[Technocrat]

There is a huge, massive Hanuman murti and believe me quite impressive.

Yep I have seen that one

[rammishra]

Hi saint,

Sorry but i logged in after many days and saw your post late. I also come from Bhopal and have taken mumbai - bhopal route many times in my alto.

I think Sendhwa - dhamnod-mhow-indore section is not as bad as people make it to feel.Also last year when i went four laning work was in progress on full swing and many stretches must have been completed. Also if go via sendhwa-khalghat-dhamnod-mhow-indore stretch distance up to bhopal from mumbai comes only 800 Km.

Originally Posted by The Saint

Hello Boys,

Thanks for all your help appreciate.

Mumbai to Bhopal- 16 hours:

Route- Mumbai-Nashik- Left Linkway Honda Chandivili at 2pm towards Nashik, too much of traffic. Stopped at Tarachand to have a meal, the road is good as we all know. Post tarachand some 5 kms later the road is smooth and it is a 4 lane divider road, I was just flying on this sector.

I think I was in Nashik by 5pm, took a hault as my friend had natures call (he he).

Nashik-Dhule- Again a very good road in the begining (4 lane divider) but at the end before you hit Dhule there are lot of diversions and my car was touching at some humps at the end 5kms before Dhule. But overall good road and you can speed, if higher car then no worries as Civic is too low.

WE had stopped at the petrol pump to clean our front glass and the petrol pump guy advised not to take the Sendwa + Dhamnod road in night as my car is going to struggle big time crossing due to bad roads and it will touch a lot, Human tendency to ask (i was already warned by you guys).

Dhule to Jalgaon- beautiful stretch of 91 kms smooth as butter, speed as much as you can, there was a Tata Safari I tagged behind and did this sector in 55 mins. amazing stretch.

Now comes the tricky and notorious sector (techo rawre is what no one should take for burhanpur- it is not very good road and lonely/scary sector-as i took that during the day on my way back).

Jalgaon-Burhanpu via Muktainagar- you dont take the rawre road to burhanpur but take the muktainagar which also join later on the same road but it is broader, smoother and safer. Beautiful ghats and I just loved them

Burhanpur--Khandwa-Indore- very good road no problems at all with a ghat section which is amazing- we were in Indore by 3:50 am, waited for another friend and then went to a uncle's house for tea.

Indore to Bhopal- Left Indore at 6:15 am and was in Bhopal at 08:55 am, good road with some section not very well done, most of the highway is diversion.

Overall experience good.

Bhopal-Indore- 14 hours.

I wont get into details as I have covered most of it above.

Bhopal-Indore-Khandwa (ghats)-Burhanpur (ghats)-Bhuwasi-rawre-Jalgaon-Dhule-Nashik-Mumbai. Total Kms upto Andheri west 935 kms.

But at the Indore petrol pump lot of truck guys were saying you can go from Dhamnod and sendwa as the road is good now and they are expanding the road big time, he said this car you will have no problem now, but I still wanted to come from a tried and tested route.

Techno- it was very hot mate- went to Bada Talaab looks very nice, the crowd in Bhopal has always been the best, Top n town is all over the place and I had to have Funky Fudge my all time fav. Went to the shopmakers in TT nagar, vow they still make amazing shoes.

Other than that the chotta jheel close to my house is also rocking and lot of crowd there in the evening.

Overall good trip with a perfect road map.

Now I'm tired of typing, will go back to work.

Cheers,

Saint

[The Saint]

Hey Rm,

Thanks for your insight, as you see I have already done the trip and yes the route that you have mentioned is almost ready is what I understand from lot of people, though I don't plan to go again in near future but if I do will will take the straight route that you have suggested.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

[CBzzz]

