[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by c@rwate

Hello guys,
I apologise for digressing a bit from the topic - I will be traveling from Pune to Sringeri and exiting the Pune-Bengaluru route at Bankapura and will travel via Shikaripur.
I wanted to know if anyone has an idea about the route safety and surface quality on this route. I will be the lone driver for my Honda City 2020 MT, traveling with 4 more (1 senior citizen mom) and probably full boot load.
I plan to leave Pune earliest, possibly at 5 AM and plan to reach in 14 hours (Google shows 13 hours). I am also aware of the fact that I will reach my destination after sundown and hence anxious.
[/ATTACH]

Sagara-Ripponpet-Tirthahalli-Sringeri roads are good. You’ll have about 60-70 km of winding that roads, with good surface.

Enjoy the drive.

[NerDriver]

Hello BHPians - planning to travel from Bangalore(Whitefield) to Gurugram via Pune-Udaipur - Jaipur route.

Day 1: Bangalore to Pune ( Overnight stay at four point by Sheraton)
Day2 : Pune to Udaipur ( Overnight stay at JuSTa Rajputana )
Day 3 : Udaipur to Gurugram
Travelling with wife and kid (4years old)
Taking the trip in Scorpio-N - Diesel AT 4WD, but the weather forecast just looks rain and rain all over. I plan to cover most of the journey during daytime but i'm sure last 2-3 hours of journey will be in night regardless of how nicely you plan. I'm going through all the valuable inputs by Parag and other esteemed members. Any pointers or advise that I should be paying attention to right away ? Any major changes that happened very recently ? i covered this route in April in my Dzire Petrol and the trip was enjoyable for the most part
Also would be happy if someone wants to tag along for any duration of the whole 3 day journey.
Thanks in advance
Cheers

[jkrishnakj]

Curious to understand why you wouldn’t take do the Hyd-Nagpur route. From what I read here, crossing Gujarat will be through heavy truck traffic, unless you have plans of going via Nashik, Ratlam route from Thane side.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Curious to understand why you wouldn’t take do the Hyd-Nagpur route. From what I read here, crossing Gujarat will be through heavy truck traffic, unless you have plans of going via Nashik, Ratlam route from Thane side.

Nagpur route to Udaipur is still longer and more time consuming. This was an alternate earlier but now due to Bangalore - Sholapur - Aurangabad becoming better over years, even for New Delhi this is a good alternative.

The only gripe on this route is the Kannad Ghat between Sholapur and Dhule. Once this is ready, this should become the de-facto choice to hit the North from Bangalore. Even with these good things, one needs to know that this route requires proper planning with your pit-stops and night halts, for this is no route where you skip a town/city and march ahead assuming you will get a place to stop for the night. The Bangalore Sholapur stretch is pretty much barren between Chitradurga to Hospet and then Hospet to Vijayapura and Vijayapura to Sholapur. Sholapur to Aurangabad has got a lot (and a lot) better now compared to last year with aplenty of options to stop by for a break. Aurangabad to Dhule is really a sector that has very less options.

When you compare this to the western India route via Pune Mumbai Baroda today, this is a fact that the entire stretch from Kolhapur onwards is "lively" despite all the messy traffic you get. You have plenty of options not only to stop for a break but even halt for the night. Private vehicle traffic is equal to the truck traffic (especially Pune to Ahmedabad) and you've got company 24X7. If one picks western India route, they must plan to cross few sectors at the right time to ensure that efficiency along the entire route - Crossing Pune, Crossing Vashi - Thane, escaping the industrial traffic of Surat, etc. If these are done right, it can still remain your best bet too.

If it is Bangalore to Delhi, with proper planning of your pit stops and night halts, I would still pick the Nagpur route as of today. This route is predictable despite of very less options for breaks. For those who are apprehensive about regular pit stops, family friendly route, there is always Pune Mumbai Ahmedabad route waiting for them.

[vandemanw]

https://swarajyamag.com/amp/story/ne...-both-capitals

Is the five hour Mumbai Bengaluru trip by this greenfield expressway really possible. By existing plans available in the public domain, the distance between the two cities is likely to be shortened by around 80-100 kms only. Even then, is a 900 km journey doable in 5 hours?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

The only gripe on this route is the Kannad Ghat between Sholapur and Dhule.

Not just that man. Chalisgaon-Dhule is being widened now, so its a mess even after you get down from the ghat.

