[vivek95]

Hello everyone. I drove from Mumbai to Belgaum on 14th May 2019 and here is a small report. It was a solo in my Polo as usual.

Departed from Mulund west , Mumbai at sharp 4:00 a.m. Took the first pit stop as usual at the new food mall on Expressway. There was considerable traffic congestion even at 5:30 a.m on the Lonavala ghats. Reached Pune at 6:30 a.m, met a friend and it ended up being a longish break. Here onwards it was a never ending journey. Took another break to attend a call that went long. Met distinguished BHPian @paragsachania at Kini toll, before Kolhapur. He was driving Bangalore--Aurangabad via Pune. We knew about our drives a day prior and accordingly met at a convenient point. I got into Kolhapur city to visit family Goddess Mahalaxmi and seek her blessings. Temple was too crowded even on a Tuesday noon. Also, I had a hard time finding parking as the parking lot was full and eventually had to park it roadside far away from the temple and walked back all the way. Altogether, Kolhapur in and out costed me 3 hours. With all this, reached my home in Belgaum at 6:30 pm.

Mumbai--Pune Expressway :- remains awesome as always

Pune city bypass :- All good 6 lane except one diversion between Baner and Chandni chowk that I mentioned last time as well. This diversion consumes a lot of time during peak hours. Another diversion ( for the Mumbai bound traffic ) continues to exist at the Warje flyover.

Pune -- Satara :- Till Shirwal, the road is still under construction at many places with about 3 diversions. Take it from me, this stretch will easily take one full year more for proper completion into 6 lanes. This is as shameless as it can get, the work on Pune--Satara (136 kms) began in early 2012 and 9 years down, it's still not complete. Had it been Karnataka, this would be completed in 3 years maximum. Shirwal onwards the road is all done up, 6 lanes all throughout. Khambatki ghat remains superb as well.

Satara--Kolhapur :- Blissful 4 laner as always. Even at the peak of summers it is heartening to see lush green fields on both sides of this stretch. Testimony to the fact how Maharashtra developed its irrigation projects by building small and large dams across all rivers in Western Maharashtra soon after independence in 1947.

Kolhapur--Belgaum :- As always supersmooth 4 lane bliss.

Fastag worked like a charm at each and every toll, totally flawless. Mine is an Equitas Fastag.

A new hotel is coming up at Karad, Hotel the Fern, on left side going towards Pune.

It was nice meeting you @paragsachania at Kini toll, Kolhapur--Karad sector. I am the short guy in the pic


Two team BHP KA regd. cars striking a pose in Maharashtra. ( I took a U-turn just before Kini toll to catch up with him who was driving towards Pune )

[cyberwhizs]

Just an update -

Drove back over the weekend from bengaluru to mumbai

Bengaluru - Kholapur Approx 650 kms - 10 hours (0630 - 1630) . Diversions between davengere and hubli do slow you down but traffic being limited it wasn't too bad.

Stopped at -
Mysore Cafe - after chitradurga - okay for quick coffee, usable washrooms.
Roti Ghar - after hubli dharwad bypass - food is strictly passable, usable washrooms. The place is easy to miss, this time i kept a lookout and did not overshoot like last time. Limited options on this stretch.
Smile Stone - outskirts of kohlapur.

Being a weekend most hotels at kholapur were full, had not anticipated this, after a bunch of calls got accommodation at Rasika - It is a clean place, accessible to the highway and tad expensive for what it offers.

Kholapur - Mumbai - approx 400 kms 7:30 hours (0900 - 1630). Encountered usual highway and city traffic.

I had my ICICI FasTag replaced and new one worked fine, albeit the queues at all toll booths were long and i had the good luck of being in the slowest moving one at each toll booth. The moment i joined a queue, other queues would move faster and there would be some issue with one of the guys ahead.

[paragsachania]

I drove Pune Aurangabad and back from Bangalore during the last week and here are the updates that should help fellow travelers to plan their drives on this circuit:

It was just myself, my 10 year old daughter and my dad who took an impromptu decision on Monday and ended up driving on Tuesday! Summer Holidays, nothing much to do along with my planned leave, we decided to head to drive to Aurangabad and Pune. Just last week before this, our family had a short holiday driving to Idukki as well.

