[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by krrisdrive

5AM start from Bangalore will get you to

1) Belgaum by 3 PM with 9~10 Hrs drive. Ready to drive this known route with good food and fuel places further 200 KM to Satara in 5 Hrs with 40KMPH but with innumerable diversions?

.

Disagree.
Started at 4AM and reached Belgaum at 11:15AM. This included break of 30 mins at 7:55-8:20 at Davangere. And this is with steady driving. My avg speed as per console was less than 80Kmph.

Belgaum - Kolhapur is a 2:30 Min journey.

Kolhapur - Mumbai is a 7 hr journey which includes 2 breaks and bad traffic from Khambatki Ghats till after Hinjewadi.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Disagree.
Started at 4AM and reached Belgaum at 11:15AM. This included break of 30 mins at 7:55-8:20 at Davangere. And this is with steady driving. My avg speed as per console was less than 80Kmph.

Belgaum - Kolhapur is a 2:30 Min journey.

Kolhapur - Mumbai is a 7 hr journey which includes 2 breaks and bad traffic from Khambatki Ghats till after Hinjewadi.

I have reached Belgaum at 10.30 hrs when starting from Bangalore at 4.30 am, roads till Belgaum are sufficiently good to maintain steady speeds.

Kambatki ghat is on Pune-Kolhapur side. No ghat per say in Kolhapur-Pune stretch, just a tunnel.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Kambatki ghat is on Pune-Kolhapur side. No ghat per say in Kolhapur-Pune stretch, just a tunnel.

Yes I meant the tunnel side. Yesterday the traffic was just bad from Satara itself not allowing you to go over 60kmph.

Post the tunnel it just increased significantly.

[superutp]

Originally Posted by krrisdrive

Travelers between these cities have really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I'll put like this.

5AM start from Bangalore will get you to

1) Belgaum by 3 PM with 9~10 Hrs drive. Ready to drive this known route with good food and fuel places further 200 KM to Satara in 5 Hrs with 40KMPH but with innumerable diversions?

2) Bijapur by 2 PM with 9~10 Hrs drive. Ready to explore through this unknown rural/semi-rural route further 300 KM to Shirwal in 6 Hrs with 50 KMPH?

3) Pune Hadaspar by 8 PM with 14~15 Hrs drive. Ready to drive through Pune city through peak traffic further 50 KM to MP EWay in 2 Hrs with 30 KMPH?

Tip: No matter what time you query GMaps, it always shows NH 48. I think a good GC vehicle with a spirited driver can take this route easily.

Due to some work commitments, my plan has changed slightly. Will be stopping over Hampi for the night on Day 1. Day 2 I have a decision to make, start at around 6am and whether deviate through the Padharpur towards Pune via Shirwal (take the pain through the semi-rural/rural route however avoid the Pune jams) or else take the Solapur diversion and enter Pune through Hadapsar etc (and enjoy the Pain of traversing Pune traffic)

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by superutp

Due to some work commitments, my plan has changed slightly. Will be stopping over Hampi for the night on Day 1. Day 2 I have a decision to make, start at around 6am and whether deviate through the Padharpur towards Pune via Shirwal (take the pain through the semi-rural/rural route however avoid the Pune jams) or else take the Solapur diversion and enter Pune through Hadapsar etc (and enjoy the Pain of traversing Pune traffic)

I would suggest the route through Pandharpur, the roads are not very bad but manageable. You can still keep some decent speeds. And then you have the Khed Shivpur toll jam also to handle.

The major problem with Solapur route is even though you cover good ground, all of that is lost in the pathetic traffic which starts way way before Pune city. You end up wasting a good 2 hrs in the city traffic.

[superutp]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I would suggest the route through Pandharpur, the roads are not very bad but manageable. You can still keep some decent speeds. And then you have the Khed Shivpur toll jam also to handle.

The major problem with Solapur route is even though you cover good ground, all of that is lost in the pathetic traffic which starts way way before Pune city. You end up wasting a good 2 hrs in the city traffic.

Yes that's what I was also thinking considering it did actually take me 2 hours to cross Pune the last time.

Google show two ways to reach Shirwal from Bijapur. One where you directly exit out of Bijapur through Arakeri and the other is the deviation from Zalki. Which is the better option?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by superutp

Yes that's what I was also thinking considering it did actually take me 2 hours to cross Pune the last time.

Google show two ways to reach Shirwal from Bijapur. One where you directly exit out of Bijapur through Arakeri and the other is the deviation from Zalki. Which is the better option?

The one through Bijapur actually goes through the city to access the road to Mangalwedha. The exit from Zalki is more preferable although the road from Zalki till the touch point at Marvade to Mangalwedha road is a bit broken at places. The road from Vijaypura also reaches this touch point.

This road has some unmarked speed bumps and needs to taken carefully.

[krrisdrive]

Originally Posted by superutp

Due to some work commitments, my plan has changed slightly. Will be stopping over Hampi for the night on Day 1. Day 2 I have a decision to make, start at around 6am and whether deviate through the Padharpur towards Pune via Shirwal (take the pain through the semi-rural/rural route however avoid the Pune jams) or else take the Solapur diversion and enter Pune through Hadapsar etc (and enjoy the Pain of traversing Pune traffic)

I think you can take Zalki>Shirwal>Pune route. With good speed you shall be reaching Zalki in 4 hrs from Hampi and another 5~6 hours, you shall be on MPE.

