[rendezvous]

Hi All -

I & my wife are planning to do road trip from Hyderabad to Andheri (W), Mumbai along with our 2 yr old kid on Maruti Ritz ZXi. The date of travel would be Saturday 6th Feb, 2010
I know the trip is around 700+kms Couple of questions:
1. How much time will it take?
2. What time is best advisable for me to leave from HYD? Will early 5:30-6am be good to be in Mumbai before eve?
3. What is the best suggested route map?
4. How are the road conditions?
5. Hope there will be good pit stops & eating joints en route this route? Any suggestions?

Any more advises as I'm travelling with my 2 yr old kid? Kindly assist with all necessary points I should know

Thanks All

[AutoB]

Hi Rendezvous,

How was your trip? I am planning to drive to Mumbai mid April and am planning to take the following trip...

Hyd to Solapur to Tembhurni to Akluj (on SH 77) to Shirwal (on SH 70). At Shirwal, the road meets NH 4... take that towards Pune - take the Pune bypass and then onto the expressway to Mumbai.

Does anyone have latest information on the road conditions on this route OR an alternate route?

Thanks
AutoB..

[scorpydave]

Hi AutoB,

Don't you think, the Tembhurni-Akluj-Shirwal to Mumbai via Pune is a bit too long rather than taking the regular NH9 all the way to Mumbai via Indapur, onto Pune and western expressway?

For details, you can go through the Mumbai-Hyderabad thread on Page 7 or search for more info on Update on NH9 between Pune and Solapur.

Ashishpallod has posted alternate routes : NH9 between Pune and Solapur.

Regards,
Dave

[ranjitp1]

Best route on today's conditions would be hyd-solapur-indapur-left turn-baramati-Morgaon-Saswad-Kapurhole-NH4-Pune Mumbai Bypass road-MPEW.This is the easiest way to reach MPEW without going into Pune city.Route courtesy Ashish.

3am departure from Hyd would let you reach Solapur by 730-8am. Pune by 12pm-1pm/Panvel by 4-5pm and from thereon traffic dependent.

Mods:Would be good to merge this to the Mumbai-Hyderabad thread.

[rendezvous]

Hi folks
any update on the recent road trip from Hyd to Mum?
How're the road conditions?
best time to leave from Hyd?

Pls give intricate details (if possible) about ur trip & pics (if any)

[himavanth_m]

The road is in good condition in AP and Karnataka. However in Maharashtra, from a distance of about 100 kms from Pune, road is under construction and is in pretty bad shape. But rest of the roads in MH are good.
From Pune to Mumbai, everyone knows about the excellent expressway.
Apart from these there are some bad patches (like near railway crossing) but nothing to be bothered about

Please note that this route is mostly 2 laned and there will be quite a bit of bus traffic especially in the night.

[Bigzero]

I have done Hyderabad-Pune 3-4 times in the last three months. The last drive was a month back.

Some quick observations from what I experienced

- Except for short stretches immediately after Hyderabad and immediately before Pune, the entire route is two-laned.
- Road conditions get progressively worse as you move from AP to Karnataka to MH. there are decent stretches in between though
- some sections are pot-hole ridden.
- a LOT of truck traffic. I have still not figured out a pattern for their traffic completely, but I guess you will find relatively less truck traffic between 1 am and 6 am, and possibly 3pm-5pm or so.
- heavy truck traffic means that you will have to continuously overtake if you are intending to keep higher average speeds. There is an element of risk there, but you will get open stretches to do so if you are patient.
- A narrow bridge past Tembhurni has high potential for traffic jams, especially if some trucks with extra wide cargo are involved.
- Past Tembhurni, as already mentioned, 4 laning is on all the way till around 45 km or so from Pune. this means that the available road is somethign like one and a half lanes, and expect slow progress. the surface is not great either.
- some newly laid sections in this stretch have been soft-opened for traffic, so thats a small relief.
- I would give a full 10 hours or more ( if you need longish breaks, give yourself 12 hours ) to reach Pune.

I did a night drive and could cover the distance in something like 9 hours- compared to the 10+ hours during the day - of course not advisable considering that you are continuously facing high-beam headlights of oncoming traffic.

Hope this helps..

btw there are some half-decent places in and around Tembhurni where you can plan to have lunch. Most of the food options in the route are at best passable.

