CMC Program:

Road, city development take centre stage

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The smooth flow of traffic within a crowded city has become one of the key issues to be addressed to improve the efficiency of the people coming to Colombo on a daily basis considering the loss of man hours on roads due to the traffic congestion.

Although there are many agencies to address this issue easing of traffic congestion within the Colombo city lies mainly with the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).

The CMC launched many innovative methods to overcome the traffic congestion within the city and also to streamline the flow of traffic on city roads during the past few months.

Synchronisation of signal lights from Ayurveda roundabout to the Horton Place roundabout, the improvement of roundabouts near the Public Library to suit the uniflow traffic system and the introduction of the pelican crossings in city roads are a few of the initiatives taken by the CMC to achieve this objective.

Improvement of the Galle road from Kollupitiya junction to Bambalapitiya junction as a model road is the latest project of the CMC to creative a sound road network in the city.

"It was under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the CMC embarked on the project to improve the section of the Galle road", CMC Special Commissioner, Omar Kamil said.

The road development project was launched on October 2, as a part of the process of turning the stretch of Galle road from Bambalapitiya junction to Kollupitiya junction as a model road where the uniflow traffic system is in operation.

"There has been a problem in this stretch of road due to the existence of the centermediums after the uniflow traffic system was introduced. With the uniflow of traffic system both carriage ways of the road vehicle flow is on the same direction and there is a lot of confusion", Kamil said.

"The CMC is planning to remove the centermediums and improve parking on either side of the road", he said. With the improvement of this road section the CMC expects to develop a model road which will help facilitate disabled people, to install countdown traffic lights, four lanes for motorists and a lane for parking.

Explaining the details of work the CMC has to undertake with the implementation of the project, Director Traffic and Design and Road Safety, Nihal Wickremaratne said that the CMC has to remove all the centermediums, railings and the street lamps to facilitate the development of the road.Street lamps have to be erected on either side of the road to make it a new design and new installation.

"We are getting the services of the CEB to lay the cables which are estimated to cost around Rs. 8 million. We are using the same street lamps on one side removing one arm. When we put street lamp on either side it should become single arm. For the other side we have to procure new street lamps", he added.

Uniflow system

The biggest challenge when designing this road stretch as a five-lane uniflow road stretch the safety for the pedestrians become one of the biggest issues that has to be addressed on priority basis.

"At the moment seven pedestrian crossings are there and there is a big demand for pedestrian crossings. Therefore, there will be eight pedestrian crossings between Kollupitiya junction to Bambalapitiya junction which will be converted into pelican crossings", Wickremaratne said.The problem with the pelican crossing is that people press the button and cross the road before the green light appears.

Road development work in progress

"What generally happens is, motorists try to violate road rules and cross even when the red light is on. We have improved the pelican crossing. The presence of the pedestrians will be captured through a camera", he added.

This pelican crossing system has already been introduced in front of the Public Library and it will be introduced into the section of the Galle road."We are going to integrate the pelican crossings, so that there would be minimum disruption to motorists and it will ensure the safety of the pedestrians", he said.

These pelican crossings will have the new feature as they will be equipped with some lights to illuminate the crossing in the night. There will be an overhead pole so that the motorists can see it from a distance.

The entire carriage way will as a part of this project."Curves have to re-aligned to be facilitate parking and the foot walks will be improved", he added.

Utility ducts

Apart from this the CMC will also incorporate some of the utility ducts into the road so that when somebody wants to lay cables or any other facility they can use the ducts laid by the CMC making a payment to the Council.

"That is to minimise the damage to road during the development work carried out by various agencies", he said.

The landscape of this road stretch will also be changed to give a new look to the road.

To improve the safety of the pedestrian, plans are under way to have an overhead bridge at the Kollupitiya junction. "That is in the planning stage and we are looking at the possibilities of accommodating it into the plan", Wickremaratne said.

The overhead bridge will be designed to accommodate schoolchildren and large number of people who are changing the mode of transport at Kollupitiya junction from train to bus and bus to train.

The other important feature of this project is that it will be a disabled-friendly road.

"We are going to have tractile to guide the blind people", he added.

"Parking will be available on both sides of the road but with a orderly manner", he said.A major problem faced by the corporate sector in this section of the road is the parking."They are the ratepayers of the CMC and with improvement of this section of the road they will immensely benefit", he said.

The Commissioner added that the CMC is also working along with the Urban Development Authority to give a new look to the business establishments in this section of the road.The CMC is working along with the UDA to improve the frontal appearance of those shops and business establishments to have a commonality in this road stretch.

"We have photographed all the shops along this stretch and we will be presenting a proposal on how they should develop the frontage of their business venue at their own expense", he said.

Apart from that the entire cost of the project will be borne by the CMC.

Director Works of the CMC, M.A.C.M. Fazal said that the CMC is using all its expertise and resources to make the project a success.

"We are not outsourcing the work. If we outsource the cost will be much higher", he added.

With the completion of this project the CMC will embark on developing many other roads in the city to suit the modern day needs.