To fly over and speed

Reaching Colombo from Galle in one hour:

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

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The 19 million population of Sri Lanka owns an approximately 92,700 kilometres long network of roads throughout the country. It includes 11,600 kilometres of A and B category roads, 16,500 kilometres of C,D and E categories at provincial level and another 64,600 kilometres of non-categorised roads under provincial, divisional and municipal level governing bodies as well as the Mahaweli Authority, the Department of Irrigation, Department of Forest and Estates of the respective areas. The density of roads in our country is much higher than that of the total South Asian Region, according to reports from the Ministry of Highways and Road Development.

A developed road network will be the key factor for accelerated, efficient development of any country. It comes in to the forefront of the infrastructure requirement of any nation, be it developed or developing even of the under-developed countries. For a properly functioning transport system a perfect road system is a must. This would make people's dream to acquire a developed lifestyle true. Hence, perfecting the Sri Lankan road network efficiently with the maximum use of available funds.

Basically it will let you reach office on time, less time spent in traffic jams, vehicles will be in perfect condition and no more "giant reservoirs" in the middle of the road!

As the Government hopes to achieve an 8% growth in short term basis and 10% growth in long term basis in the economy of the country, developing the road system becomes a topmost priority.

Of the total road network of the country, only A and B roads fall under the Ministry of Highways and Road Development. Other roads fall under the responsibility of the respective local Government bodies.

Under-developed road system is the main factor for the massive traffic congestions we find specially in Colombo and its suburbs, being the commercial hub of the country.

As the Ministry reveals this has led to low speed driving resulting in a more time-consuming transportation system (around 20 - 25 km per hour), more expenditure on transportation, environmental pollution, accidents etc. - a total waste of time and fuel, to put in a nut shell. This directly hinders the day-to-day economic activities of the country. Proper transport management system is essential in this back drop. In order to do so building flyovers, tunnels, broadening main junctions where necessary and improving the road sign system in a more organized manner and such remedies are needed.

Proper network

As a main step in organizing the road network system of the country the authorities identified seventeen locations that need fly-overs of which Kelaniya was completed in 60 days - setting a ground breaking record. Others include Nugegoda, Kohuwala, Kirulapone, Dehiwala, Edmonton Road, Boralesgamuwa, Slave Island, Welikada-Rajagiriya Junction, Orugodawatte, Armour Street, Lipton Circus, Cemetery Junction in Borella, Chatham Street/Hilton Circus, Station Road in Bambalapitiya, D.S. Senanayake Junction in Borella, Marine drive and Veyangoda.

Construction of fly-overs at Pannipitiya, Orugodawatta and Gampaha has already been initiated. In addition, two tunnel ways are under construction at Maharagama and Kottawa towns for the protection of pedestrians and to lessen traffic jams. For the year 2008 the Government has allocated 12,985 million rupees for the construction of the express ways and within the first six months of the year 5499 million rupees has been spent. Another 10,527 million rupees for the highways and 5015 million rupees for the construction of bridges. With the accelerated implementation of these development programs the second phase of constructing fly overs was initiated in Nugegoda on October 01 this year by the Highways and Road Development Minister T.B. Ekanayake under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Nugegoda fly-over is being constructed on the lines of the Kelaniya fly-over, according to the Ministry of Highways and Road Development. This 261 metre long and 8.7 meters broad bridge is of four lanes. In the first phase, two lanes will be constructed and the rest will follow. The construction work is carried out by Marbey Johnson Company under the supervision of the Road Development Authority. The total cost is estimated to be around 878 million rupees funded by the Government of United Kingdom. The construction is scheduled to be completed by January 30, 2009.

The Highways and Road Development Ministry and the Road Development Authority have to face numerous difficulties when initiating this type of development works; such as taking over the adjoining lands for the project, paying compensation to those who loose their lands, buildings and homes etc. The authorities need to work in collaboration with the traffic controlling division of the Police as well.

Expressways

Five projects come under the construction of express ways. i.e. Southern Expressway, Colombo-Katunayake expressway, Outer Circular Highway, Colombo-Kandy Highway and Colombo-Jaffna Highway (Katunayake-Padeniya-Vavuniya highway).The longest is the Southern expressway, with four lanes and covering approximately 130 kilometres. The total project is of three phases: first from Kottawa to Dodangoda, second from Dodangoda to Kurundugahahethakma and third from Kurundugahahethakma to Galle and to Godagama in the Akuressa Road, Matara. This road of 60 to 80 metres in width has 11 entrance positions and 16 bridges including four main ones connecting four districts - i.e. Colombo, Kaluthara, Galle and Matara. As studies have revealed traffic increases in the Galle road annually by 6% - 10%.

First and the second phases are scheduled to be completed within the year 2010. The project is carried out with financial assistance from Asian Development Bank and the Japanese Bank for International Co-oporation (JBIC). Eventually it will be only one hour drive to Colombo from Galle and one and a half hour drive from Matara. The Colombo-Katunayake expressway which is 25.8 kilometres in length, starts from the new Kelani Bridge and ends by the Canada Friendship Road at the access road to Katunayake International Airport. This road complex includes five inter-change points - i.e. at New Kelani Bridge, Peliyagoda, Outer Circular Road, Ja-Ela, Katunayake.

The express way has four lanes and the vehicles will be able to drive at a 80 - 100 km per hour speed. Passengers could reach Colombo in twenty minutes. Under the Chinese Government funding this mega project is expected to be completed within 39 months.Sri Lanka Government bears the total cost and also the responsibility of relocating the people, establishments etc of the effected areas and paying compensation to the public where necessary. The total cost spent to develop the lands for the relocation is approximately 200 million rupees and the Government has spent 4,500 million rupees to pay compensation to people, the Ministry of Highways and Road Development revealed. By the end of 2007, 550 families of the total 1350 displaced families were relocated in their new homes in developed lands with proper water and electricity supply and road systems. The Outer Circular Highway runs through Kottawa, Kaduwela, Kadawatha, Maththumagala and Kerawalapitiya with five inter-change points at each of these towns. The project is funded by the JICA while the construction is processing at present.

Pix - Vipula Amarasinghe