[Maverick79]

Rendezvous,
I recently did this route from Pune to Hyd and Back. I started at 8.00 am in Pune from Pimple Saudagar, its 3 km ride to MPEW and reached BHEL at 6.00 pm in my M800. I didn't cross 80kmph as I prefer this speed in this car.
Now coming to my experience of the road,
From Pune to Hyderabad- Till Indapur, you would not feel heavy traffic and after that around 20 kms later, a narrow bridge of 0.5 km will eat away your time. If is raining be very careful ast it is filled with lots and lots of pot holes, which will scratch your cars bottom badly.
Even though, the 4 lane ( Or may be 6 lane I am not that sure..) construction is under progress, you are open to either one of the side which is a stretch of say 3 or 4 kms patches which are very good and I enjoyed them. This I did on 4th Nov morning to reach home for Diwali. Try not to miss the bypass in Solapur to skip the city traffic.
Now coming to your interest, Hyderabad to Pune back - I started at 9.00 am on 14th Nov, A sunday. This delay was due to some last minute shopping for my Uncle in Pune. I found both the shell pumps in Habsiguda and Ameerpet closed. Hence filled with IOC in Dishuknagar finally. I suggest you to fill at Shell in Raidurg, which near BHEL. I got 20.7 Kmpl with 80% A/C when I was coming to Hyd on 4th.
Now coming to the road conditions, till Zaheerabad, there is no major issue, but be care full in Zaheerabad as two wheelers come from no where in the main road in the 2 - 3kms stretch.
I further suggest you to start at 4.00 am as you will cross Zaheerbad in the early hours. From there you find pretty okay roads. No much fuss. Once you reach Sholapur outskirts, you need to take right to by pass the city. Pls confirm it with some one. After that, the road is okay. You can touch Sholapur in flat 5 hrs. Lesser if you cuise at 100 kmph.
But, before you reach Indapur, there is a narrow bridge of apprx. 17 feet, a tight fit for two trucks with loads. This is some 25 kms before you reach Indapur. We got stuck here fore more than 2.5 hrs. as a Tempo carrier broke down on the bridge and the tracffic was strictly one way. I might be longer if I dindn't manage by going the worng side where ever possible. Just don't go with the trucks lane as they generally don't move away from the sepentine queue. Most important thing is pls make sure you cross this stretch in day light as it was tough for us when it was raining and my cars headlamps got a thick layer of mud slung from other vehicles. The visibility reduced drastically.
Once you cross Indapur, the pot holes frequency starts increasing except on the new road strecthes. As Auto B suggested, the SH 77 and 70 ways are okay when I made trips last year to Kholhapur, but IMO, its a bit longer.
I didn't find any great places for food in between when we ( My better half was with me while returning to pune) stopped before Sholapur for lunch.

I again suggest, due to the abrut rains, pls reach Pune before the sun sets, as the roads are not predictable in the night.

Hope this helps till you reach Pune safely and then to Mumbai.
On the other hand if you get delayed anywhere, you along with your family are always welcome to take a pitstop in my home and return to mumbai the next day.. I stay hardly 3 kms away from the Express way.
Sorry for not uploading the photos as my camera display screen broke just before I left to Hyd from Pune.

[himavanth_m]

@maverick79 and Bigzero: That is good news that parts of the road of 4 laning is open. The roads are really bad there and one would easily loose 1-2 hrs on this stretch (truck traffic + pot holes).
My question is how is work coming along there? Do you guys think there is any chance that the remaining part will be opened soon by judging at the incomplete portion status of work?

As you guys have mentioned, that bridge also caused a delay of 4 hrs when a truck broke down. Apart from that there are a couple of railway crossings and as per Murphy's laws, I almost always lost about 30/40 min when railway crossing was closed.

Also it is best to avoid the stretch after sholapur in the during early mornings (3am to 6am when traffic on this stretch is minimal). A group of villagers once (long back - 2 years back) threw an axe at my accent(at 5 30 am types). Luckily none of us got injured (only a crack on the windshield). The reason that I think they attacked is because, I did not stop at an accident about 100 mts before this attack and they were angry that I did not offer help. But better safe than sorry. Hopefully this is a one off case with me and the stretch is safe but after this I made it a point not to travel on this stretch when traffic is minimal. Or I follow a bus in front.

[rendezvous]

Thanks all for your expert inputs. On this post, I heard lot about various places like Indapur, Zaheerabad, Solapur, etc...
Can you put in order if I start from Hyd to Mumbai, how'll it come?
I stay in Gachibowli & plan to leave my home by 3am. So how much time will each city take to reach...can you put it in hrs?
Is it good if I leave Saturday morning?

