[aditya_rao]

I was in India for 3 weeks and one of the travel legs was to go from Nagpur to Pune. Since my travel was on New Year, the prices had already skyrocketed and the cost for 5 people via flight was roughly about Rs 80K. I have never paid more than 6 or 7K on this sector, so spending 80K for 5 people was ruled out. The flight would have saved time for sure, but I was anyway on vacation and didn't have anything planned, so it wasn't that I had something important that warranted spending this much. Other two options were taking the train (which I had done in the past) and taking a road trip. Getting train tickets also looked next to impossible so going by road was the only option left. We had lots of luggage so taking our own vehicle was also ruled out. We needed a vehicle as large as Innova, so one of our long time car rental person said he will take us to Pune for about 22K + tolls (includes return trip for the vehicle). Since Samruddhi Mahamarg had opened in Dec 2022, we could use that route and save time considerably. The owner of the rental agency said he will himself come instead of sending one of his drivers. So the plan was set to travel immediately after new year.

Some facts about the highway

The Samruddhi Mahamarg, officially known as the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg or Maharashtra Expressway 2 (ME-2) or unofficially the Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway, is a remarkable 701 km highway connecting Nagpur and Mumbai. This modern expressway is supposed to provide a smooth, fun and scenic views, cutting across diverse landscapes and connecting several important cities and attractions on the way to Mumbai. Interestingly Pune is not directly an exit on the highway, but one needs to take a detour from the highway to reach Pune. Ofcourse, you can go to Mumbai and then take the expressway to Pune if you have time, money and fuel to spend .

Key Highlights of the highway (some from the expressway website and based on available information on the internet)

• The expressway spans 701 kms and is designed as a 6-lane access-controlled road.
• It has width of 120 meters and is engineered for a top speed of 150 km/h (although speed limit is set to 120 kmph in the fast lane)
• The route passes through the districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Jalna, Ahmednagar, Nashik, and Thane.
• It traverses three wildlife sanctuaries, necessitating the construction of overpasses, underpasses, and high culverts to protect wildlife.
• The expressway features a 310-meter bridge over the Wardha River.
• It includes 33 major bridges, 274 minor bridges, 65 viaducts/flyovers, and six tunnels through the Western Ghats.
• The longest tunnel is at Kasara Ghat, Igatpuri.
• The whole expressway has been built in 16 packages

The following route was decided starting from Nagpur and exiting the expressway after Shirdi, to go to Pune.



I have driven from Pune to Nagpur in the past taking the Nagar-Aurangabad-Akola route, which took almost 12-13 hrs including some unwanted breaks, so this new route was hopefully going to save us lot of time.

A day before our journey we started hearing about a some transport strike due to which fuel availability could be a problem. We initially thought of postponing the travel, but after speaking with a friend who runs a fuel station, he suggested leaving by 9AM, as the strike would pick up steam only after 10 AM.

The journey and experience.

We started the journey by refueling from a reliance pump in Nagpur, where we could see long queues getting formed in the morning around 8 AM itself. On the way we stopped at Haldiram's to take some breakfast, only to realize that they had just opened the store and were still preparing food. After asking them multiple times, they finally brought out our packed breakfast and we finally were on the way to Pune. The initial connector of the expressway part was slightly bumpy and uneven and in some places they had kept only one lane open (Near the Cancer Institute). But once we reached the first toll booth, the highway was at its widest. Toll is paid via fast tag and after that we decided to stop at the fuel pump nearest to it. The initial section was quite empty considering this is a major highway and even at the pump, we didn't find many people and some trucks. From here we left around 10 AM and by that time we got to know that most pumps in Nagpur were becoming empty and being closed off. We decided that we'll stop at everyone available pump on the expressway to top off as much as possible to avoid being on low fuel at any point in the journey.

For the next 5 hours the highway was pretty empty and all we could see was a straight road and surrounding full of fog. The skies were almost white and the blue color was no where to be seen. The driver/owner was telling us that due to the high toll cost, people are not using the highway and all the scenic beauty that has been talked about is rarely visible due to the foggy surroundings. Some cars had stopped at the side to take photos (not sure if this allowed, but lack of cops/monitoring means people get away with such things).

We were expecting the road surface to be smooth, however we could feel vibrations in the car, constant changes in the road noise, and while the Innova we rented was not new, the driver said that that road quality is not that great or as publicized. There are no restaurants to speak off and in the second fuel pump we stopped, we saw somewhat decent toilets. There was a temporary Dhaba here, but looking at the condition, we decided to skip eating anything there. Even at the fuel pump before Aurangabad, there are no food facilities, so our only option was to have lunch in Aurangabad. Overall the service/rest areas are still to come up, and looking at the traffic, it may take few years and increased traffic, for them to be built.

