[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

One more thing I wanted to ask is, does Sholapur have a bypass? If yes, are there any markings or landmark I need to keep in mind? (I will traveling from Pune towards Hyd)

Yes it does have a bypass.The NH9 directly leads onto the Bypass.Look for an under-construction Hotel Fern Residency Crossroads to your right,at a big circle.The left continues as the NH9 and takes you towards Hyderabad,while the right takes you into the town.

The bypass is being widened at the moment and is a total mess with flyover construction etc.If its going to be raining,the mess would be all the more.Cops usually stand at either ends of the bypass to check vehicles,though night time I really dont see any checking/naakabandi happening.

The bypass is shown on this map https://maps.google.co.in/maps?q=Moh...merga&t=m&z=10

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Yes it does have a bypass.The NH9 directly leads onto the Bypass.Look for an under-construction Hotel Fern Residency Crossroads to your right,at a big circle.The left continues as the NH9 and takes you towards Hyderabad,while the right takes you into the town.

The bypass is being widened at the moment and is a total mess with flyover construction etc.If its going to be raining,the mess would be all the more.Cops usually stand at either ends of the bypass to check vehicles,though night time I really dont see any checking/naakabandi happening.

The bypass is shown on this map https://maps.google.co.in/maps?q=Moh...merga&t=m&z=10

Thanks again for a speedy reply!

Avoiding police is really a pain! And I have a history of getting stopped by them!

Will try and update how the drive goes!

Thanks!

[21Archer84]

As planned did my drive on 20'th and here are the details.
Start Time: 5:00AM (Pimple Nilakh) Planned: 3:30AM
Reached Solapur : 10:45(By-Pass) Planned: 8:30AM
Arrival Time: 4:30PM (Home @Ferozguda) Planned: 1:00PM
Distance Covered : ~590kms
Ride: Skoda Fabia 1.2L(P)
FE : 15kmpl
Route taken : NH9 (Pune- Solapur - Hyd)
BreakFast @ Hotel Nisarg (10-15kms before Solapur/ right next to BP company operated pump ).
Lunch @ BP 'DHABA' on the RHS ~5-6kms after Zaheerabad. Food was okay.

Road condition was good till humnabad. Some bad stretches after Humnabad but manageable if u have a decent ride even @ 80+ kmph. Karnataka stretch took exactly an hr.

Diversions all the way till Solapur except for in few stretches where you can do 120-140kmph easily but only for short duration.
Be cautious as there's no shoulder to over take in this stretch. 2yrs is the least time I can imagine of, for this route to be completed.
Traffic in Hyd was at peak once I crossed Miyapur, with HMR under construction. It took close to 30mins for me to reach home. Overall it was a good drive but not a smooth one. Do plan for a 12hr drive, though 9-10hrs is a decent timeline and is doable depending on when you are planning to start.

[indian21r]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

As planned did my drive on 20'th and here are the details.
Start Time: 5:00AM (Pimple Nilakh) Planned: 3:30AM
Reached Solapur : 10:45(By-Pass) Planned: 8:30AM
Arrival Time: 4:30PM (Home @Ferozguda) Planned: 1:00PM
Distance Covered : ~590kms
Ride: Skoda Fabia 1.2L(P)
FE : 15kmpl
Route taken : NH9 (Pune- Solapur - Hyd)
BreakFast @ Hotel Nisarg (10-15kms before Solapur/ right next to BP company operated pump ).
Lunch @ BP 'DHABA' on the RHS ~5-6kms after Zaheerabad. Food was okay.

Road condition was good till humnabad. Some bad stretches after Humnabad but manageable if u have a decent ride even @ 80+ kmph. Karnataka stretch took exactly an hr.

Diversions all the way till Solapur except for in few stretches where you can do 120-140kmph easily but only for short duration.
Be cautious as there's no shoulder to over take in this stretch. 2yrs is the least time I can imagine of, for this route to be completed.
Traffic in Hyd was at peak once I crossed Miyapur, with HMR under construction. It took close to 30mins for me to reach home. Overall it was a good drive but not a smooth one. Do plan for a 12hr drive, though 9-10hrs is a decent timeline and is doable depending on when you are planning to start.

Looks like we have done really good time when we went to Hyderabad on 29th June 6pm in a Innova (only driver was driving the car). There was almost 45 min break during dinner time for us from 11:00-11:45 pm. After dinner from Sholapur to Hyderabad we did it in Just 4 hrs. Last 30 km we did on the ORR @ consistent 120 kmph.We seemed to have saved quite some time there. I did the same route in Orange travels on 20th July. Did you get stuck in traffic or something. You took almost the same amount time as a non Volvo bus with lots of breaks?