Even if taking the route, might be a better idea to take Gangapur-Vaijapur-Yeola-Malegaon to reach Dhule.

[ghodlur]

I travelled from Kolhapur to Bangalore on Wednesday. Started from Kolhapur at 6 am, refulled at BP COCO Kognoli. Stopped for a quick team + light breakfast at Grand NH4 just after the Bankapur toll plaza. The next halt was at Kamat Ahaar Sira for about 15 mins. Reached Bangalore at 1.30 pm.

There are 2 diversion after Hubli, hope these get completed fast. There are some surprising and unannounced potholes before and after Tumkur. The road till Nelamangala needs to be driven a bit carefully.

[c@rwate]

Travelled from Bengaluru to Pune yesterday as part of my longer south India trip to Kanyakumari/Rameshwaram via Mysore, Munnar, Madurai.
Left Bengaluru at 5 AM, experienced light traffic jam while leaving Bengaluru and those confounded potholes before Tumkur. Some of those have been patched, but they are quite irritating.
I reached Kolhapur at 2.30PM, welcomed by unusually heavy traffic, felt like driving through a city. Was stuck in Khambatki tunnel traffic for 4 hours. Was supposed to reach Pune by 6.30, reached at 10PM.
This was my first long road trip. Felt quite happy that I completed this comfortably.
3850 KMs in 10 days with 80 hours of driving!

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by c@rwate

Travelled from Bengaluru to Pune yesterday as part of my longer south India trip to Kanyakumari/Rameshwaram via Mysore, Munnar, Madurai.
Left Bengaluru at 5 AM, experienced light traffic jam while leaving Bengaluru and those confounded potholes before Tumkur. Some of those have been patched, but they are quite irritating.
I reached Kolhapur at 2.30PM, welcomed by unusually heavy traffic, felt like driving through a city. Was stuck in Khambatki tunnel traffic for 4 hours. Was supposed to reach Pune by 6.30, reached at 10PM.
This was my first long road trip. Felt quite happy that I completed this comfortably.
3850 KMs in 10 days with 80 hours of driving!

I too drove from Bangalore to Pune yesterday and after last year's Diwali experience on this road (was returning from Goa then), left Bangalore at exactly 4.10am and crossed Kolhapur at 12.30. The traffic was already building up but luckily ended up with an overall delay of only 45 minutes and reached Pune at 4.30pm.

[humyum]

Drove from Bangalore to Mumbai on Saturday We started late at an unearthly hour of 12 o clock in the afternoon and surprisingly the roads were empty as a ghost town for the first 450-500 km

Comfortably crossed Belgaum till 7:30 and proceeded towards Kolapur where we had dinner at 10 and that is when the traffic slowly started.

Reached home at 5 in the morning on Sunday, all tired. The last 200 kilometers were done at 80-90 with most of the cruise control set at 90 on the expressway for the most parts.

[pranavGTI]

This is my first long drive post covid. After lot of discussion, we decided to go by road to hometown for Diwali vacation. On 21st Oct we started by 5am and hit the highway in 30 minutes. There was some truck traffic, but I was surprised to see lot of cars on the road that early. But one or the other car gave me good company till Satara. There was heavy traffic with all sorts of vehicles (2 wheelers, tractors, wrong side driving, auto rickshaws) from Uran Islampur till and little after Kolhapur. This stretch slowed me down causing a moderate delay in reaching Amar only Veg for breakfast.

I strongly recommend Amar considering it’s location (approx. 270 km from Pune), food and clean restrooms. I gave a break to my car too. It was resting for 40mins while we were eating breakfast and relaxing.

After crossing MH border and upon entering KA, I was extremely happy to see wide open road. I picked up speed again and drove around 100 kmph. We stopped at IOCL COCO, Mammigatti for fuel and the adjacent Kamat for tea. After that it was a continuous drive till Sankama Boutique, Davangere. We stopped there for lunch. At couple places I was able to spot highway patrol speed interceptors.

Took a coffee break at CCD attached to HP Pump on the right side of the highway before Dobbaspet. It was easy to access. From Tumkur till Nelamangala all lanes were occupied by trucks slowing down other vehicles behind them. It was raining and there were deep potholes in this stretch, there are high chances one might miss noticing them. I avoided large and deep ones by trailing the cars in front of mine. I reached my cousin’s home at Bangalore by 8pm. After a good sleep we started to my hometown next day by 5:30am. This time I got my cousin’s car for company. We tank filled at BPCL COCO, Chinar and had breakfast at the food court next to it. We reached our destination by 11:30am before lunch time.

