[prad]

Originally Posted by autoweirdo

Yes this is the one has huge GHAR signboard. How is the fuel quality? In google i see multiple negative reviews regarding attendants.

When I fueled, the attendants were quite pleasant and helpful. Just a sample of 1 - so not sure you can form a reliable opinion based on it, though it is an indicator for sure.

And it is difficult to judge fuel quality with just one tankful of fuel. So at this point my assumption is that the quality is similar to other COCO pumps.

[s4ch]

I need to drive tomorrow early morning (July 12th) from Pune to Mumbai Airport and back. Have done this route numerous times but this time a little anxious about flooding in Mumbai.

Does anyone have any updates on the route I should take after crossing Vashi Bridge to avoid floods especially after the recent rains? I'll be leaving Pune around 3:30am so don't expect much traffic, but just want to avoid flooded routes.

This is the route Google recommends, any help would be really appreciated as I will be picking up an elderly couple.



Many thanks.

[AnandAndy]

Originally Posted by sriturl

I guess they have a 90 limit on Satara bypass, I got one on that stretch with the same limit.

Originally Posted by W@SIM

was it during day time that you got challaned? i stick to 100 kmph night drives hence asking

Originally Posted by architkarpe

I travelled from Kolhapur to Pune on Sunday 19 June 2022. This is my regular route and have been travelling at least once a month.

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

I too drove from Bangalore to Mumbai in May and never saw any speed limit boards. However in Karnataka the limit is 100 at many places. People entering MH from KA might fall for that but yeah, no boards atleast that are easily visible.

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

This is my regular route too, and the Pune to Satara stretch does have board with speed limit for different vehicles mentioned, Truck / Bus 80, Car 90 and Bike 70.

I also got one on this road (NH48 Pune Bangalore Highway) during the daytime at 13:51 PM at Petha Nakka Near Islampur(MH) which is in between Kolhapur and Satara.
And I also never noticed these speed limit boards on this road.



And another one near Vadgaon Osmanabad(MH) at 12:47 PM. This was from Beed towards Bijapur.



Does it not become difficult to comply if various section of roads have different speed limits on the same highway?

Also, I was under the wrong impression that states where this vehicle was not issued would not be able to issue challan the vehicle (with the childish assumption that other states would not be able to retrieve the vehicle data)

[W@SIM]

Dear all
i will be driving to Bangalore from Pune this Sunday, i read in other forums that recent rains has created pot holes on Pune satara stretch. Any other info in the current rain scenario will be very helpful.
thanks

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by AnandAndy

Does it not become difficult to comply if various section of roads have different speed limits on the same highway?

I use following rule and it works almost everytime.
If highway is 3 + 3 assume limit as 100kmph but slow down to at 90 upon seeing some parked vehicle from a distance on roadside. It could be a false alarm but it works. Otherwise also it will keep you super alert on wheel.
If highway is 2+2, be a little more cautious. In MH on the stretch under discussion the road is mostly 2+2, assume limit as 90kmph and drop to 80 when you see a parked vehicle from distance. This will help to get to legacy speed of 80kmph and nobody will have any objection.
Downside of this is you need to slow down for a few seconds and again speed up. In KA the speed limit on NH48 is 100kmph in many places but the boards will help to follow the limit otherwise. In MH I never noticed any boards on NH48. I used above rule as savior.

[mogambo]

Hi friends - I drove Pune to Bangalore earlier this week with a stopover in Hubli. Sharing some updates.

• Tue 12th July - stared from Loni towards Kolhapur around 10.30am. Fursungi - Saswad - Kapurhol route to join NH48. Road was mostly pretty bad and narrow. Plus rains made it worse. So had to go pretty slow.
• Once I reached the NH it was a breeze. Rained all the way so slowed down in places when visibility became pretty narrow. Road conditions were pretty good all throughout.
• Reached Kolhapur Mahalkshmi temple around 3pm, paid our respects and went to Hotel Vrishali Executive for lunch.
• Left around 4.30pm towards Hubli - roads were initially good but after crossing the border, there were lot of potholes periodically. Had to constantly swerve to avoid them - mostly small ones, but I expect with rains and traffic it will get worse unless it is patched quickly. This was on the asphalted areas - periodically there are long concrete stretches which are pretty good.
• Towards Hubli, road narrows down to 2 lanes only (1 lane each side), getting dark and rainy, so had to go rather carefully.
• Reached hotel in Hubli around 7pm.
• Wed 13th July - left Hubli around 7.30pm, stopped for petrol at Shell Chabbi and breakfast at Kamat next to it.
• Left at 8.30am - roads were a breeze and entered Nice Road around 1pm. Between Tumkur and Bangalore, understandably, traffic was heavy with trucks and tempos needlessly blocking the road.

