Mumbai - Pune Expressway Experience By TAI'ns

[Tornado]

Recently travelled on the first of its in India , Pune -Mumbai E way aka Yashwantrao chavan E way .I have travelled on it many times before as many other members must have travelled by by variety of vehicles in various situations .So I request all of them to contribute here about their travelling /driving/facilities /problems faced /solutions /expectations from govt officers as most of the Indian highways are slowly getting converted in to similar roads.
I begin with self.
It was Sunday , I started from katraj (south Pune) the existing Pune bypass highway is getting converted in to 6 lane hence there are many diversions till we reach Dehu road from where the E way begins. I happened to see various world class automobile showrooms on the bypass road .Also saw Tata owned concorde showroom too. One can easily miss the diversion which leads to E way and separates old four lane highway as there is only a board available which shows the direction .Once we miss it it is difficult to come back toward E way as no immediate U turn is available.

Since it was sunday , number of cars was very less.I decided to travel @80 kmph .After 4 to 5 km I saw two bikers standing on the extreme left of the road , one of them was cop.I understood that has cought the other biker.(two wheelers not allowed on E way)

Toll Rs 165/-one way for car , could not read toll rate for other vehicles., however for Lonawala exit and khopoli exit it must be less.If any body is having info please post it here for the sake of completion of information.


Many cars were running @speeds more than120 kmph so I chose to cruise on left lane.but I felt my car was bit unstable.
There are telephone booths on pole for emergency on the side of the road.I decided to test it.There is no dial or number buttons but a single button which is to be pressed only once and and then you have to wait for response .I waited for the response but in vain.
Then I headed toward Lonawala , on the way I noted a HP fuel outlet and an eatery.at Taje-maval village .The outlet is company owned and company operated and is also eqipped with Nitrogen facility .
I filled in the diesel and remebered that the ride quality was poor(unstable) so decided to check the nitrogen pressure , remembering that last time I had filled in normal air top up in one tire.

Ideally the tire needs to be emptied by applying negative pressure , the nitrogen filling machine had a separate tube and button for it.He charged Rs 30 for it and Rs 10 /tirefor top up of other tires.

I bought some Lonavala Chikki , and some food stuffs , the quality was not that good.

Then I left toward mumbai again.the left lane is for heavy vehicles , but there were hardly any on the road.

when I was going through ghat section (Khandala aka Bor) the ride quality further deteriorated rather than improving , it was like wheels nuts and bolts were getting loose.
So again I stopped at Indian Oil fuel outlet where I got the wheel bolts checked , the right
front wheels were loose by say 200 to 250°. Then onwards the instability problem vanished.But I remember that when I was on bituminous road before reaching the RCC Eway there was no stability problem, it appered all of sudden as soon as car started running on RCC.

There after car ran without any problem.I saw a NHC stalled on right lane , police reached there along with crane .The bad part was that hazard lights of NHC were not working and the owner was signalling the incoming traffic with a blue T shirt rather than placing a hazard tringle on or near the car.
I reached Mumbai (chembur) at 1: pm.
About the return journey , in the next post
Posting few pics of E way.

 

[cotterpin]

Hi All,Nice thread to start with.

I travel almost daily on expressway from Panvel till the first toll naka.I feel it is no fun to drive especially because of concrete road,unmannered and unruly traffic.I agree there are vast patches of staright road where you can hit real high speeds.I myself have done 180 kmph my personal highest.But i feel 80 kmph is the safest speed.
E-Highway is witness to many gory accidents and numerous collisions almost every third day.
Recently read that Formula one engineers are gonna inspect this road and put their valubale technical suggestion.
Its actually more joyous because of sparse traffic and and good locales.Ironically traffic jams typically in the khandala section is a regular feature on the express way

 

[Gurrala74]

Hmm, Nice thread Tornado !!

I still remember my first trip on this express way during year 2000 I think when this was the only express way in the country I hope and every body used to talk about it and the moment I have entered on to it then I said WOW !! and I still remember the Indica which I was travelling was touching some 130+ on that white tarmac and other sedans were just passing like "zoom" and disappear from sight. That was my first visit to TATA motors, Patalganga where we were supplying some things for their export buses

Yeah it seems lot of traffic jams these days with lot of accidents too !!

 

[RPM2500]

The Best time to travel on Mumbai - Pune Expressway is duting the rains

Especially in a bus which has large windows - referring to the volvos, the view is just wow !

By Train the views are even more awesome

Its basically the Ooty Munnar type rains and clouds only difference is that your on a Expressway

 

[Tornado]

One more thing I observed during E way trips is that as you start travelling on it the temperature of the engine starts decreasing,.because there is minimal work for clutch and brake.
Few more pics from Eway.

