Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Deulgaon raja might not be much better, but not been there recently so can't comment. When are you planning to travel? We may meet at Karanja[emoji4][emoji106]🏻

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

I am planning around Nov last week. Will be glad to meet you at Karanja. Do you live in Karanja?

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Yes dude, will be there

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Came back from Goa Nov 14 to Pune. The NH17 or old Goa Mumbai highway along the coast is in good condition till Chiplun. Decided to cut across from NH17 to NH4 (Bangalore - Pune highway), so from Chiplun took a right turn on the Chiplun - Karad road, which also leads to Koyna dam. This was a decently well paved road with relatively less traffic compared to the Poladpur Mahabaleshwar crossing where the road portion from Poladpur to Pratapgarh is in terrible shape.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Feedback based on tours between August 2015 and Nov 2015 on motorbike(Pulsar 220F). The ratings provided are in respect to road quality for motorbike.

NH4:
Navale Flyover,Pune-Satara: 4/5. Lane expansion in some sections.
Satara- Kolhapur: 5/5 : Proper 4 lane. It is only sometime before Satara that a board reads "Part of the Golden Quadrilateral".


NH3:
Kalyan-Dhule: 3.75/5 : Road is nice, but too may speed breakers and diversions due to 4 lane expansion. If you average at 60 kmph, u can give it a 4.5. If u average at 100 kmph, u give it a 3.5
Dhule-Indore: 5/5. On some sections, I give it a 7/5(Yes a 7 out of 5 rating)!!


Western Ghats between NH4 and NH17(Mumbai-Goa Highway).
via Bhor-Mahad: 2/5... You should take this road only if you can average at 20-30 kmph and like to watch scenery. Full of potholes. Only an ST bus can go fast here.
via Wai-Mahabaleshwar-Poladpur: 3/5. Roads nice till Mahabaleshwar. After that, God be with you unless they have fixed it. I saw some Tar patch work going on. They must be at the 5/100 potholes on the road.
via Karad-Amba Ghat-Pali Gaon: 4.5/5. I prefer to use this road for now. Done Pune-Goa,Pune-Ratnagiri through this route and was able to complete its 125 kms in 2.5 hours .Beleive it or not, I have reached speeds of 130+ kmph on the straight two lane sections from Karad towards Amba.
via Mulshi-NH17: 4/5. I dont have first hand experience, but a good colleague of mine used this route by car and he was happy.


NH17:
Panvel-Mahad: 3/5 Lots of potholes.
Mahad- Poladpur: 4/5. You can easily average at 80 kmph
Poladpur-Chiplun- Ratnagiri Junction- Rajapur: 3.5/5. Road is nice, but lots of ghat like sections. One rather do a Mumbai-Panvel-Pune-Karad-NH17 than this route. It will be 110 kms more though. I took about 1.5 hours more. But I got more driving pleasure than the first route.
Rajapur-Goa: 5/5 bang on. Awesome road. There are rumbler strips at well paced intervals. I could go over the rumblers easily at 80+ kmph. These rumblers are about less than 1 cm high white paint strips. Not those scary tarmac speed breaker thing. But dont risk if you are not familiar as to how to handle motorbike on these strips.

Pune-Goa: I prefer NH4-Karad-Amba Ghat-Pali-Goa

NH50: Considering its state a year ago, it is appreciably better. I give it a 3.5/5. If you start early(say by 5am), you can do Pune-Nashik in less than 3 hours. Hypothetically, If you drive it in daylight(considering moderate traffic is there), you can do it in about 2.5 hours. I give this example to explain road quality and that drive time is increased because of traffic and not road quality. In night time(between 5 pm and 9 pm, where sunsets by 6 pm), I have done it in 3.5 hours(Nashik-FatimaNagar,Pune). WATCH OUT for speed brakers on service roads and diversions. Sign boards are well placed, so respect them. 4 lane expansion is still going on for good.

NH4(Pune-Mumbai): 4.75/5. No potholes. Little traffic at Dehu Road, Talegaon, Lonavala, Khopoli-Pen Road Junction. For me, If motorbikes were allowed on expressway, I would still prefer this road as expressway is made from cement while this is made from tarmac. I never continue on NH4 from Palaspe Phata before Panvel. I rather bypass Panvel using JNPT road. From Pune-Mumbai, one has to take the first right after Truck Toll Naka. It leads straight to Kalamboli. It is about 3 kms longer, but 10 minutes faster.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Very informative. Thank you for this post. Also I was looking to do Pune-Nagpur-Pune. Do you know what would be the best route? Or is there only one route ?

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

ROFL on that one.... I am still laughing as I write.

If you are talking about the Pune-Nagar-Amravati-Nagpur road, then yes, it is the direct most route. I have never done this, but two of my colleagues residing in Nagpur and working in Pune take this route by car. Still Laughing. I could sincerely correlate your quote to what they said about road quality. Hence, still laughing man....

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Not that I was expecting a better route, but try maarne me kya jata hai . That route is one of the most boring ones and with the number of jerks I face while traveling in bus, I am sure it's not in great condition.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

so did u do this route? i am planning this route around 25th december...
so any information would be helpful...

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

No not yet by bike. I have done this by car a number of times and it's doable. But pretty BORING! That's why I was asking for more options if available. Even I am planning to do this on Christmas weekend.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Pune-Nagpur is a serious NO on motorbike from my side if you want to go touring....

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Reason for this?

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

From touring Prespective, one does not want uneven, potholed, single laned, under construction roads and heavy to medium traffic here and there. I was to do Pune-Nagpur tour, but a close colleague of mine who goes to Akola quite often by car said that to go Nagpur only if needed, not worth touring.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Hello guys, I'm pretty new to xbhp, but definitely a tourer.

I'm planning to visit Goa from Ahmedabad during the last days of December.

I have Thunderbird 500 and my friend who is going to accompany, has a Classic 350.

I've gone through a lot of online articles and now frankly speaking, I'm confused.

The return is definitely going to be via Pune, in 2 days with a halt in Mumbai. But, we're just wondering if we could go to Goa via the coastal route which includes a couple of fantastic ferry rides. I fathom that this route will take 2 days from Mumbai to reach Goa. But I want to make this ride a fantastic one, with scenic beauty.

Can someone suggest my a good route? Along with where we can take the halt in between?

Thanks in advance

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

well, since you are on bullets, the slightly bad road conditions won't be much of an issue.
the total distance via the coastal route is about 600 km, so you can do it in 2 days as well if you want.
but 3 days gives you plenty of time to go clickety click

one route option could be:
Vashi - Seawoods - turn right at the end of palm beach road - wahal - jambhulpada - join NH17 at the toll - Pen - Wadkhal - Alibaug - Kashid - Rajapuri (ferry to Dighi) - Diveagar - Harihareshwar (first halt)

Harihareshwar - Bagmandala (ferry) - Velas - Kelshi (ferry) - Anjarle - Karde (Dapoli) - Dabhol (ferry) - Guhaghar - Tavasal (ferry) - Ganpatipule - Ratnagiri - continue south on NH 4 - Malvan/Tarkarli (second halt)

Tarkarli - Continue on SH4 - enter Goa

All points have been picked up from google maps for easy reference.

since it is two guys going on bikes, i suggest you do not make any advance bookings, and stop wherever u feel like, or once the sun goes down.

good night halt points are : diveagar, harihareshwar, velas, anjarle, karde, guhaghar, ganpatipule, ratnagiri, tarkarli.

there are many scenic points you can check out, like the birla temple near revdanda. there is also a national park around that, which has leopards in it, if you want, you can stay there for the night, but you will have to do an advance booking.