bunks along the highway. FE was 15.8 to 16.5 kmpl.

[stewie]

Did Pune-Ngp-Pune recently(June 29, July 3rd).
Relied on GMaps and went through the shortest recommended route -
Pune - Nagar - Aurangabad - Jalna - Mehkar - Karanja - Amravati - Nagpur

The last time i did this route was in 2005 and the road conditions have improved quite a lot.
Pune to Aurangabad is a dual carriageway with divider.
Aurangabad to Amravati - you have to negotiate single carriageway, but the roads are in ok condition and traffic is sparse, so you can maintain a decent amount of speed.
I was able to maintain speeds of 80-90 in most parts of the route.
Amravati to Nagpur is again a dual carriageway with 4 separate tolls.

Thanks to some meticulous planning, I started both onward and return journey quite late.
Started from Pune at 0930 and from Nagpur at 0830.
Though both trips took me approximately 12 hrs, I really recommend starting earlier when returning to Pune.

Reaching Nagpur between 7-9 PM is not an issue at all.
Pune is a different ballgame altogether.
I spent about an hour battling traffic from the Kharadi Police chowky intersection till the Phoenix mall signal.

I opted to fill diesel from Reliance pumps during the journey.
Must have seen about 4-5 of them spread out over the route.
Tried an Essar one too, but they did not have card payment so didn't fill up.

Also, as mentioned in earlier posts, Amravati - Nagpur is the only stretch with tolls. Rest of the places, private cars/jeeps can breeze through the right most lane without paying toll.
But please drive slowly. Even though there's no toll, they have some nasty speed breakers there.
Apart from the ones near toll booths, there are some stealthy speed breakers (worthy of the name breakers - a couple of them seemed like they wanted to earn the name by breaking my poor punto's legs) near villages.
Please keep a lookout for these.

All in all, a good trip.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by stewie

Did Pune-Ngp-Pune recently(June 29, July 3rd).
Relied on GMaps and went through the shortest recommended route -
Pune - Nagar Aurangabad - Jalna - Mehkar - Akola - Amravati - Nagpur

I had travelled via Jalna - Mehkar - Akola route but found that Akola-Amravati section slows you down.

Jalna - Mehkar - Karanja - Amravati is a better and shorter route. You may try this next time.

[stewie]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

I had travelled via Jalna - Mehkar - Akola route but found that Akola-Amravati section slows you down.

Jalna - Mehkar - Karanja - Amravati is a better and shorter route. You may try this next time.

I did this route actually. I made a mistake. Corrected my post. Thanks!

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Next week, I need to travel again from Pune to Raipur.
Does anyone have an idea of the rain / flooding conditions near Nagpur and Raipur?

[shabahmad]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Next week, I need to travel again from Pune to Raipur.
Does anyone have an idea of the rain / flooding conditions near Nagpur and Raipur?

Hi Rahul,
Any update on this route, I am going this saturday to Durg.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by shabahmad

Hi Rahul,
Any update on this route, I am going this saturday to Durg.

Hi,

Sorry for the late posting as I was occupied with work in hectic schedules.

Drove to Raipur on 27th July. Started from Ahmednagar at 08:30 am and reached Jaistambh in Raipur at 01:30 am (in the night).

Suggestions:

1. It is advisable to start early from Pune; say at 5 am.
2. The signboards are not provided at some crossings on the Jalna bypass. Be careful to ask the directions frequently or use GPS.
3. Jalna to Mehkar road is not in good shape. Consider average speed of 50 kmph. Be careful about potholes and speed-breakers.
4. Mehkar to Amravati road is good.
5. It is better to avoid Nagpur bypass (ring road) and go through the city towards Bhandara.
6. After Bhandara, be careful about the animals (cows, buffaloes etc.) sitting in the middle of the highway, often occupying the entire right lane. I did Bhandara - Raipur - Bhandara at night. I was surprised to see 4-5 animals sitting together in the rightmost lane, not moving at all!
7. There are no good eateries between Jalna and Karanja. Do not even try. Either carry some home food or dry snacks. At the beginning of Karanja bypass (coming from Jalna), you will get 2 eateries which are somewhat ok. One is by the side of Reliance bunk and the other one is in front of the first one.
8. Coming from Nagpur, there is a good restaurant just before Bhandara and in Bhandara (on left side, on the highway itself, on the first floor).

I returned on 30th July. Started from Raipur at 6 pm and reached Amravati at 2 am (in the night). Halted at Hotel Gourinn at the beginning of Amravati bypass.