 

[Ankx]

Good Thread Tornado

Here is my list of +ves / -ves after using expressway for so many years.. First few years as passenger and last 8 Years as Driver


POSITIVES:

• Amazing 6 lane concrete roads

• Idea conceptualized long ago and open for traffic for 15 years

• If the first of a such a Kind of road could have been executed 15 years back, it could have only been done between Mumbai – Pune, which made me a proud Mumbaikar / Punekar

• Now same technology roads are executed in all states

• International quality road construction and phone booths at every 500 M

• Dedicated fencing across all 96 km of the Eway

• Dedicated manned toll booths, security personnel, police personnel

• Only road at that time which OFFICIALLY allowed the speed limit at 80kmhr

• Time reduction of almost 1 hour to 2 Hours depending on which part of Mumbai and which part of Pune you stay

• Fuel consumption reduction of at least 10% (I have personally experienced more on my Indica)

• No more oncoming Trucks and Traffic Jams for 96 km

• Engineering Marvel with the Eway construction in Lonavla and Khandala Ghats – Truly Amazing

• Truly amazing views on both sides of the Majestic sahyadris, lonavla & khandala hill stations, Train tracks in parallel with the Eway, Fort Lohgad, and many other scenic beauties

• No food malls and petrol pumps to start with in the beginning

• Mumbai –Pune Daily Up Down – This was one more effective way of commuting now apart from the regular deccan express, deccan queens, sahyadri exp, lonavla local, etc

NEGATIVES: ( Most of them have come up in last 4-5 Years and are not Bad points in the Expressway Design)

 Absolutely pathetic maintenance now - Thumbs down for Maharashtra Govt

 Road quality same and only repairs are carried out here and there

 Practically everybody is in the speed range of 120 – 180 or more – Deadly

 Fencing broken in many places

 Two wheelers can be seen easily on all sections – Pathetic

 Govt’s apathy and making it just a cash cow instead of an International quality road

 Useless security personnel now

 Useless accident rate – pathetic is an understatement

 Cabs and Gutkha eating drivers and spitting openly on stretches at speed of 100+ - Pathetic

 There are plenty of signs of DO NOT STOP – People still openly stop on Eway

 Useless Neeta Volvos using the Eway like Runways and crossing 180+ speeds to reach Mumbai in 90 Minutes

 No special night safety

 Many food malls and fuel pumps now, which makes this as bad as normal highways

 Useless Road manners by fellow drivers

 Everybody is interested in the RIGHT LANE - Pathetic

 No ACTION by authorities on Openly flouting TRAFFIC rules on Eway

 No similar roads anywhere in Maharashtra after this Eway - Pathetic

 

[Iron Rock]

Great Thread Tornado and fully agree with Ankx observations, its become a safety nightmare now, I am a regular user of this road, every weekend in last 2+ years and i can hardly remember any instance when i havent seen an accident (fresh one everytime).

Plenty of private entrances made breaking fences and people using the road in whatever direction they want. People walking as part of processions and vehicle zooming past at 100+ just beside them - i have prayed that the god that they are walking for protects them, no one else can.

 

[Tornado]

Is there any info available about the speed guns installed by cops?

 

[Iron Rock]

^^ Yes its hasnt been working for the last 1 1/2 years

 

[Tornado]

If someone wants to go to Matheran from Pune , is it apt to use E way? if yes , then how?

 

[Superbad]

another question using sane speeds, how much time does it take to reach goa from mumbai?

 

[Tornado]

 Many food malls and fuel pumps now, which makes this as bad as normal highways
[/QUOTE]
@ankx, But I saw only 2 fuel outlets cum eateries, HP at Taje-maval , IO just after the ghat ended while on the way to Mumbai from Pune.(west side of Eway)

 

[Iron Rock]

If someone wants to go to Matheran from Pune , is it apt to use E way? if yes , then how?

Yes 100% take the expressway till khalapur , at the toll cross over and then join old bombay pune highway till chowk, from there follow signs for matheran.

@ Superbad 9-11 hours I guess from the beginning of expressway

 

[Superbad]

^It took me 11.5 hours to reach mumbai from miramar using NH17.
Do you think it is worth spending extra cash on tolls and covering those extra kms?
Asking this since i plan to go to goa this month end.

 

[Iron Rock]

NH17 tests your patience especially on a day with steady traffic , i would still prefer the expressway route - you can mix it up to and fro i guess - i find the expressway more relaxing comparatively