Overall a very good drive - mainly watch out for road conditions between Belgaum and Hubli.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by mogambo

Left around 4.30pm towards Hubli - roads were initially good but after crossing the border, there were lot of potholes periodically.
Overall a very good drive - mainly watch out for road conditions between Belgaum and Hubli.

Thanks for sharing the updates. I am very surprised that you found potholes between Hubli and Belgaum. I drove from Kolhapur to Bangalore just a week before you drove. And I did not find any potholes there. Yes, we faced heavy rains (with very poor visibility too) in most of the sections. But apart from rain, we had no problems, and the road was smooth as always. So the potholes must have occurred just within a week or so.

In fact, I have been driving Pune-Bangalore several times a year over last decade, and never saw potholes between Hubli and Belgaum. This seems like a very recent development then.

[mogambo]

They are not large. They would be bad for 2 wheelers but a car would probably bump over them. However if not fixed they would get larger. There are spots where I saw crews working on filling them though.

[Capri89]

Hi,
Me too surprised by the potholes mentioned.
Drove through there on first week July. It was raining and I loved it though. Probably Dharwad-Hubli stretch could have developed.

[W@SIM]

Drove yesterday to BLR from Pune, overall it was fine with one big surprise.
Started from swargate at 530am and reached at home Begur-south Bangalore at 630pm. Had a toddler and an infant on board hence took 2 long breaks summing to about 3 hrs. Drive time was just a little over10 hrs. Some notable points.
1. Was scared of the Pune-Kolhapur at the start, but this was not bad. Only on flyovers, Satara bypass, Kolhapur bypass and some bridges potholes were present. But barring that it was fine. took 3 hours till BP kognoli pump
2. Big surprise - Kolhapur Belgaum is the worst stretch currently, right from Tavandi ghat till Belgaum its full with potholes.
3. Belgaum to Bangalore was fine, but do watch out for potholes which crop up any time.
4. will recommend a day drive and pray that they fix up the holes soon.

Lunch stop was sarvodaya restaurant post chitradurga, nice place with clean restrooms. As always courteous MH cops stopped my non-MH car for PUC check.
thanks

[vivek95]

Guys, driving Mumbai to Belgaum since today morning. Crossed Satara just now.

Pune--Satara is absolutely fantastic end to end. Not a single pothole as of today. A few that had cropped up after initial spell of rains have all been nicely patched up. Had a superfast drive despite traffic volume being high.

[architkarpe]

I was checking the waze and Radarbot app. They are showing many camera locations between Pune and Kolhapur.
I would like to know wether there are any fixed speed cameras in these stretch (like on the Pune - Mumbai expressway) or the speeding tickets generated by interceptors only?

[normaltusker]

Update on the route - There is maintenance work going on just after Kolhapur towards Mumbai which is resulting in heavy traffic jams. Since this impacts both sides of the traffic, it would be prudent to plan and budget this time in your overall travel itinerary.

Location (Mum->Blr): https://goo.gl/maps/oGBrwMGXzSMearYx6
Location (Blr->Mum): https://goo.gl/maps/ebQJk2skX8WethDPA

Also, the ghats were absolutely choc-o-block with traffic on the expressway towards Pune. This may have been due to the long weekend, but nonetheless, it helps to keep an eye on it and even use the old Mumbai-Pune road if required.

[revvytorques]

Did Bangalore-Mumbai on 18th & 19th August with an overnight halt in Karad

Day 1 Bangalore to Karad

Source - Whitefield, Bangalore - 5 AM
Destination - Karad (The Fern Residency) - 3.45 PM
KMs - 701 km
Drive Time - 9 hr 20 mins
Road Conditions - Excellent throughout, though there are potholes, most have been fixed. Hubli-Dharwad bypass is slow as usual which needs a lot of patience to cross.

Pitstops - Breakfast at Apoorva Resorts, Bio-break/Coffee at Shell, Refuelling at BP Kotur COCO, Late lunch at Sai International Yelur

Day 2 Karad to Mumbai

Source - Karad (The Fern Residency) - 7 AM
Destination - Bandra, Mumbai - 1 PM
KMs - 300 km
Drive Time - 5 hours
Road Conditions - There are some diversions near Satara bypass that slows you down, Entering Pune is also slow there is construction work going on near Kothrud. Other bottleneck was Vashi creek toll gate. Potholes have developed in Navi Mumbai & Mumbai post the monsoons.

Pitstops - Breakfast at Vittal Kamat's Kikvi, Lunch at Food Plaza, Mumbai Pune Expressway, Refueling at IOCL Mumbai Pune Expressway

Overall, it was a relaxed drive as we split the journey.

Review of the stay - The Fern Residency Karad was a great experience, bang on the highway, no detour. Good check-in process, clean rooms & decent food options.

[NPV]

A friend is planning to drive to Navi Mumbai on a weekday evening from Bangalore.
Based on current conditions, what is the best time for an evening start ?