I started my return journey on 4th Nov. As usual we started with lot of luggage. Car boot was fully packed. Usually we go lighter to hometown and come back heavier. Tank filled at IOCL COCO on the highway and 13kms from my village. It was a breeze to drive and I was able to maintain good speed. We took a coffee and restroom break after Krishnagiri toll and drove till we stopped for lunch at Shree Ratnam. It was a good 40 minute break. Food was good here and so as the coffee. I saw many cars and couple KSRTC Airavat stopping here. Restaurant was little crowded due to bus passengers.

After refueling at BP COCO, Sira and dinner at Suki’s after Chalageri toll, we halted for the night at Hubli. Next day morning we started by 9:30am after good sleep and a very good breakfast at Gurudatta Bhavan. Oh man! this was one of the best breakfast I ever had in KA. I took the old highway and avoided toll road till Dharwad by-pass. We stopped for coffee at Amar, Tawandi and lunch at Amar-only veg, Satara. I tanked-up at BP COCO, Kognoli before exiting KA. We reached home at Pune by 5:30.

In this entire trip my car was driving smooth and performing better with a good mileage of 20 + KMPL. Thanks to the good number of COCO pumps enroute. Many thanks to bhpians paragsachania, autowierdo and W@SIM. Their posts and PMs helped me plan my post-covid travel.

[autoweirdo]

Update is for section from Pune to Kolhapur, flyover recarpeting work has started at Narsapur (the exit to Balaji temple,Ketkavle) so only one lane is open which is also not in good condition. Also there is only now one diversion between Satara Karad for flyover construction. Overall road quality is ok but very patchy till Satara.

[cyberwhizs]

After almost a gap of two years undertook Mumbai-Bengaluru-Mumbai journey once again.

I have travelled these roads for the last ten odd years , typically once or twice every year.
It was so satisfying to finally see the completed stretches hubli - davengere, davangere - chitradurga, chitradurga bypass, flyover at haveri, bypass at harihar, pune satara 3 laning, pune bypass widening, the numerous flyovers on pune bypass and numerous other "work in progress" diversions finally coming to completion.

Yes, there are a couple "held up" flyovers somewhere near raneebennur, there are a few potholes around tumkur but believe me, this is as good as it gets. If you like to drive long distances,or want to start driving long distances, this is probably one of the best roads to get started on.

I started my long distance driving on this very road, my first trip i clocked 14 hours :30 minutes door to door from mumbai to bengaluru. Though i could never repeat that timing ever, thanks to the never ending construction work all these years,

So, if you are planning a trip do it now before someone decides to "lets dig up the road".


Do keep in mind, speed cameras - fixed and mobile dot this route, so do not give into temptation.


PS: Thanks to the speed restrictions and good roads was able to get an average of 21 kmpl on my way back. For a fully loaded petrol ertiga, i think that was fabulous.

[prad]

Did Chennai to Mumbai on 11th/12th Nov. Left Chennai at 5:30am. Was hit with rains and roads under construction for the first 100 Kms from Chennai to Wallajahpet - took 2hrs 15 mins. I could see crazy long lines of traffic waiting to get into Chennai though there was very little traffic to get out - just a couple of signals were the bottleneck - really wish they would finish the construction quickly.

Then the roads get better after Wallajahpet and the rain tapered to an intermittent drizzle - made driving easier. A couple of huge trailers carrying windmill blades slowed the traffic holding up all lanes - and there were a number parked by the roadside. That is when you realize how big these windmills really are - and these blades look tiny on them at a distance...! Other than that the traffic was smooth.

Fueled up at BPCL COCO at Neelamangala around 1130am - that 2+2 lane stretch was better than usual - and I was able to maintain a constant speed for most part.

The Tumkur potholes are being repaired in a couple of places with people and machines working - and there were not too many of them that I encountered. It is better than now, than how the stretch was in Sep when I had travelled last.

The potholes on the flyovers in KA have also been fixed - did not realize their absence till I reached Mumbai the next day! However the joints are not good at all, and very bouncy - you may want to go slow where you see flyovers! The Hubli bypass traffic was lower than usual - and I was driving at a relaxed pace all through it - just following the cars ahead of me.

