Quote:
Originally Posted by paragsachania Drove to Pune on Wednesday and here are few latest updates, more for Pune-Bangalore sector as I flew back instead of returning by road since I had to drop a friend's car there. We had started from Bangalore (Seshadripuram) bang on at 0430 and were in Pune (Wakad) by 1515 with 3 breaks - Breakfast, Refuel and Lunch. An early morning start, weekday and steady speeds meant we managed this pretty quickly.
In another major development, expect Fairfield Inn -By Marriott to open shop right before Belgaum bypass (Around 510 kms from Bangalore on the Pune-Bangalore corridor). Boards are in place, Building ready and I think it should soon be operational. Might make a perfect pit stop for those who want to break their journey and looking for some high end hotels to stay by right on the highway - Location
Lastly, there has been a super good increase in the number of Vittal Kamat outlets in Kolhapur - Satara Secton that I lost count of it this time. They start as early as the KA-MH Border all the way to Satara. There is no real need to remember the location as they are aplenty and have good signage too. |
Parag, that was an excellent update

You might have clocked around 85kmph average driving speed, right ?? Can you please elaborate on this one - what were your usual driving speeds and total stopover duration that made this roughly 850 kms drive possible in 10 hrs 45 mins including 3 stopovers ?? A steady and constant 100-110 and occasional bursts of 120 depending on the merits of road should do the trick, isn't it ?? I had a debate on this one recently with someone who said it's not quite possible to do Bangalore - Vashi, Navi Mumbai in 13 hours while I claimed it can be easily done with a favourable start time, weekday and without overspeeding . I contested by saying that covering the ground faster on KA part of NH4 is the ''key point'' whatsoever. However, I have totally lost connection with NH4 towards Bangalore side past 2.5 years ( can vouch for the timings on Belgaum--Pune--Mumbai sector ). Your update reinforces my belief that Bangalore--Pune is still easily and safely doable in 10 hours ( non stop drive ) for a regular user of this stretch, despite Satara-Pune being u/c for 6 lanes. For ocassional drivers, 12 hours is assumed to be safe.
Good to know that couple more CCDs are opening up in KA part of NH4. Sometime in the past, when I was once going through their website, I had noticed that CCD (which is KA based itself) is on a spree making its KA outlets to be open 24*7 be it NH4 or Bangalore-Mangalore /Kolar/Mysore sector. While in MH part of NH4, only two CCDs are open 24*7 --one at Bavdhan, Pune and another at Khalapur food mall,Pune--Mumbai Expressway. There are many other CCD outlets on NH4 in MH sector too, but most of them get closed by 11.30 pm max. I guess they would be upgrading these MH outlets also to 24*7 ones in future after getting necessary approvals/permissions from resp. administrations.
I am still waiting to visit Smilestone, NH4 at Kolhapur but as per hearsay , seems it is really good with clean restrooms and good food. I see this hotel every time I passby, accessibility is too easy for Bangalore--Pune direction. I am quite sure it will be worth an addition to the list of eateries on NH4 in case someone reports it to be good, which mostly will be, given the Smilestone's reputation on Pune--Aurangabad highway.
By the way , I was in Delhi/Jaipur/Chandigarh belt recently and noticed that the work on NH8 Jaipur--New Delhi 6 laning is still seeing only around 90% completion , construction of which had begun in April 2009 !!! If the highways running to country's capital get into such delays, then let alone Satara--Pune
Yeh kiss khet ki mooli hain
Apparently, the Fairfield Marriott at Kakati ,Belgaum is a 5 star, the first one in Belgaum city but my friend says it's a 4 star. The opening was originally expected by mid-2016 but Fairfield later deferred to make it operational by the end of 2016. If I am not wrong, it should be the first ever 4/5 star rated property bang on NH4 in the KA part ( Bangalore--Nipani) once opened. Needless to say, MH has a couple of 4/5 stars on NH4 since many years, courtesy being Pune city ! Here is a pic of Fairfield Mariott Belgaum that I had clicked in June -
I would like to share driving directions to this Fairfield for someone driving from Bangalore towards Pune. DO NOT follow the route suggested by Google maps as it takes you on a 5 km detour ( through a messy service road as well ). I have attached a Google map snapshot below. The landmark for exit from NH4 is Barde Roadlines/BP fuel station or Barde Dhaba represented by a red circle. Now, this is an untarred exit which is not featured in Google maps but be assured this is a clean "Exit point". NH4 and service road lie at the same level here with no trench in between. So one can simply hop onto this service road from the highway. Next , drive straight on the service road until you see a big underpass on your right. Turn right here and then immediate Left to get onto the opp. side service road. Drive straight and Fairfield comes on your right. Below image shows how to do exit and entry to NH4 from Fairfield-Belgaum in Bangalore -- Pune direction
Google considers this opp.side service road as one way, but in reality all service roads along NH4 are two ways. The route I have suggested above is legal, easy, clean without any traffic or petty obstructions. There is one more route, not acknowledged by Google as well, which I would not recommend at all as it involves passing through a small underpass and service roads which are usually messy with vehicles parked haphazardly and people moving all around.
This is what Google map suggests, DO NOT follow.
For Pune--Bangalore direction, ''exit point'' suggested by Google is 100% correct. Google is neither always right nor always wrong but I certainly don't belong to the tribe who berate or undermine the importance of Google maps as a whole. It has definitely made life and travel much easier and some errors should always be expected from any kind of technology.