Let’s make an early start : It has never mattered to us before, nor will affect in future: We planned to start not later than 0400 from our Yelahanka home and we ensured we did it.

The onward journey - Bangalore - Pune - Ahmadnagar - Aurangabad

Trip statistics:

• Bangalore – Pune – Aurangabad – 1100 Kms, 17 Hours:
• Start From Bangalore : 0400
• Enter Pune Bypass : 1600
• Exit Pune towards Nagar Road (Wagholi): 1700
• End at Aurangabad : 2100

Details of the breaks taken:

• Breakfast @ Kamat Upachar, Varur – 20 Minutes
• Refuel @ BPCL COCO after Nippani – 10 Minutes
• Quick meet with vivek95 @ Kini Toll Plaza– 5 Minutes
• Lunch Break @ Annapurna, Karad – 45 Minutes
• Evening Snack Break @Vittal Kamat, Shirur – 15 Minutes
• Total Break time : 95 Minutes

Route Conditions:

Bangalore Tumkur Chitradurga – 200 Kms :

• Remains in pristine condition

Chitradurga – Davanagere – Hubli :

• Massive (and rapid) 6 lane expansion work in progress
• 7 Diversions between Chitradurga and Davanagere – Span of 70 Kms
• At least 19 diversions between Davanagere and Hubli – Span of 130 Kms
• Condition of each of the diversions is Good and generally pothole free
• Each of the diversion is well marked and placed appropriately (500 meters before) and one can spot these signs easily at night as well (Refer video)
• Extreme inconsistency when it comes to speedbreakers on these diversions – Few don’t have it, few have way too many, speedbreakers differ in size too
• You may feel less stressful doing Chitradurga – Davanagere but will feel more irritated and stressful doing the other section till Hubli due to too many diversions and local traffic driving along them

Few good things about the 6 lane work:

• A parallel bridge across Tunga Bhadra is coming up on Harihar Bypass. It means no more partially entering the town when driving south
• Each of the entry and exits for Haveri and Ranebennur towns will get an overpass thus doing away with the dangerous and unscientific merging that exists as of today
• Work is carried out at rapid pace but few bridges will take time to complete, expect another 18-24 months for 100% completion
• Many sections have expanded to 6 lane though inconsistently and these extra lanes can “carefully” be used as the 3rd lane when 2 trucks are crawling

Hubli – Dharwad Bypass :

• This will soon make entry into Ripley’s Believe It or Not. No change here. Single carriageway remains

Dharwad – Belgaum :

• Good, fast 6 lane, re-asphalting work was in progress when we drove in both directions on Belgaum Bypass

Belgaum – Kognoli (Kagal) :

• The benchmark for road making and shall remain one

Kognoli – Kolhapur – Karad – Satara:

• Good (busy) 4 lane roads

Satara – Pune :

• 6 lane work is nearly complete with just 3 diversions in Pune direction. I really didn’t see this as a problem as always and one can maintain decent average speeds here as well, thanks to that extra 3rd lane.

Bypassing Pune towards Nagar Road (Helpful for those driving to Shirdi):
I had to drive to Aurangabad and I have usually taken the Shinghagad road exit and then reached Swargate and followed on with Shankarsheth Road – Camp – Hadapsar – Kharadi Bypass to reach Wagholi. But this time, I knew there was something better (and faster) that existed. So I got off NH4 at Narhe, and turned right driving 4 Kms to hit the Katraj Junction. From here, a series of flyovers made me reach Swargate in a jiffy. After this it was the usual route to reach Nagar road at Wagholi. It took around 55 minutes to cross Pune between 1600 and 1700. I noticed traffic building up as we crossed Kharadi area.

Route Link to bypass Pune : Narhe (Pune Bypass) to Wagholi

Pune – Shirur – Nagar - Aurangabad:

• Wagholi to Shirur is at the busiest best, unless its late night or early morning – Weekends don’t matter here
• Patience is immensely important to do this stretch due to too much traffic, local as well as regular highway vehicles
• Lots of options to break that you need not really plan on this stretch
• Road conditions are better till Nagar and Good after that, mainly surface wise
• On any given day time, you will need 4 hours to do this 230 Km stretch with the first 2.5 Hours for till Nagar alone. After Nagar traffic thins down