[autoweirdo]

Yesterday did Bengaluru - Pune via Chitradurga - Vijayapura route.
Start Time: 5.30 AM from Varthur
Destination Time: 8:00 PM Kharadi

Tried STRR from Hospete to Dobaspete, faced heavy fog hardly 5 to 10m visibility. But road is very nice hardly any traffic. From Dobaspete due to weekday traffic was sparse and was able to maintain good speed.

Patch work is nearly complete on Hospete to Bijapur section and roads are now pretty good. New flyover is being constructed post Hospete before toll, but service roads are good so didnt face any jam.

Solapur Pune as usual had higher traffic but luckily didnt faced any jam in hotspots of Uruli Kanchan and Loni, post Hadapsar usual city traffic and jam was there.

For people travelling to Chennai, STRR will be great option instead of NICE road as Hospete - Chittor - Chennai highway is equally good.

[amandal1810]

Hi folks. Planning a drive from Bengaluru to Pune during the last week of January. After reading the last few posts on this thread, it seems like NH50 (via Vijaypura) is now the optimal route, given the road widening work on NH48 (via Davangere - Belgavi - Kolhapur).

Is this the correct understanding? Or is NH48 still the better route despite numerous diversions? NH48 has the advantage of tried and tested food stops.

Also, please recommend good and reliable food stops on NH50. It seems like there are very few eateries on this route.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by autoweirdo

Tried STRR from Hospete to Dobaspete, faced heavy fog hardly 5 to 10m visibility. But road is very nice hardly any traffic.
For people travelling to Chennai, STRR will be great option instead of NICE road as Hospete - Chittor - Chennai highway is equally good.

I think you meant Hoskote instead of Hospete.

Originally Posted by amandal1810

Hi folks. Planning a drive from Bengaluru to Pune during the last week of January. After reading the last few posts on this thread, it seems like NH50 (via Vijaypura) is now the optimal route, given the road widening work on NH48 (via Davangere - Belgavi - Kolhapur).

The route choice will be determined based on where in Pune is your final destination. if its East Pune, then NH50 via Solapur is preferable. If its West Pune, then stick to the NH48 route.

For eateries on the NH50 route check out the post #3871 pn page 259 in this thread.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by hrman

I used the Blr- Chitradurga -Hospet-Vijaypura-Solapur-Pune-Mumbai route.

For my return to Bangalore, since I'll be with my mom, i have chosen the traditional NH 48 route through Belagavi planned for 4th Jan.

I plan to start on 4th morning early and target reaching Belagavi using the traditional NH48 route via Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Karad. I was just checking in Google maps and it directs somewhere else after Pune diverting towards Lonand, Phaltan, Vita and connecting back to NH48 after Sankeshwar, showing that the NH48 via Satara is closed.
It is open right, albeit with the numerous diversions and service road speedbreakers? .

[autoweirdo]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I think you meant Hoskote instead of Hospete.

My bad, yes its Hoskote. Its a 6 lane road throughout and i guess driving distance is around 80kms which can be easily done in hour. It has 2 tolls i guess paid 80rs for that.

[autoweirdo]

Originally Posted by hrman

I plan to start on 4th morning early and target reaching Belagavi using the traditional NH48 route via Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Karad. I was just checking in Google maps and it directs somewhere else after Pune diverting towards Lonand, Phaltan, Vita and connecting back to NH48 after Sankeshwar, showing that the NH48 via Satara is closed.
It is open right, albeit with the numerous diversions and service road speedbreakers? .

Yes the route is open, google suggests the one with minimum time. Satara to Kolhapur is far better compared to Kolhapur Belagavi stretch where most of time you drive on service roads.

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by krrisdrive

Travelers between these cities have really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I'll put like this.

5AM start from Bangalore will get you to

1) Belgaum by 3 PM with 9~10 Hrs drive. Ready to drive this known route with good food and fuel places further 200 KM to Satara in 5 Hrs with 40KMPH but with innumerable diversions?

2) Bijapur by 2 PM with 9~10 Hrs drive. Ready to explore through this unknown rural/semi-rural route further 300 KM to Shirwal in 6 Hrs with 50 KMPH?

3) Pune Hadaspar by 8 PM with 14~15 Hrs drive. Ready to drive through Pune city through peak traffic further 50 KM to MP EWay in 2 Hrs with 30 KMPH?

Tip: No matter what time you query GMaps, it always shows NH 48. I think a good GC vehicle with a spirited driver can take this route easily.

This is my usual route to Bombay. Bangalore - Pune I usually cover in 9-11 hrs and reach Navi Mumbai in 14-16 hrs from bangalore depending on the traffic after Hadapsar. Bangalore - Pune via Solapur is bliss except for a few diversions, sparse food(I carry fruits and muesli so even if I find curd rice enroute, I'm happy) and stay options and speedbreakers on the Hospet-Bijapur stretch. Bangalore - Bijapur I usually cover in 7-8 hrs. However, please avoid night driving on this route as there are a few incidents of roll calls.

Any car or motorcycle can do this route IMO as it is 4 lane throuought.