There is some work was going on after Belgaum on the ghats - I could see pillars being erected and all traffic from the other side (Kohlapur-Belgaum) was routed to this side of road making it just 1.5 lanes for each side - and two vehicles squeezed into that space with inches to spare on both sides. Lost some 20 mins there... Fueled up at BPCL COCO Kognoli and headed to Kohlapur for dinner.I was fast asleep by 8:30pm and woke up around 2:15am nice and bright - so decided to leave for Mumbai.

I carried enough home cooked food and enough water - and so I did not have to stop anywhere for food - except for dinner for Kolhapur for their wonderful cuisine. I find that I am planning my trips around a stopover at Kolhapur just for their food!!

As usual, I was glad I took the break - the evening traffic between Kohlapur and Pune is a pain - I did encounter more trucks at 3am than I do usually at that hour, but the traffic at that time is light enough that you are not bothered by it. I did encounter many trucks struggling to overtake their counterparts, but that was par for the course and I was able to maintain a decent speed through the stretch. A far more relaxing drive than the evenings and much quicker too!

The Pune-Mumbai Expressway had a lot more traffic than usual and I was reminiscing about my first drive 20 years ago when the entire expressway was empty and I had not encountered more than 10 vehicles the whole journey... This is the theme everywhere - I can see a lot more vehicles on the road in the last 10 years, and some serious upgrades are due. I could see constructions happening for the Khambatki ghat tunnel and the Pune missing link - I just wish they speed it all up.

I was driving in the US last month, and that prompted me to do some comparisons
a) Our highways are poorly designed - bad curves, no banking, poor drainage, blind spots, too many intersections and side roads, speed breakers on highways, barriers on highways to funnel traffic into a single lane are just to name a few. The newer constructions are better. The Expressway is good (relatively).
b) There are not enough signs - esp. to indicate when a lane ends, or when to merge. This is outright dangerous, but we have learnt to drive under these circumstances, and accept them. I encountered at least a dozen spots where lanes ended with no warnings. Accidents like the one Cyrus Mistry was in, are bound to happen. Identifying dangerous spots and fixing them should be top priority for NHAI - and construction workers need to be taught (forced) to set up better signs when they start work. As users of the road, we just need to be alert and watching out for lanes to end - not just on unknown roads but also on known roads where you see construction
c) Traffic discipline is poor/non-existent. People straddling 2 lanes are an inconvenience (too many instances to count) but people changing lanes without an indicator, or watching their mirror/blind spot are a hazard. Every trip I encounter a couple of idiots who (unintentionally) cut in front of me or try running me off the road. Every experienced driver learns to anticipate that, and be prepared with evasive maneuvers to react immediately. This has saved me quite a number of times in the last couple of decades. This is a must have skill while driving on our roads!
d) Left most lane is for parking - well, almost. Always be prepared to run into parked vehicles, or to see vehicles driving in the opposite direction if you are on this lane. Even the next lane is not spared as the vehicle in the left lane weave into the right to avoid these obstacles. So watch out even if you are on the next lane! (and why do vehicles driving the wrong way always turn their headlight to high beam to blind the oncoming vehicles - to improve visibility just low beam works fine!!)

Anyway, there is a lot more to write on this topic and I have just vented out my biggest pet peeves.

To all my fellow Team-BHPians - Be safe!!

Pleasant journeys wherever you go,
Pradeep

[Sonali Singh]

I just completed Bangalore - Mumbai- Bangalore, second this year. The road indeed is a pleasure to drive on, other than the few bits mentioned by others.

Both times in the onwards journey, I halted for the night at Pune, in a hotel at Hinjewadi (great location, for it’s just off the highway). As I am not comfortable driving at night, I cannot imagine attempting the expressway when tired that I find nerve-wracking in broad daylight (the combination of high cement barriers and vehicles zig-zagging at speed in narrow stretches is just a tad much).

The return journeys have been in one shot (door to door, about 16 h 30 in summer time and 16 h 45 now in November). The three pit stops of note are Kailash Bhel Varve, just after Pune, McDonalds just after Kognoli Tollbooth and CCD at Chhatra, between Haveri and Ranebennur. All are just off the highway (some service roads look like they will take too much time), with clean loos, ample parking and snacks/coffee/coke/juice.