We took the exit at Aurangabad to have lunch. The time was around 3 pm, which meant we had covered around 500 KMS in 5 hrs, which was quite good as reaching Aurangabad used to take a long time from Nagpur.

After lunch, the staff there suggested that we could take the Nagar highway to Pune as there wouldn't be traffic due to the strike (big mistake ). We took their word and started making our way via the bypass, however this turned out to be a wrong choice. We didn't find any signs of a strike in this part and the roads were busy. It took about 2 hrs to reach Nagar and we finally took a tea break at Milestone (a favorite place for buses coming from Pune) around 6 PM

The distance to Pune from here was roughly 150 kms, which meant another 2-3 hrs with the kind of traffic Nagar-Pune road has. We finally reached home around 10 PM including. The traffic while entering was heavy and it was hard to cross signals in one change over of lights.

I wish there is a direct connection from this expressway to Pune via some new route, which can reduce the travel to Pune, but probably will not happen for next few years. Nevertheless the travel time has come down significantly, so hope that more people will use it.

Entire video of the journey from Nagpur to Aurangabad (after that the power cable stopped working)

https://youtu.be/Fv1Jt4hYRMY

Sunrise when we were starting:




There are objects/patterns place in the center divider area, which are interesting to see:







Overpass created for animal to cross the expressway











Not sure what these rectangular structures are for, perhaps water storage for summer?


Who remembers this soap from decades back? We got this at the second fuel pump, since there was no soap in the toilets.




Sunset taken at 80-90 kmph:

[aah78]

Note from Support: Thread moved to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

[SidTheChamp]

Wow. Great pics of Samruddhi expressway. So nice to see empty road pics after a long time. The pics somehow reminded me of Maruti ad with the guy on highway standing with placard - " Need to go home during Diwali"

How is the road quality and what speed you went through. Was there any congestion point or you got free road throughout.

Also, how do you find this highway and road manners compared to US Interstate highways

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by SidTheChamp

Wow. Great pics of Samruddhi expressway. So nice to see empty road pics after a long time. The pics somehow reminded me of Maruti ad with the guy on highway standing with placard - " Need to go home during Diwali"

I vaguely remember that one, probably was for swift or maybe was a general one from Maruti.

How is the road quality and what speed you went through. Was there any congestion point or you got free road throughout.

Compared to the publicity given to the expressway, the road quality is average. Our driver was saying he didn't find it as good as he had thought initially. I'm not a construction expert, but maybe in a hurry to open it, they didn't pay too much attention to the top surface and road noise that you can hear from within the car. Or maybe it's due to difference in materials by multiple contractors.

There wasn't any congestion, don't think there were more than 10 vehicles at any time.

Also, how do you find this highway and road manners compared to US Interstate highways

US Interstate and turnpikes are slightly better (at least the ones I have driven on), they have a consistent top layer for longer durations. But they have been built long back, many places now have maintenance being done with tar, which is more smoother and less noisy than concrete but prone to wear and tear easily than concrete. This may vary from state to state though. Maybe Texas and other larger states have got better road quality on the larger highways. (Hilly areas tend to have tar ones). I've driven in Utah, so the ones there are very good. I should mention that Samruddhi is better than some highways in Canada, which are full of damage and shoddy patch work at regular intervals with no proper maintenance.

Practically no traffic, the few that I saw were in their lanes only for most of the time. As traffic picks up, we may see more heroics/stunts from some of the high end cars trying to drive at 150 or 200, unless the authorities are able to put an effective and trust worthy speed limit enforcement/monitoring system

[AB10]

I frequently travel from Pune to Jalna usually in one day trips. While returning, using the Samruddhi Marg till Nashik and then the Nashik Pune Highway is a much better option than Aurangabad Pune Highway. The distance travelled is more by about 100 kms, however, time taken is less by an hour or so due to the Samruddhi Marg. Also skips the horrible traffic at Ranjangaon, Shikhrapur and Wagholi.

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by AB10

I frequently travel from Pune to Jalna usually in one day trips. While returning, using the Samruddhi Marg till Nashik and then the Nashik Pune Highway is a much better option than Aurangabad Pune Highway. The distance travelled is more by about 100 kms, however, time taken is less by an hour or so due to the Samruddhi Marg. Also skips the horrible traffic at Ranjangaon, Shikhrapur and Wagholi.