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by indian21r

Looks like we have done really good time when we went to Hyderabad on 29th June 6pm in a Innova (only driver was driving the car). There was almost 45 min break during dinner time for us from 11:00-11:45 pm. After dinner from Sholapur to Hyderabad we did it in Just 4 hrs. Last 30 km we did on the ORR @ consistent 120 kmph.We seemed to have saved quite some time there. I did the same route in Orange travels on 20th July. Did you get stuck in traffic or something. You took almost the same amount time as a non Volvo bus with lots of breaks?

There were too many trucks than I expected and I was cruising between just 40-60kmph. I too had a lunch break of 45mins . My last 1hr drive was between Miyapur and Balanagar Thanks to Rain, Traffic and Metro rail construction chaos all added to the delay.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Guys, I will be off to Hyd tomorrow morning. Shotting for a early start (4-4:30 AM). Expecting to reach there in around 10 hours. (Hoping the road conditions are favourable).

Will update the road conditions on my return.

[sameerpb]

Guys, I have done Hyderabad - Solapur Pune and Mumbai on Saturday and Sunday. I started from Hyderabad at 2.00 PM reached at Solapur at 7.00 then was in no mood to drive further so took a break at Hotel Surya - This place is decent to stay with a room rent of 1000 for non A/C. I was back on road 5.45 in a morning and reached Mumbai in 9 hours (1 1/2 hour was break).

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Just back from Hyd. Took around 12 hours from both side including breaks. Road conditions are mediocre. Nothing great to write about.

Will post detailed information (As much as I could collect) by tomorrow. Now off to Station to receive a few guests!

Cheers!

[ObsessedByFIAT]

As promised, putting down the details of the Pune-Hyd-Pune journey.





A few things which the above screen shots do not cover:

Road conditions are drive able; however 4-laning work is in progress, so a lot of diversions are there through out Maharashtra.

Once you enter Karnataka, the roads are good except of a 25 KM strech where you would need to slow down considerably as the roads are in bad condition with a lot of rough surface.

After Zaheerabad, roads are good and one can maintain speeds in excess of 90 KMPH till Kukatpally (Barring Sadashivpeth and Patancheru where you will need to slow down due to city traffic)

Toll is almost negligible. (Have missed the Rs.22/- at Sanga Reddy toll plaza in above screen print which is collected just before Kukatpally)

Driving in the night on single lane road is quite risky as the road surface is patchy and most of the vehicles drive in Full Beam.

HTH!

Cheers!

[midlifecrisis]

Really liked OBF's detailed description. Maybe there isn't much to add except from an opinion perspective.
Did this return journey over the last week, and both times was night driving. Started last Tuesday(14th) night for Pune at 9:30 p.m. from Hitec City and reached Pune at 8:00 a.m. Started back from Pune at 9:40 p.m. on Monday(20th) night and reached Hyd at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The journey is much much better than ever before.
The Hyd - Solhapur stretch is the same as earlier. The Solhapur - Pune stretch is really good too. Except that there are diversions every km or so. Which actually slows the traffic down.
This is a situation much better than three years ago when the road was narrow and filled with potholes. And the Volvos don't try to run you off the road.
My last trip was maybe two years ago on a part of this stretch. A lot of new hotels have opened up between Pune-Tembhurni-Indapur-Solapur.
Didn't try them but will post more on CLEAN TOILET FACILITIES on the entire stretch.
Hyderabad - Solapur is pretty much the same except for a couple of new hotels at Zaheerabad.
I drive an Accent CRDI. My return journey, 12 hours long cost me 1100 bucks (diesel costs). Had to drive all night. But I'm thinking that when this road gets done, ten years from now, it's going to be one of the cheapest ways to travel between Hyd and Pune

[21Archer84]

Did my return journey on 20th. Started from home(Old Airport Road, Balanagar) at 5:45AM and reached my room at Jagtap Diary at 5:00PM. Had a couple of halts for breakfast and Lunch which combined would be around 1.5hr.
There's no decent place to eat once you cross Zaheerabad until you reach Solhapur. Small shacks here and there though, which I wouldn't really suggest.
There were a few Company operated gas stations before and after Solhapur which had petrol cheaper by around Rs.6(saw sign boards showing ~Rs.69/lt). Didn't fill as I had enough fuel to reach Pune.
Overall it was a better drive than the Pune-Hyd drive I did a month ago. Hope the Pune-Solhapur stretch gets done in a couple of yrs.