The return journey - Bangalore - Pune - Ahmadnagar - Aurangabad

• The return journey was split with a stopover at Pune as I had to make few Social visits.
• We did Aurangabad Pune between 1400 and 1800 Hours on a Thursday
• On Friday we did Pune (Shinhagad Road) to Yelahanka between 1500 – 0245
• Route conditions remain same for return as well

Details of the breaks taken:

• Snack break @Sai International, before Kini toll : 20 Minutes
• Refueling break @ BPCL COCO, before Nippani : 10 Minutes
• Dinner Break @ Kamat Upachar Varur : 30 Minutes
• Total Break time : 60 Minutes

Police checking in Maharashtra section of Bangalore – Pune:

• By default, please assume cops will be waiting for you soon after each tolls in MH
• These cops are now infamously (and fondly) referred to as “PUC Police” which means all they are interested is whether your car has a valid Pollution Check certificate or not
• I was stopped thrice during the last journey : 1. Soon after Kini toll 2. Soon after Khedshivpur toll (return) 3. On Kolhapur Bypass (return)
• Please carry all your documents in original (I always do than argue showing soft copies or photocopies) and ensure to have a valid Pollution test certificate and all they do is check the validity and let you go with a thank you

Few important points to sum it up:

• Early morning start (0400) or post noon (1300) still works best to get the maximum average out of this journey
• Diversions between Chitradurga and Davanagere don't delay you much, I was checking and I could still do Davanagere in 3 hours from Yelahanka (It takes 30 minutes for me to reach Parle/NBTL toll from home)
• However, its the diversions between Davanagere to Hubli which slow you down as I noticed that I was at Kamat Varur at 0853 (Nearly 5 hours) while under normal conditions, I reach Hubli in 5 hours with a quick breakfast break
• This means, one needs to factor additional 30-45 minutes extra over their regular timings due to these diversions
• If you are driving towards Shirdi, doing it via Pune still remains your best bet given the iffy road conditions on the Satara - Lonand - Shirur route
• Bypassing Pune is easier via the route suggested above -It works best during onward
• FASTag worked perfectly at all the tolls as usual

Overall timeline for the onward journey including breaks that Google captured in the background:



Toll booths with timestamps when I passed them





If anyone wants to know the present state between Chitradurga and Hubli, you can watch this lengthy videos by dragging it randomly:

https://youtu.be/DzMCnbJJ8dY

Originally Posted by vivek95

It was nice meeting you @paragsachania at Kini toll, Kolhapur--Karad sector. I am the short guy in the pic

Pleasure is all mine Vivek. Roadies ought to meet on road

[Nayan]

Recently did solo trip from Bangalore to Nashik in Honda Jazz v (Diesel).
Total Km = 1055 Km
Starting from Bangalore @5 am
Kolhapur @ 1:30 pm
Pune @ 4:30 pm
Reached Nashik @ 10 pm

Road from Bangalore to Kolhapur (approx 600 km) is in excellent condition, 3 lanes on either sides. The only exception is Hubli - Dharwad bypass. It is a 2 lane road without divider and lot of curves and uneven road surface. Many a times it is risky to drive due to overtaking manoeuvre of overconfident drivers. Better to drive slowly on this stretch. Remaining road is butter-smooth. I noticed speed detectors at outskirts of Bangalore. The display shows real-time speed of our vehicle. I covered this distance in 8 hours and 30 min (included 2 tea breaks of 15 min each).

Road from Kolhapur to Pune (235 km) is 2 lanes on each side with divider. At some places, it is 3 lanes on either side. But the problem I faced on this stretch was, the enormous number of two-wheelers. These 2 wheelers occupy the left lane. So wherever the road is 2 lane road, we are left with only 1 lane and overtaking a heavy vehicle becomes difficult. This slows down our speed. I took almost 3 hrs to cover these 235 km. It included lunch break of 15 min.

Road from Pune to Nashik (213 km) is horrible. It is very difficult to get out of Pune. The torture continues till Sangamner (145 km from Nashik). Many places, road is only 2 lane without divider. And even if road is 4 lane with divider, there is continuous traffic of 2 & 3 wheeler and local population. From Sangamner to Nashik (70 km) again road is very good. I needed 5 hrs and 30 min to cover these 213 km.

