Making the 18 hairpin bends an easy drive

*Bringing economic prosperity through road development:
*The most difficult road development project launched:

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The road that links Kandy and Mahiyanganaya or the famous eighteen hair-pin bend road was feared by many drivers as one of the difficult roads in the country. The famous 18 hair-pin bends made it a difficult road even for many experienced motorists and became one of the roads to test their driving skills.

But for more than one and half centuries, this road linking Kandy and Padiyathalawa through Digana, Teldeniya, Medamahanuwara, Hunnasgiriya and Udadumbara the most picturesque hilly terrain in the Kandy district and Passara, Mahiyanaganaya in the Uva Province was the only road that linked these main cities until the construction of Raja Mawatha in the early 1990s.

It also became an attractive road among the local and foreign travellers as it was a very rare experience for them to pass this terrain during their voyages to Mahiyangana or to the Eastern part of the country. For many children and also adults, counting these 18 bends during their journey and to have a brief stop over at the top of the hilly part to enjoy the picturesque scene in the valley of Mahiyanagana from the top of the hills was a very enjoyable experience.

Though it is famous as the 18 bend road people come across only 17 bends in reality as one bend was removed long ago after widening that section of the road.

For me, passing the 18 bends road was an unforgettable experience not because of the most tasty ‘Pol Roti’ we ate on our way to Mahiyangana from a vendor catering to many motorists passing the terrain, but due to passing this terrain in a vehicle with a suspect brake system in pitch darkness in the night.

I can still recall the driving skills of Abeyratne, a driver attached to the Mahaweli Development Ministry in the latter part of 1990s and the way he controlled the vehicle using clutch balancing to take us to Mahiyangana safely. It was the darkness that gave us courage to give him the green light but only realised the real danger of our act on the following day when we were passing the same terrain in broad daylight.

So it was a testing ground for many experienced drivers like Abeyratne to show their true colours and only those fearless drivers tend to pass this road in the night if they are not sure of the condition of their vehicle.

Therefore, the A-26 road which has more than one and a half century long history going back to the British colonial era in 1928, has served the people of this country in many ways by connecting the hill country with the Uva Province.

It is a well known fact that the road was constructed to transport the products of the British planters to the Colombo port. But historical evidence also indicates that the route has been used during the ancient time also.

From Kandy you come across the famous 18 bends after Thispana passing Ududumbara, Nisaruwa, Kovilamada, Thavalantenna and Tammitiyana.

After passing the 18 bends with a several number of reverse bends you can reach Hasalaka, Weragama, Weraganthota and Mahiyanganaya.

The narrowness of the road and the poor condition dotted with pot holes created a bad experience for the motorists when they were passing the terrain. A single mistake or defect in a vehicle may result in a huge traffic snarl in the 18 bend area as space is not enough for two vehicles to pass at once.

Despite all these bad conditions this road has become the most famous route for the trucks transporting sand and bricks from Mahiyanganaya to other parts of the country including the Central and the Western provinces.

According to the officials from the Road Development Authority, more than 800 heavy trucks loaded with sand and bricks used to pass this hilly terrain on a daily basis.

An assessments made on the road section has shown that about 1,800 vehicles pass the hilly area on a daily basis while about 3,000 vehicles are using the flat terrain between Hasalaka and Mahiyanganaya.

As the road was only three to five meters wide in the hilly part with narrow single lane sections result in frequent need for stopping for oncoming traffic and sometimes reversing to allow the vehicles coming from the opposite direction to proceed.

Though Raja Mawatha is there as an alternative road, people prefer to travel along this road.

So developing this road became a priority to reduce the travel time and operational cost of vehicles using this road and to improve the safety of road users especially in the area of the famous 17 hairpin bends.

Therefore the Highways Ministry identified the improvement and the upgrading of the road from Udatenna (31.3 Km) to Mahiyanganaya (72.1 Km) of Kandy - Mahiyangana-Padiyatalawa (A026) National Highway with the objective of reducing the operational cost of the motorists and also their safety when using this road.

W.K. Kodithuwakku, Project Director, National Highway Sector Project commenting on this mega road development project costing Rs.5,000 million under Asian Development Bank assistance, said the project became one of the major challenging tasks for the Ministry.

“This project involved in developing the existing road to a standard two-lane status with improvement to road side drainage by reconstructing eight bridges and replacing about 320 culverts”, Kodithuwakku said. 

He said the project was initiated in November, 2008 with the aim of completing it by October 2011. The delay was due to rainy weather conditions prevailed in the area.

"We also had to carry out this project while allowing the motorists to use the road by creating enough space for the movement of vehicles on the road", he added.

"We closed the entire road for the vehicular traffic only for three months at the end of the year 2010 when construction work was going on close to the 54 Km post to remove a rock fearing that the entire rock will collapse onto the road.

But the rock was in a stable condition and we managed to carry out the construction work without any hindrance," he said recalling the challenging situation they had to face during the construction works.

Around 1,700 workers were engaged in the construction work for more than 40 months to complete this task to develop this road into a four-lane road preserving its original features.

"The most challenging situation was that all these people had to work facing the hilly area on one side and facing a precipice on the other. But all of them managed to overcome this difficult situation effectively throughout the construction work", he added.

He also said 120 retaining walls have been constructed along this road to avoid the collapse of earth and out of that 40 retention walls to facilitate residents in the area.

"Safety measures have also been taken to stop possible earth-slips after having five slope protection around 39th Km of the road. We have taken steps to minimise earth slips through various measures", he added.

He also said steps have also been taken to erect safety fences and to install sign boards to guide the motorists.

Almost all the engineers involved in the designing of the project were from Sri Lanka and the project was carefully designed to minimise displacement of the roadside communities, he said.

"We have also taken steps to uplift the living standard of the people those who have been relocated due to the road widening by directing them to engage in self employment and also to obtain required vocational training to direct them towards self employment", Kodithuwakku added.

He said the project will benefit the area immensely and the increased mobility of people, goods and services will remove a major bottleneck to attaining faster economic growth of the area.

"For rural communities on the roadside, it will improve access to markets, schools, hospitals and other public services. This will discourage rural people from migrating to larger cities", he added.

Therefore, the commissioning of the improved section of the A-26 road or the famous eighteen bend road by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, will definitely provide a different experience for the citizens of this country as it will open the avenues for another section of the country towards faster economic prosperity.