[RoadTiger]

Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

The Solhapur - Pune stretch is really good too. Except that there are diversions every km or so. Which actually slows the traffic down.

Does anyone have the latest on the Solapur-Pune stretch. I ask this because it seems the Volvos doing Hyd-Pune-Mumbai have reverted back to taking the NH9 route instead of the Baramati route, which they were taking till a few months back. I did the stretch on the Volvo and from what I could make out there were plenty of diversions and night truck traffic between Pune and Solapur.

Specific question:

Planning a day-time drive next weekend from Hyd to Mumbai via Solapur and I prefer smooth surfaces with less traffic

- Will NH9 be preferable vs. the Baramati route? I will be attempting to go to Mumbai. So, I realize that the Baramati route provides easier access to the Expressway than NH9 - for which one needs to pass through the city.

- Is this sugarcane / festival traffic season?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

Specific question:

Planning a day-time drive next weekend from Hyd to Mumbai via Solapur and I prefer smooth surfaces with less traffic

- Will NH9 be preferable vs. the Baramati route? I will be attempting to go to Mumbai. So, I realize that the Baramati route provides easier access to the Expressway than NH9 - for which one needs to pass through the city.

- Is this sugarcane / festival traffic season?

Still bad and after rains,the road between Hyd and Solapur also has bad sections especially the KA sections.

Not sugarcane season,its Ganpati season,so within Pune city expect roads to be busy.

The easiest route would be HYD-SOLAPUR-MOHOL-PANDHARPUR-SATARA-NH4-PUNE BYPASS-EXPRESSWAY-MUMBAI.

NH9 still has plenty of diversions and is still work in progress between Solapur and Pune.I now adays take the Pandharpur route.

Patancheru-Solapur can be done in 5hours with some fast driving

Solapur-Mohol in 1 hour

Mohol-Satara in 2hours

Satara-Pune Bypass in 1.5hours (90kms)

Pune Bypass-Dehu Rd:1hour

Dehu Road-Panvel:90mins to 120mins

Overall budget for a 14-15hr drive from Hyd to Panvel.

[midlifecrisis]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

Does anyone have the latest on the Solapur-Pune stretch. I ask this because it seems the Volvos doing Hyd-Pune-Mumbai have reverted back to taking the NH9 route instead of the Baramati route, which they were taking till a few months back. I did the stretch on the Volvo and from what I could make out there were plenty of diversions and night truck traffic between Pune and Solapur.

Specific question:

Planning a day-time drive next weekend from Hyd to Mumbai via Solapur and I prefer smooth surfaces with less traffic

- Will NH9 be preferable vs. the Baramati route? I will be attempting to go to Mumbai. So, I realize that the Baramati route provides easier access to the Expressway than NH9 - for which one needs to pass through the city.

- Is this sugarcane / festival traffic season?

I've been doing the Hyd - Pune road trip every alternate weekend for the last two months. It takes me anywhere between 9.5 hours (No long breaks) to 13 hours (with dinner break, rains etc)
The stretch between the Bidar turn off and Humnabad (around 20 - 30 km) is really bad. After that it's bearable till Basvakalyan.
Also found some bad stretches between Tembhurni and Solapur.
The diversions are a bit of a pain. But the road surface is really good especially between Pune - Indapur.
There's no Sugarcane traffic.
Be aware that on Sundays the traffic between Solapur and Pune is very high.
Check with Ashish Pallod regarding the Baramati route.

[RoadTiger]

Thanks, ranjitp1.

I am however still left wondering as to how the Volvo buses manage to get one from Kondapur to Vashi (and vice versa) in 12.5 hours inclusive of 20-25 minutes picking up folks from stops and 30 min break. In effect, a run time of 11.5 hours !!!!

I do realize, having travelled in them, for nearly a dozen times, that they do seem to drive at break-neck speeds, dont slow down for any potholes and dont encounter much general traffic at night time (except for the omnipresent traffic on NH9 between Pune and Mohol).

Still, would be nice to get to Mumbai in one's own car in 12 hours :( .... Still havent cracked the code !

Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

I've been doing the Hyd - Pune road trip every alternate weekend for the last two months. It takes me anywhere between 9.5 hours (No long breaks) to 13 hours (with dinner break, rains etc)

Be aware that on Sundays the traffic between Solapur and Pune is very high.

Is there a difference between traffic on Saturdays vs Sundays? Also, are we talking about like a dozen diversions en-route or more like 50-60? just trying to get a general idea ...

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