1 important thing before I forget to ask:
As it is my first long drive on road, what are the necessary things I shud've with me handy for myself & the car. I've an yr old Ritz ZXi & just done 10km. Got it serviced (with oil change,etc) a week ago.

[himavanth_m]

@rendezvous:
If you had a good rest, then I would advise you to start as early as possible, say 3 am and not later than 5 am.
The route: From Gachibowli, you should head towards BHEL and from then on its only one route.
Hyd - Zaheerabad )100 odd kms- best if you do this stretch as early as possible
Zaheerabad - Homnabad (Its in Karnataka) - 70kms
Homnabad - Naldurg (MH) - 100 kms
Naldurg - Solapur - 50kms

At solapur, you need to go right to bypass solapur. Its easy to identify this junctions, here you will see lots of people and market place before solapur. On the by pass, you will find lots of cross roads, you just need to go straight. At the end of the bypass, you will find a junction, here again taking left, you will enter solapur. You need to go straight. An easy way to find if you are on right way is , just after solapur bypass, you will find a small (really small) bridge. Be careful while driving on this by pass as there are a few speed breakers and road is quite narrow. Just 2 laned with no shoulder for the road. Also there will be lots of cows and buffalloes, cycle people etc on the road.

Solapur - Themburni - 100 kms - has that famous bridge that everyone was talking about before.

And then indapur is very close by (should be withing 40 kms from themburni)

Indapur - Pune 150 kms.

This is the stretch of road that is under constructions. But from about 40 - 50 kms from Pune, road is 4 laned. and is in good shape with a toll gate.As others mentioned, I believe parts of the road is completed

At Pune, please ask for directions towards expressway. I can tell you but it will be quite confusing.

From Expressway its again straight forward route.

Hope this helps

note: All the distances are approximate and I dont have exact log books to tell you exact distances. Those were from my memory and innumerable Hyd - Pune trips that I have done over the past 3 yrs

[rendezvous]

Thanks Himavanth....
that helps ...
if I leave by 3am...by how much (including obstructions like traffic & cattle, etc) should I be able to reach Pune
I can add 4-5hrs more from Pune to reach my destination in Mumbai (Andheri West) depending on what time I enter Mumbai
What are good pit stops enroute for good meal? Any suggestions?

[himavanth_m]

you should be able to reach pune in 10 to 11 hrs driving at fairly decent pace with minimal/no pitstops. distance would be in the range of 560kms. you will reach upto 100 kms from pune pretty fast. the last 100 kms takes time due to road construction. This also considers no/minimal delays at tembhurni bridge and railway crossings.

as far as pistops are concerned, you can try out the bp petrol pump plaza after zaheerabad (after 100 kms odd from hyd). there are also places in AP KA border, near humnabad and KA MH border. All these places are pretty crowded and police presence is there. So its safe to stop and eat here anytime. However, i have stopped at these places only for usual tea/cofee and never had food. So i cannot comment on the taste and quality.
to mumbai you can expect 14hrs to 15 hrs.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rendezvous

Thanks Himavanth....
that helps ...
if I leave by 3am...by how much (including obstructions like traffic & cattle, etc) should I be able to reach Pune
I can add 4-5hrs more from Pune to reach my destination in Mumbai (Andheri West) depending on what time I enter Mumbai
What are good pit stops enroute for good meal? Any suggestions?

I do this stretch regularly in a M800 and its a good long drive.Sainikpuri to Borivli.

Leave at 3am,you would reach Solapur by 830-9am.Breakfast stop at Solapur(carry breakfast with you).Leave Solapur at 10am,you would reach Hadapsar by 3pm.Go through the town(Hadapsar-AFMC-Swargate left turn at the bus-stand-Katraj,right turn onto the Mumbai Bypass-MPEW).Stop for lunch on the bypass,plenty of restaurants,Sadanand is a good option,it comes to your right after Hinjewadi flyover.

Leave Pune 4pm,you would reach Panvel by 530pm,from thereon its heavy traffic!

NH9 is in a bad shape between Sangareddy & Solapur and some parts are horrible and so are some parts between Indapur & Pune.But you should be able to do Hyd-Panvel in about 14hours of aggressive driving(with a cumulative break of 1 hour)

[khoj]

Originally Posted by rendezvous

Any more advises as I'm travelling with my 2 yr old kid? Kindly assist with all necessary points I should know
Thanks All

I trust you are using a suitable child seat / booster seat for your child. If not please do so not just for the highway trip but for daily use also.
If required you can PM MX6 for more details on the price, brand, availability etc. He is the inhouse expert on child seats and will be happy to help you.