The problem is absence of service lanes on Kolhapur to Nashik road. Hence the local population with their 2 wheelers, 3 wheelers and cars occupy the left lane. This slows down the speed significantly.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Route Conditions:

Bangalore Tumkur Chitradurga – 200 Kms :

• Remains in pristine condition

Chitradurga – Davanagere – Hubli :

Hello there-

First time driving towards this direction from Bangalore, so a naive question

A 3pm start from Marathahalli (next tuesday). Can I reach Hubli by 11pm max?

Just need one stop for a dinner. Any suggestions for a dinner pit stop?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Hello there-

First time driving towards this direction from Bangalore, so a naive question

A 3pm start from Marathahalli (next tuesday). Can I reach Hubli by 11pm max?

Just need one stop for a dinner. Any suggestions for a dinner pit stop?

You can definitely reach Hubli by 11pm.

For dinner you can stop early at Apoorva Resorts at Davanagere that should take around 3.5 to 4 hours from Marathalli.

It's listed on the first post of this thread.

[soul-on-4wheels]

Had a crazy 8 days between 19th May and 26th May doing the Mumbai-Bangalore-Madurai-Rameswaram-Guruvayoor-Trivandrum-Bangalore-Mumbai circuit. Was a pre-planned itinerary with a twist - wasn't supposed to do the last 2 legs until 1st June but thanks to a client urgency, had to get back onto NH48 on 25th May.

Summary of the drive:



Mumbai - Bangalore on 19th May 2019
The road conditions and other drive parameters have been explained very well above by @paragsachania in his own superlative way! Ditto observations for the Pune-Bangalore section. I faced a massive congestion at the Khed Shivpur toll - it was very frustrating! Faced a similar situation at the Tasawade toll. Diversions in the Pune-Satara sector till Shirwal can slow you down - am not sure how much more time they will take in getting this in shape! Once you enter KA roads are super smooth and fun to glide along save for a couple of realities - (1) Hubli-Dharwad single lane road (smooth & picturesque) - got to be very careful! and (2) thanks to the 6 lining work, there are n number of diversions on the Hubli-Chitradurga stretch. The diversions are short and well marked though you should be very wary of the speed breakers at some of the diversions - they can be really nasty! This drive took me longer than usual as I pulled into my bro's flat in Whitefield at 10:30PM - with a 5am start from Powai, Mumbai, this translated into 17.5 hrs to travel the distance of 973 kms with a couple of food and fuel breaks each.

Bangalore - Mumbai on 26th May 2019
This was a bummer of sorts thanks to the fact that it was a Sunday and I got caught in massive jams at the diversions between Satara and Pune. Thankfully, the Expressway was a smooth ride. With a 5am start from Whitefield/Bangalore, I could manage to pull into my home at Powai, Mumbai 20 minutes past mid-night thus translating into 19hrs and 20 mins on the road for 970 kms - again with a couple of food and fuel stops apiece.

Tolls Details along with the time-stamp


The Bangalore-Madurai-Rameswaram-Guruvayoor-Trivandrum route is a set of excellent roads though the NHAI can give some serious thought to beefing up the highways with good options for dining.

Overall, an excellent trip despite the cramped schedule. Roads are generally great and I hope the 6 laning work gets complete soon. Traffic has increased by a fair factor and it pays to drive safe! Cheers!

[Chinmayd]

I am relocating to Bangalore from Mumbai and will be driving down soon. During our Mum-Goa drives we usually stop at Ramdev, Belgaum for a relaxed lunch and are off again by 2pm.
Assuming same timelines would it make sense to drive another 540km to Bangalore the same day? G-map shows an 8 hour drive ahead, what do the regulars say? Travelling with wife and an 8yr old.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Chinmayd

I am relocating to Bangalore from Mumbai and will be driving down soon. During our Mum-Goa drives we usually stop at Ramdev, Belgaum for a relaxed lunch and are off again by 2pm.
Assuming same timelines would it make sense to drive another 540km to Bangalore the same day? G-map shows an 8 hour drive ahead, what do the regulars say? Travelling with wife and an 8yr old.

The other part of the journey, especially after Hubli till Chitradurga will be more stressful due to 6 lane work. Otherwise this was easy before. It won't really exhaust you but having driven peacefully till Dharwad, you will begin to realize this.

