[mercedised]

Originally Posted by ptushar

I am planning a trip to Indore again end of Jan. Have planned on the Pune-Aurangabad-Dhule-NH3-Indore route both ways.

Any news on the stretch between Dhule and MP border?

I notice that mmxylorider's post is about 8 months old, so any chance that this stretch is now completed?

I prefer Pune-Shirdi-Malegaon-Dhule-Sendhwa-Indore route. This route is four laned all the way till Indore except in some sections of Maharashtra where the work is going on. I think that the road between Dhule and MP Border is still going on, I am not sure will confirm this later.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ptushar

I am planning a trip to Indore again end of Jan. Have planned on the Pune-Aurangabad-Dhule-NH3-Indore route both ways.

Any news on the stretch between Dhule and MP border?

I notice that mmxylorider's post is about 8 months old, so any chance that this stretch is now completed?

I dont think the stretch is complete. But as Mercedised rightly said in his post Pune - Shirdi- Malegaon-Dhule-Sendhwa-Indore is the best bet.

Take a look at my TL http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...r-pradesh.html wherein i have given details of this stretch.

[hvkumar]

The roads are much better, but be careful of jams at the check posts of MH-MP

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by mercedised

I prefer Pune-Shirdi-Malegaon-Dhule-Sendhwa-Indore route. This route is four laned all the way till Indore except in some sections of Maharashtra where the work is going on.

@mercedised, is the road from Nagar to Malegaon also 4 laned? I wasn't aware of that. I thought that this is a two laned stretch, hence was planning to drive upto Aurangabad and then go on directly to Dhule. Last time I took the Pune-Nasik-Dhule and cursed myself for taking this; the Pune-Nasik route is just too busy! And such an important route is two laned.

Originally Posted by Fauji

Take a look at my TL http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...r-pradesh.html wherein i have given details of this stretch.

Thanks Fauji. That was helpful. How long did it take you (driving time) to cover the distance from Nagar to Malegoan?

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The roads are much better, but be careful of jams at the check posts of MH-MP

Thanks HVK. Was badly stuck last time just after crossing over into MP. A line of trucks, all patiently waiting for some divine intervention! But I guess there is no way to avoid that.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by ptushar

@mercedised, is the road from Nagar to Malegaon also 4 laned? I wasn't aware of that. I thought that this is a two laned stretch, hence was planning to drive upto Aurangabad and then go on directly to Dhule. Last time I took the Pune-Nasik-Dhule and cursed myself for taking this; the Pune-Nasik route is just too busy! And such an important route is two laned.

There is another route, please have a look at this:

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India to Pune, Maharashtra, India - Google Maps

The route between Shirdi and Malegaon is not 4 laned, I think (anybody confirm this). The traffic situation is better now on the MH-MP border, the facilities on this route are also good.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mercedised

There is another route, please have a look at this:

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India to Pune, Maharashtra, India - Google Maps

The route between Shirdi and Malegaon is not 4 laned, I think (anybody confirm this). The traffic situation is better now on the MH-MP border, the facilities on this route are also good.

Ahmednager-Malegaon route is busy owing to its proximity to Shani Shingnapur and Shirdi.
Here is an old TL on this.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...a-swift-d.html

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by mercedised

There is another route, please have a look at this:

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India to Pune, Maharashtra, India - Google Maps

The route between Shirdi and Malegaon is not 4 laned, I think (anybody confirm this). The traffic situation is better now on the MH-MP border, the facilities on this route are also good.

Malegaon-Manmad-Yeola-KOpargaon road is 2-laned, but after that it is 4-laned to Ahmednagar.

Traffic is high on this road not because of Shirdi traffic but this is the most popular truck corridor for the South-North axis, since all trucks coming from Bangalore/Madras and going to Indore/Agra/Delhi take this route by using NH13 from Chitradurga till Solapur, switching to NH9 till Tembhurni, then via Ahmednagar to Malegaon and onward to Indore and beyond

[ptushar]

Thanks a lot folks.
After reading through the posts, I think I will take the Nagar - Malegaon route. Now for getting the car ready.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Did Pune-Indore-Pune last year. Route to and fro was Pune-Sangamner-Malegaon-Dhule-Sendhwa-Indore-Sendhwa-Dhule-Malegaon-Sangamner-Pune.

Started off from Pune at around 11:00 PM. Reached Indore (and further to Ujjain) by 11:00 AM and started back from Ujjain at around 3:00 PM and were back by 3:00 AM.

Except for the MH-MP border the rest of the route was nice. Had I not taken my Figo, could have easily done the route well within 10 hours (One side)

Usually I prefer going by the above route if going up north (read Indore, Dholpur, Agra)

[frequentflyer]

I think the Kopargaon Ahmednagar Pune route is better than the one via Sangamner although the Nasik road route may be a few kilometres shorter.

