I drove from Mumbai to Nashik via the Samruddhi Mahamarg

The roads were dead empty with very few cars, pickup trucks and 1-2 trucks here and there. The roads had diversions and there are manual boards with radiums which tell you when to cross over to the other side

BHPian humyum recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

So here is my update which all of you will love with a caveat. Do this only if you are comfortable trying something new which will be empty most of your way and at your own risk.

We went to Nashik this time since mom's chemos are on and we tried via the Samruddhi Mahamarg from Amne Interchange near Shangrila till before the Kasara Ghats start. People on the road told us that they do not allow people to travel on the Igatpuri tunnel at night and during the day too they sometimes allow and sometimes not, since we were travelling in the dark, did not want to take this chance.

I had seen a video by a Youtuber in which he had mentioned exactly the route to take to join the Samruddhi Mahamarg and from where to exit near Kasara.

Here is the video to be exact.

--> https://youtu.be/wangq2DzNwE?si=XMnqv2zpIA3qH3tp

We took a U turn ahead of the Amne Interchange which if you were coming from Nashik, you would join the Samruddhi Mahamarg for a brief moment take U and join back towards Bhiwandi, there you are supposed to take a left turn towards Samruddhi, we went ahead and took it. After a few diversions, we started towards Kasara. The roads were dead empty with very few cars, pickup trucks and 1-2 trucks here and there. The roads had diversions and there are manual boards with radiums which tell you when to cross over to the other side. On-coming traffic will be also driving on your side, so be careful. The road surface is quite bumpy and I can't imagine myself doing continuous 120 here but its way smoother than the Mumbai-Pune expressway, we were in our Crysta

We reached Kasara left turn which is an off road route which is quite bad for 500-600 meters which then takes you out on the normal highway from the backroad of a Dhaba called Mishra Dhaba, on the road towards Mumbai. This turn to exit Samruddhi at Kasara comes a few hundred meters after the 3rd tunnel. After you get on the old Nashik Highway, you have to go ahead for 1 km before taking a U turn and join back towards Nashik on the Normal Highway. The Kasara Ghats towards Nashik are newly laid and you will not find a single pothole on the entire ghat section. Amazing.

Took us 3 hours to reach Nashik on a Sunday, left at 6 o clock from Ghatkopar and reached Nashik at 9 o clock.

We took the same road via Samruddhi too from the same point we exited it and landed up near Shangrila in like 35-40 minutes from Kasara. Google Maps thinks you are driving on a dark land and constantly tries to re-route.

Both the trips happened in the night as we were Mumbai in the evening and left Nashik in the evening too while coming back, but in hindsight, I would not do this road in the night in the current not-opened state as there are diversions which if not careful can catch you off guard. The tunnels have barricades which with radium boards which you have to zig-zag through. Also, on-coming tarffic for most of this road is on your side, but should not be a problem during the day.

As of yesterday, few people use this route with villagers using their bikes and scooters to travel upto some points in between. If your car breaks down here, there is no help at all, so keep that in mind.

All in all, a good adventure if you ask me.

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