Hence, you may really want to halt at Hubli and then make a fresh start next day early morning. This will give you advantage of passing by all the diversions faster because as of now these diversions also cater to local traffic as these are on service road and nearly hugging each village you pass. In the evenings misc traffic here along with parked vehicles makes it a slower affair to pass these diversions.

[soul-on-4wheels]

Originally Posted by Chinmayd

I am relocating to Bangalore from Mumbai and will be driving down soon. During our Mum-Goa drives we usually stop at Ramdev, Belgaum for a relaxed lunch and are off again by 2pm.
Assuming same timelines would it make sense to drive another 540km to Bangalore the same day? G-map shows an 8 hour drive ahead, what do the regulars say? Travelling with wife and an 8yr old.

For me, it was a good 9hr drive from Belgaum to Whitefield in Bangalore last week. And like @paragsachania mentioned, the Hubli Chitradurga stretch can stress you out thanks to the diversions - and beware of the speed breakers.

Drive safe!

[Chinmayd]

Thanks, appreciate the inputs. I guess a break is in order. As Paragsachania rightly pointed out, it gets more stressful dealing with bad roads or slow traffic towards the end of a long drive.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

The other part of the journey, especially after Hubli till Chitradurga will be more stressful due to 6 lane work.

A friend drove down to Bangalore last weekend from Mumbai. He travels this route once every 4-5 months and this time his overall journey went up by 1.5-2 hours compared to usual drive times in past trips and he attributed the delay to this stretch, also mentioned that the speed breakers are of various sizes and too many diversions slowed him down considerably.

Is the Chitradurga-Hubli direction also in similar condition or is it better due to faster progress of widening work ?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by NPV

Is the Chitradurga-Hubli direction also in similar condition or is it better due to faster progress of widening work ?

The work is same on both sides NPV. I noticed no difference on both corridors during onward or return.

Regarding the time taken, it will certainly differ by at least 1-2 hours if the work in progress stretches are taken during the day. If these are tackled early morning or night (before the buses), the additional time needed merely matter by 30 Minutes at max.

For instance, during onward, I took the same time to reach Davanagere because I started at 0400. But to reach Hubli I easily got delayed by 30-40 minutes due to more diversions and additional traffic as it was between 0700-0900.

During return, It again didn't matter much. I was at Kamat Varur for Dinner by 2110, started at 2140 from here by 0005, I was 7 Kms before Chitradurga, which is around 180 Kms in 2 Hours and 55 Minutes which is a delay by around 20 minutes. During the day time, the same can be easily 60 minutes.

Last Saturday a friend drove from Pune to my home starting at 0420, and was at my Yelahanka home via Dabaspet - Doddaballapur at 18:30. Which is more than 14 hours! It was evident that he passed the diversions during day time.

Hence, passing these diversions at appropriate time helps save time. That is the only way and nothing else.

With my onward start at 0400, I took 12 Hours to Pune and with a 1500 Start from Pune, I took 11.5 Hours for return. Not much difference while driving back but certainly good delay during onward (to my standard times).

[supreddy77]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for posting all the route info, it is really useful for travelers like me. We are planning to drive from Bangalore to Kolhapur (stop overnight) in the 1st weekend of July and proceed from Kolhapur to Nashik via Thane. Is there a recommended route to take once we get off the Pune-Mumbai expressway? Looking at gmaps, we might reach Mumbai outskirts around 11 AM -12 PM. Any suggestions about the timing to enter to Mumbai so as to avoid traffic jams in Mumbai?

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by supreddy77

Hello everyone,

Thanks for posting all the route info, it is really useful for travelers like me. We are planning to drive from Bangalore to Kolhapur (stop overnight) in the 1st weekend of July and proceed from Kolhapur to Nashik via Thane. Is there a recommended route to take once we get off the Pune-Mumbai expressway? Looking at gmaps, we might reach Mumbai outskirts around 11 AM -12 PM. Any suggestions about the timing to enter to Mumbai so as to avoid traffic jams in Mumbai?

Its a fairly good time to enter Mumbai around 11a.m to 12pm. You would need to stick to this route to get to Thane --> Panvel--Kharghar--Nerul--Turbhe--Rabale--Airoli--left turn--Airoli bridge--Airoli Toll--Bhandup pumping station--right turn--Eastern express highway--Mulund Toll--Thane

Check this gmap link :-
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MG11LKUsuafM17zp6