[ptushar]

Just back from my Pune - Indore trip. Thought I will write about the route I took, which might help others who are planning this route in the near future:

Onward journey from Pune to Indore
I took the Pune - Nagar - Aurangabad - Dhule - Sendhwa - Indore route.
From Pune to Nagar - Road is excellent and four laned except for a few short patches. Traffic is heavy; since onward was in the early morning it was quite empty. Good eateries on the way. Clean toilets available.
From Nagar to Aurangabad - Road is excellent and four laned all througout. Traffic is light. Stopped at a place just after the ghat; this had a Cafe Coffee day. But of you reach this place before 8:00 am (like we did) then you will find the 24x7 Cafe Coffee Day closed!
From Aurangabad to Dhule - Road is good but two laned all througout. Traffic is light. Road surface is pretty decent. The place to watchout for is the ghat section just before Chalisgaon. This road is very narrow and hence the police were letting one side go while stopping the other. This obviously led to massive traffic jam and loss of time. Hats off to the trucks that they stopped one behind the other and not one entered the wrong lane, despite the fact there was no road divider.
From Dhule to MP border - Road is almost four laned. Certain section work is ongoing, so you can expect a small traffic jam. No toll yet on this route, though the toll booths are created.
From MP border to Indore - Dream run. Your car will love the road surface, light traffic and excellent infrastructure. Four laned all throughout and well marked all the way. For all these years my cousins in Indore bore the brunt of my taunts on MH road infrastructure vs that in MP, but this time I had to eat humle pie. (Dear MH Chief Minister, are you reading this? Please get MH on top of the road infrasture again. States like Gujarat, MP & Rajasthan are beating you hollow!). Just look out for the rumbling speed breakers; someone with a silly sense of safety has put them there. They will either slow you down or get you airborne. So definiltely keep an eye open for them.

Return journey from Indore to Pune
I took the Indore - Sendhwa - Dhule - Malegaon - Shirdi - Nagar - Pune route.
From Indore to Dhule - Read above. There is a ghat section which mandates you to drive slow and to make that happen you have a series of rumbling speed breakers almost at every km to ensure that you slow down. Irritating, but the does the job well.
From Dhule to Malegaon - I was charged Rs 100 /- as toll. Not sure for what? The road is four laned but not as good as the road in MP; and they charge Rs 65 /-.
From Malegaon to Shirdi - The road is two laned, traffic is light. A very good three star hotel in Manmad for eating and to stay if required. The road surface is decent from Malegaon to Manmad and excellent from Manmad to Shirdi. A lot of good places for eating at Shirdi.
From Shirdi to Ahmednagar - The road is four laned, but the tarmac for about 30 kms from Shirdi is not smooth. Thus the ride is bumpy and not comfortable. After that till Ahmednagar (another 40-45 odd kms) the road is excellent.
From Nagar to Pune - Read above

Onward: Started at 5:00 AM and reached Indore at 5:30 pm (Took three breaks on the way). Total travel time 12.5 hrs
Return: Started at 3:00 PM and reached Dhule at 7:00 pm (Took a halt at Dhule). Started Dhule at 6:00 AM and reached Pune at 1:00 PM (With one break for breakfast and one for a flat tyre. ). Total travel time 11 hrs

[nanu28]

Originally Posted by ptushar

Onward: Started at 5:00 AM and reached Indore at 5:30 pm (Took three breaks on the way). Total travel time 12.5 hrs
Return: Started at 3:00 PM and reached Dhule at 7:00 pm (Took a halt at Dhule). Started Dhule at 6:00 AM and reached Pune at 1:00 PM (With one break for breakfast and one for a flat tyre. ). Total travel time 11 hrs

Thanks a lot for the write up.
Even I was initially thinking of taking the Aurangabad road and now m thinking of the Shirdi one. Just the the last few times I have taken I have gotten stuck at Shirdi as I get there around morning time. IS there any way to by pass that? Any short cut away form the temple area?

Also I will be doing this multiple times in the coming months due to work, and I am going day after on it again so you recommend the Shirdi route still?

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by nanu28

Also I will be doing this multiple times in the coming months due to work, and I am going day after on it again so you recommend the Shirdi route still?

Sorry, saw this late. At the moment there is no bypass to the current route within Shirdi town. And I agree, you are likely to get stuck sometimes near the temple area. But I would still suggest the Shirdi route, since this section should clear rather quickly. You are likely to get caught on the ghat section @ Chalisgaon if you take the Aurangabad to Dhule route anyways. So if you take the Shirdi route, chances are that you will clear Shirdi most of the time smoothly.

[pjbiju]

Does anyone know what is the current status of Ahmadnagar->Shirdi->Malegoan->Dhule->Indore roads? Has the NH3 4-laning work been completed in Maharashtra?

Has anyone taken the other route Pune-Nagar-Aurangabad-Jamner-Muktainagar (Edlabad)-Burhanpur-Indore recently? Any update on the road conditions, particularly after Aurangabad?

And lastly, is there anyone travelling from Pune to Indore on Nov 9/10?

[mm403]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Does anyone know what is the current status of Ahmadnagar->Shirdi->Malegoan->Dhule->Indore roads? Has the NH3 4-laning work been completed in Maharashtra?

Has anyone taken the other route Pune-Nagar-Aurangabad-Jamner-Muktainagar (Edlabad)-Burhanpur-Indore recently? Any update on the road conditions, particularly after Aurangabad?

And lastly, is there anyone travelling from Pune to Indore on Nov 9/10?

Since last couple of years, I have been going by car to Indore and take Nagar-Shirdi- Malegaon -Dhule Road. No idea about the current state, but had gone to Shirdi last month and roads around Rahuri were bad. Huge pot holes.

I had gone by the Nagar- Aurangaba route once, but prefer the Nagar Manmand route as the earlier route is narrow and did not find ameneties ( petrol pump, restaurants) etc. where as NH3 i quite wide due to 4 laining.
Last I had visited in summer of 2011. No plans of going this November but in Jan first week