Pune to Solapur - The Pandharpur Road

Yestreday we drove form Pune to Solapur via Pandharpur to avoid the under construction, traffic heavy severely and bottlenecked NH 9 that is being four laned for this distance of 250 kms. Checking the map we found a road that was of the same distance - 250 kms - and looked like it was worth a try. We drove from Pune to Shirval on the Satara highway which is a dream but then Shirval comes (40 kms from Pune) or so and then after Shirval you find a board pointing to Pandharpur and you turn off left. The road if being laid and you have an indication of what to expect as there are stretches of a kilometer of laid road and stretch of road dug up.

We threaded our way through that road up to Phaltan, passing by a magnificent lake where the contractor, IVRCL, had the four laned road laid to add to the beauty. The road winds around the lake and since we were there at sunrise time it was a wonderful spectacle. But the road kept degenerating until there were stretches where there was almost n road at all. The drive up to Phaltan (a distance of some 60 kms from Shirval) was a nightmare and is best avoided until the road is laid - unless you fancy traveling at 30 kmph average and keep bumping along. I was in an Innova and still felt the pain, so you can imagine what would have happened if we were in our Santro. The only good thing about this road is no one uses it - no traffic at all - but that is understandable because there is almost no road! But if you have a flat or need some help god help you.

Once you reach Phaltan the road improves and generally gets a lot better up to Pandharpur, a distance of some 110 kms, and then there is a fine road from Pandhapur to Mohol.(40 kms). Once you hit the highway connecting Pune to Solapur you find that the heavy traffic makes you actually feel thankful for the other road. Mohol to Solapur is only 30 kms but it is a painful drive. There is little to toss up between the Pune- Shirval-Phaltan-Pandhapur-Mohol- Solapur road and the Pune-Solapur NH9, as of now. But if the road between Shirval and Phaltan is laid then you have a really good thing going as long as you are not traveling in the palki season when lakhs of devotees congregate at Pandharpur (normally June-July season). Alternately if one can find a decent route for Pune to Phaltan and make it in under two hours, then the drive to Pandharpur and Mohol is good.

The 250 kms drive from Pune to Mohol took 5 hrs and 45 minutes which is an improvement over the 6 hours and 30 minutes that the NH9 took a week ago but its still too long. What beats my comprehension is how these alternate roads were not developed or envisaged to lessen traffic on the NH9 which is in a pathetic state. This road would have been a wonderful alternative if the roads had been in normal state highway state. It amazes me how little thought or foresight goes on in the government and how things just go on in any fashion they deem fit. As you go from Maharashtra to Karnataka roads you heave a sigh of relief and when you hit the Andhra Pradesh stretch of 122 kms till Hyderabad you cannot but exclaim and say, wow, what roads! The Pune-Solapur stretch should take a year to get completer and until then it is better to take the train or find alternate roads. I wonder if there is some other road that connects Solapur-Pune - even if it is longer by 60-75 kms and is in state highway condition, it would be worth it if we could do 300 kms in say 5 hours.