Started from Amravati at 07:30 am and reached Ahmednagar at 04:30 pm.

Both ways, it took time because of rains and road conditions / truck traffic between Mehkar and Jalna.

[shabahmad]

Thanks Rahul,

Travelled last weekend & back to Pune.
Yes, Jalna- sindkhed road is loosing top coat of tarmac, but still much better than old days.
Also Nagpur Bypass from Amravati-Wardha for 5 KM has lots of bad patches & pot holes.

Rest of the route is OK, Amravati to Drug can be easily done in 5.5 hrs or less.

Started from Pune at 4 AM reached durg at 8 PM with breaks for food & fuel.
Return is also same but nagar to pune takes some extra time reached pune at 9:30.

[GKMahajan]

Hello friends,

I am planning to do a Pune Nagpur Pune trip in the last week of Nov 2016.
I would be indebted if you could share the latest situation / best route / rest rooms / restaurants / etc.

Regards,

Girish Mahajan

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Hi All,

I will be travelling to Nagpur from Pune in the second week of October. Would highly appreciate if there are any new updates on the road conditions post the monsoon.

Car: Ford Ecosport TDCi
# of people: Three of us, all guys.

Based on the updates shared by members who have travelled in recent past on this route, below is the route of our choice:

Pune > Nagar > Aurangabad > Jalna > Mehkar > Karanja > Amravati > Nagpur.

Wanted to know about the road conditions between Jalna and Amravati. Also, is it safe to travel during the night time on this road. We are planning to start in late evening, like around 8 PM or 9 PM and reach Nagpur by morning 8/9 AM. Is this workable?

[shabahmad]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

Hi All,


Pune > Nagar > Aurangabad > Jalna > Mehkar > Karanja > Amravati > Nagpur.

Wanted to know about the road conditions between Jalna and Amravati. Also, is it safe to travel during the night time on this road. We are planning to start in late evening, like around 8 PM or 9 PM and reach Nagpur by morning 8/9 AM. Is this workable?

Just returned from Nagpur....
Nagar to Aurangabad: Un Even roads cant maintain good speed here.
Jalna to sindkhed: lots of Bad patches, there are 2-3 very deep pot holes on smooth tarmac, be watchful.
Rest route is just OK till mehkar further till ngp its good.

No issues from safety stand point.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

^^Thank you!!! Due to unavoidable reasons, we ended calling off tbe plan to travel :( . However appreciate your inputs and will surely help I happen to be able to travel anytime soon!

[morphique]

Did Pune - Bhilai couple of weeks back and return yesterday:

Pune - Nagar - Aurangabad - Jalna - Mehkar - Karanja - Amravati - Nagpur - Bhilai

Highlights, mainly of the return journey:

- Missed the warning on this forum about the bad patch near Sindkhed Raja, my almost new Jazz Diesel made loud thuds on the craters, almost as if something must have broken!

- Wrong sign board at Aurangabad: It indicated "right" for Pune but thankfully I looked up on the Google Maps and realized Pune was "left". The right turn was for Aurangabad city. And it was a proper board, not the ones that could be turned around by miscreants for wrong directions! A big thumbs down to MSRDC

- Before Ahmednagar, there are boards mentioning "bypass" but it is written in Marathi. Made the mistake of not looking it up on the Google Maps and took the so-called bypass and we were greeted by the road to hell - I cannot even call it a road. I realized that we were definitely on the wrong route but thought it would become ok within a km or so, but it did not until 3-4 kms. After asking around, was told that it would continue for another few kms, so I looked up on Google Maps and found an escape route about a km ahead. So guys, stick with Google Maps, please. Another big thumbs down to MSRDC for not putting sign boards in English or Hindi.

- The traffic at and after Ahmednagar was the worst. We had reached Aurangabad around 5pm, and were delighted to think that we would be in Pune by 9.30pm or so. But the wrong turn before Nagar and the three long jams between Nagar and Pune caused a 3 hour delay. This includes one jam near InOrbit / Phoenix at 11pm.

[GKMahajan]

Hello guys,

Planning to leave Pune for Nagpur on 23 Nov 2016. I will be driving my Scorpio S10 AT 2WD. My wife is the second driver. Any pointers?

Planned route: Pune > Ahmednagar > Aurangabad > Jalna > Mekhar > Karanja > Kamargaon > Amravati > Nagpur
Note: I do tend to rely on Google Maps and hence the route might change at the last minute! If any of you guys know something which will contradict Google Maps - I would love to hear it.

Regards,

Girish Mahajan