Just completed a trip from Pune - Sagar via Indore and Bhopal. This thread helped a lot and thought of adding my experience.
Started 4 AM from Pune, too early for me and my wife. Crossed pune city in 25 mins from Wakad and headed towards Nagar. As soon as I came out of Pune, heard a shout: "can't you clean your windshield!! I cant see anything". This was my wife, getting frustrated due to dense fog. Yes, dense fog on 10th Oct 09. For next 4 hrs, I was driving with my fog lamps on. Lucky enough to have a 4 lane with white lines. Reached Shirdi by 8:30. Then started troublesome part, bit of traffic and patchy road. Till Malegaon I was not able to drive over 80 and after taking a right below flyover to Dhule got 4 lane back. Though there were diversions, I could maintain 90-100.
Dhule - Sendhwa - Dhamnod used to be a decoit zone, still in the day time it is safe. Another reason to add safety is that road widening is going on and should complete by end of this year. I was told that it is done, though it is not the case, it is still in better shape. This road was better in MP and patchy in MH. (Even I could not believe that). Traffic was ok and We were in Dhamnod by 2 after 2-3 quick stops. Had a stop in Dhamnod for 45 mins... wifey wanted to SHOP. Best place to shop for clothes is Maral overseas factory outlet. You dont have to detour and get Marks and Spencers Tees in 100 rs that we get in Pune for 350....
3 PM started for Indore and we were in for another surprises, a cool 4 lane with virtually no traffic. 70 kms in 50 mins was my response to it. It took me 12 hrs (1 hr extra for shopping) to reach my destination. Had a night halt there to meet my relatives and friends.
Indore to Sagar - 7 hrs for 380 kms in MP!!! whoa!! no rash/very fast drive, no potholes, no heavy traffic.
Started in morning 7:30, till Devas road is good. After crossing Devas found road under construction and for next 40 odd kms we were taking diversions of and on... Sonkach city has some good dhabas and Pohe Jalebi is a great way to enjoy the journey.
Then came the best part of this road, a 4 lane with no heavy traffic. Only thing we needed to negotiate was oncoming bikers on fast lane!!!!!!!! there were a few bullock carts following them
Knowing MP culture of driving helped me a bit and having a good nevigator or I should say assistant driver in my wifey helped a lot. Early shouts for bikers and bullock carts helped me in negotiating well.
Bhopal - Sagar is a good 2 lane road with no traffic. 90-100 can be easily maintainable. No big potholes and overall a good road.
Coming back was slightly tough, afterall who wants to come back from home! And more over when new member (my niece) who has just started crowling is seeing you off.
Road and drive stayed the same till Indore.
Indore - Pune
Started early by 5 AM and hit the accelerator immediately. Took 4 hrs to come to Dhule and 7 to Shirdi. Then committed a blunder or may be my best part of day was over! Had a good 2 hrs lunch break there. When we started at 2, found a crowded city of Shirdi waiting for us. 30 mins to hit highway again from the middle of city, worst was not over yet.
Took 2.5 hrs to reach Ahmednagar and 1.5 hrs to cross the city!!! In the mean time a chain reaction costed me a reflector and bent dickey. The one who hit me asked: Koi itne hard brakes lagata hai kya?? ( Does anybody hit brakes so hard??) That leaves me with nothing to speak about that driver...... Total 6 cars stopped in that incident and I was the 4th one and beginner of chain, car behind mine was hit from both ends.
With a heavy heart and no zeal to drive we started again, reached Pune by 7. There is small patch of 2-3 kms is being redone and there is no road between Ahmednagar and Pune. Rest is good 4 lane with heavy traffic in morning and evening due to industrial zones in the middle. So, best way to start early from Pune and beat the morning rush and come back to Pune before 5. This is what I forgot in Shirdi and wasted at least 1.5 hr due to traffic.
In all, with road widening in progress, everything is falling in place and soon a good AB Road will be calling some of us again.

Another imp observation, Petrol was cheaper in MH than MP.

[naren_gs1]

I guess you were lucky! I also did Pune-Indore stretch this past week, and observed following issues:
- Nagar - Shirdi road widening is still not complete. I had seen work in May 2008 as well.
- Flyover in progress in Dhule city at junction of NH-3 and NH-6 (I got stuck for 45 mins!)
- MP stretch of NH-3 is bad till Khalghat. Morevoer - there are couple of narrow bridges and there is always a chance of traffic jam (I go stuck at one of them for 30 mins)

Khalghat-Indore is a good experience now. You do not have to enter Mhow, and also the old ghat section is no more.

Rgds

[ambujlal]

Hello friends,

I have to do Aurangabad-Bhopal in few days time. I went through the entire thread and have some basic idea about roads but would appreciate some update about latest road conditions. I don't mind doing extra kms but definitely want to avoid pot-holed roads.

Any help would be great!

~ambuj

[MX6]

I did Omkareshwar to Aurangabad 2 weeks back. Roads from Omkareshwar till Raver (in Maharashtra) was excellent. I could keep 90 - 100 all the way. Roads from Raver to Bhusaval was not smooth but passable with speeds up to 70.
From Bhusaval till Aurangabad was again a belter of a circuit.
I guess you can branch off at Jalna / bhusaval to reach bhopal.

[Technocrat]

The roads are in good condition, avoid the NH3 route as it has lots of traffic.

[ambujlal]

Hi techno, isn't NH3 indore bhopal road? if i have to avoid that road then i guess i need to take sillod - ajanta - jalgaon - burhanpur - khandwa - hoshangabad - bhopal! is this route okay? How much time would it take typically?

[MX6]

Ajanta - Raver - Burhanpur - Khandwa is very good. I remember leaving Raver by 5 and reaching Aurangabad by 9. Have to see my logs.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by ambujlal

Hi techno, isn't NH3 indore bhopal road? if i have to avoid that road then i guess i need to take sillod - ajanta - jalgaon - burhanpur - khandwa - hoshangabad - bhopal! is this route okay? How much time would it take typically?

Yes either that or you can also go to Indore from Burhanpur & then to Bhopal.
Both roads are fine its just that Khandwa till Hoshangabad has no place to eat & has very less traffic. But yes this would be slightly shorter & quicker than the Indore one.

[ambujlal]

thanks techno and mx6. I would reach khandwa and then take a decision on which route to take depending on what time i reach khandwa. Planning to leave by 5.30 in morning. My final destination in bhopal would be near shahpura lake.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Yes either that or you can also go to Indore from Burhanpur & then to Bhopal.
Both roads are fine its just that Khandwa till Hoshangabad has no place to eat & has very less traffic. But yes this would be slightly shorter & quicker than the Indore one.

Good news that the Khandwa-Hoshangabad road is in good condition, I thought it was chronically in bad condition. This can offer an alternative for those travelling from Delhi region to Hyderabad.

[Technocrat]

HV - I had used that route 2.5 years ago, not sure if it has deteiorated after that but I dont thinks it has. But yes a few years back it was in very bad shape

[agspins]

That road would be in fine shape as its on BOT,At least for next few years it would be good.Yes the road was hell from 95 to 2006