Zooming at 100 km an hour on the Southern Expressway:

A novel experience for Sri Lankans

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

For many Sri Lankans, having an expressway of their own soil is a dream come reality. They had driven fast on super highways in other Asian region countries, may be in Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore. We all loved to see such an expressway here but always thought it would be distance dream and may take decades to see their dream come true.

That dream is a reality now when President Mahinda Rajapaksa opens that dream road, 'Gateway to Wonder', today, when he ceremonially enters Sri Lanka's first ever Expressway from the Pinnaduwa interchange, marking yet another milestone in the road development and transport sector in the country.

No doubt that Southern Expressway marks Sri Lanka's entry into the path to wonders as this is the first time Sri Lankans will be experiencing passing 100 kilometres mark in one hour without being 'caught' by the Traffic Police.

Of course Sri Lankans are quite famous for risky driving, but this is the first time that they are going to face this experience within the legal framework of the country.

The motorists who have had the terrible experience while driving along Galle Road, controlling their tempers will get a chance now to put an end to that agonizing experience, with the opening of the Southern Expressway Sri Lanka's first limited access road and the first E grade highway E-1.

So the motorist will be free to drive at a speed of 100 Km per hour to reach their destinations and make Galle which was earlier about a three hour drive from Colombo.

At the planning stages in 2001 it was estimated that 46,000 vehicles pass along Galle Road at Moratuwa, 20,000 at Kalutara and 9,000 at Matara and the numbers were subjected to an annual increase of 6% to 10%.

The regular accidents and the resultant damage to life and property also attributed to the condition of the Galle Road and it was estimated that the new Expressway will cut-down the number of accidents on Galle Road by 50%. Therefore, the investment by the Sri Lankan Government for the construction of the Expressway has become one of the most highly beneficial projects in the country as it reduces the economic costs on various aspects accruing many dividends.

As many know Southern Expressway is the first Expressway in Sri Lanka and it is the longest road out of the proposed Expressway network in the country. The Expressway runs from Kottawa to Matara (126 km) and also include Galle Fort Access road. The section which is to be opened today is the section from Kottawa to Pinnaduwa including the Galle Port access Road enabling the motorists to reach Galle within an hour if they drive their vehicles at the maximum allowed speed.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank of International Co-orporation (JBIC) are the main funding agencies for this project and the section from Kottawa to Kurundugahahetekma (65 km) was undertaken by the JBIC and the section from Kurundugahahetekma to Godagama, Matara (64.8 km) by the ADB.Development of fisheries, agriculture, industries in the southern region, expanding the tourism presently confined to the coastal belt, along Colombo-Galle-Matara, facilitate the development of Galle port and the development of the towns in the vicinity of eight interchanges to the Expressway are also among the major objectives behind the project.

The interchanges located at Kottawa, at the 23rd km of the High level Road (Colombo-Ratnapura Road), Kahathuduwa at the 19th km of the Colombo-Horana Road, Gelanigama on the 12th km of the Panadura Nambapana Ratnapura Road, Dodangoda at the 08th km of the Nagoda - Matugama Road (Nagoda - Kalawellawa - Bellapitiya),Welipanna at the 43rd km of the Horana -Anguruwathota Aluthgama Road, Kurundugahetekma at the 13th km of the Ambalangoda - Elpitiya Road, Baddegama at the 12th km of the Hikkaduwa- Badegama- Nilhena Road and at Pinnaduwa which connects the newly constructed Galle Port Access road, which will facilitate motorists to enter and exit from the Expressway.

This will be the first ever toll Expressway in the country and the fee will be charged depending on the category of the vehicle used. The vehicles entering the Expressway from the eight interchanges.

All types of cars, jeeps, saloon station wagons, dual purpose vehicles such as single and double cabs, vans with up to nine seats, and all goods vans and truck upto GVW 3500 Kg comes under category 1 and the maximum fee for those vehicles is Rs.400. Passenger vans having more than nine seats and the buses with seats nine to 33 comes under category 2 and the maximum fee for these vehicles is Rs. 700. Passenger buses with more than 33 seats, lorries and trucks having GVW 3500 Kg and 17,000 kg and motor lorries and trucks having GVW 17000 kg (upto 3 axle trucks) come under category 3 and the maximum fee will be Rs. 1,500. Combination buses and all vehicles having more than four axles come under category 4 and the maximum fee, Rs. 2,000.

The fee on each category of vehicles depends on the number of interchanges it will pass on the Expressway and motorists are expected follow the lane traffic in order to minimise the number of accidents on the Expressway.