That was our initial plan, however we got misled into thinking that the strike would keep most of the daily traffic away from Nagar road. Crossing Wagholi was definitely a pain and added almost an extra hour for witnessing the traffic jam. Some lessons are learnt the hard way

[Rajiv0909]

For those living in east Pune, Wagholi-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad-Samruddhi to Nagpur is faster at least by 30-45 minutes (despite the traffic madness) with savings of over 200₹ in tolls and 75 kms of driving mileage

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by Rajiv0909

For those living in east Pune, Wagholi-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad-Ellora is at least after by 30-45 minutes with savings of over 200 in tolls and 75 kms of driving mileage

Agree, I live somewhat closer to the Mumbai expressway, so using Nagar road adds lot of extra time to cross the traffic near Wagholi/Chandan Nagar and then navigate the city traffic to reach the other side.

[babsmatter]

There's a new route proposed from Pune to Sinnar interchange connecting the samruddhi expressway with Pune -Nashik expressway though it would take another couple of years for completion of work and I believe this will be a better option for people living in the west to travel from Pune to Nashik/Aurangabad/Nagpur via Sinnar. The upcoming greenfield expressway from Aurangabad to Pune has an alignment which is better for people traveling to Satara/Kolhapur/Bengaluru and I wonder it would take more time than what's been said.

Originally Posted by AB10

I frequently travel from Pune to Jalna usually in one day trips. While returning, using the Samruddhi Marg till Nashik and then the Nashik Pune Highway is a much better option than Aurangabad Pune Highway. The distance travelled is more by about 100 kms, however, time taken is less by an hour or so due to the Samruddhi Marg. Also skips the horrible traffic at Ranjangaon, Shikhrapur and Wagholi.

You must be taking sinnar interchange to sangamnner right? I was also thinking about the same route as I am a frequent traveler to Aurangabad. Can you share the details of how much time usually it takes to reach Pune on west side as I also stay on the same part and it's a pain to take ranjangaon-lonikand-wagholi route to Pune

[NomadSK]

These are known as View-Cutters, generally installed on bridges/flyovers/over-bridges/boundary walls for preventing unauthorized access or blocking the view for security/privacy reasons of some critical facilities.

I Guess the purpose here on the secluded highway is to prevent unauthorized access below the bridge to avert any criminal activity. From the pictures, I don’t see any minor openings in them. Generally, they have holes/louvers type openings for air passage, else during high winds they can fly-off and become a Hazard for the traffic.

Originally Posted by aditya_rao

Not sure what these rectangular structures are for, perhaps water storage for summer?
Attachment 2572372

[Dieselritzer]

I recently drove on this highway. the main problem is the under-pass joints where cement to tar to cement transition happens. These are not properly levelled which creates those bumps at high speeds. The surface definitely isnt smooth. Might be as more vehicles use, the surface might smoothen. However, a project at this scale, was an absolute must. Stress free relaxed driving is what it offers. It isnt scenic. Infact its very boring to drive. But the benefits it brings in far outweighs any of its current flaws.

And yes, I did see some folks drive way beyond the speed limit.

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by babsmatter

There's a new route proposed from Pune to Sinnar interchange connecting the samruddhi expressway with Pune -Nashik expressway though it would take another couple of years for completion of work and I believe this will be a better option for people living in the west to travel from Pune to Nashik/Aurangabad/Nagpur via Sinnar. The upcoming greenfield expressway from Aurangabad to Pune has an alignment which is better for people traveling to Satara/Kolhapur/Bengaluru and I wonder it would take more time than what's been said.

A new faster highway would be good to get on this route. Hope it's ready for use in next 4-5 years.

Originally Posted by NomadSK

These are known as View-Cutters, generally installed on bridges/flyovers/over-bridges/boundary walls for preventing unauthorized access or blocking the view for security/privacy reasons of some critical facilities.

I didn't see anything of importance or critical from security perspective behind these structures, maybe they have some other use

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

However, a project at this scale, was an absolute must. Stress free relaxed driving is what it offers. It isnt scenic. Infact it's very boring to drive. But the benefits it brings in far outweighs any of its current flaws.

For sure it's boring. All you constantly see is a near straight road, no scenic beauty due to the foggy surroundings and no other attractions on the highway itself. But reaching Aurangabad in 5 hrs is something that wasn't possible earlier, so as you said the benefits outweigh the flaws. Not sure if the Nagpur-Pune bus operators are using this route, but if they are, then there would be considerable time savings for bus travel

[AB10]

Originally Posted by babsmatter

You must be taking sinnar interchange to sangamnner right? I was also thinking about the same route as I am a frequent traveler to Aurangabad. Can you share the details of how much time usually it takes to reach Pune on west side as I also stay on the same part and it's a pain to take ranjangaon-lonikand-wagholi route to Pune

Yes. We take the sinnar exit to sangamner. It takes about 6.5 to 7 hrs with breaks. There can be traffic jams at alephata and chakan main chowk though.