The Airport Expressway, second to none

by Ranil Wijayapala

The four Interchanges

It was not long ago when Sri Lankans thought that construction of expressways is only a daydream for a country such as Sri Lanka and were reconciled to the dilapidated roads which were done up over and over again, just to make the cities accessible to people and fit for vehicles to plough through!. They planned their journeys within the small island, in terms of days as they knew that it would be impossible to reach one end of the country and return on the same day, using the existing roads. Many Sri Lankans who had been to South East Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia could see for themselves how their expressways have been developed within a short period of time.

Sri Lanka had her first expressway experience with the opening of the Southern Expressway from Kottawa to Galle reducing the two-and-half hour journey from Colombo to Galle to a one hour run. It will be extended soon to Matara making the southern city only one and a half hours away from Colombo. Today, almost two years later we are witnessing the opening of Sri Lanka's second expressway, the Colombo- Katunayake Expressway by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who put the long-awaited expressway road map of Sri Lanka on a fast track and made it a reality.

The Outer Circular road, the Norther expressway and Kandy expressway will come to a reality soon. Sri Lanka constructed this high mobility link between the Bandaranaike International Airport and Colombo, the commercial capital only after the first international airport was set up at Katunayake 4 1/2 decades ago.

Sri Lanka could enjoy the benefits of having such a high mobility link when it welcomes 53 Heads of States of the Commonwealth countries to their Meeting in Colombo, a milestone event in the international affairs of the country.

Motorists could now have a hazzle-free ride along the Katunayake expressway from the Kelani bridge entrance at Peliyagoda to the Airport. Although many alternative routes were studied for the construction of this expressway, the trace through Peliyagoda, Mabole and Muthurajawela marshes was finally selected for the project as it caused minimum inconvenience to the public and reduced enormous land acquisition costs by avoiding densely-populated areas.

After introducing a few amendments to the trace, approval of the Central Environmental Authority was obtained for the 25.8km long expressway. Subsequently, this trace was finalized from the new Kelani Bridge/Bandaranaike roundabout at Peliyagoda to the Airport.

The Cabinet in May 2006 approved the proposal to construct the expressway with financial assistance from the EXIM Bank of China on a twenty year loan scheme. The estimated cost of the project was US$ 292.4 million. The China Metallurgical Group Corporation had been awarded the contract to construct the expressway.

The construction agreement was signed in 2008 and the actual construction started in August 2009 to be completed within 36 months.

According to Project Director Pushpa Gunaratne a direct labour force of about 1000 locals and over 50,000 indirect workforce and about 500 Chinese workers had been employed, for the purpose.

The 4-lane user-fee levying expressway with a speed limit of 100kmph has been constructed according to international standards to ensure the safety of all road users. The mental and physical comfort of all passengers including drivers is also assured.

"The cost of the project had escalated over the years due to the wider scope of work and inclusion of new systems and other safety measures, the Project Director said.

According to him there are 100 box culverts and about 40 bridges and four inter changes at New Kelani Bridge, Peliyagoda, Ja-Ela and Katunayaka. Another interchange will be provided at Kerawalapitiya to connect the Outer Circular Road with the expressway in due cause.

Though the entry point to the highway is located closer to the new Kelaniya bridge, the user-fee levying expressway starts at the Peliyagoda interchange, about 1.8kms after the new Kelaniya bridge. Therefore, the vehicles using the Expressway can enter from the new Kelaniya bridge entry point and those who use the expressway can proceed through the user-fee station at the Peliyagoda interchange while others can exit to the Colombo-Kandy road or the Peliyagoda-Puttalam road via this interchange by-passing the User-fee station.

Motorists who enter from the Peliyagoda interchange will not be issued an entry ticket and have to pay the user-fee before exit at Katunayake. Those entering from the interchange at Ja-Ela, would be issued an entry ticket and have to pay at the end of the journey either at Peliyagoda or Katunayake. Motorists entering from Katunayake will not be issued an entry ticket but have to pay at the end of the journey at Peliyagoda or Ja-Ela. This is to reduce delays in the issue of tickets.

Project Director, Pushpa Gunaratne said that the most challenging task was to complete the job with the minimum inconvenience to the public and to ensure smooth flow of traffic during the construction of the viaduct over the Colombo-Negombo Road at Mabole, Katunayake Airport junction and the Hunupitiya level crossing. "We faced these challenges effectively by using the latest technology and efficient management", he said.

He said the landscaping of the expressway was one of the highlights which are not available in the Southern expressway. We will maintain this as an eco-friendly expressway with the beautiful landscaping in the middle of the road. The beauty of the road is enhanced when it runs parallel to the Muthurajawela marsh and the scenic Negombo lagoon".

The expressway has been constructed up to international standards and there will be round the clock surveillance through the control room at Seeduwa. "We will have our main control room at Seeduwa. The entire road will be under CCTV surveillance. The Seeduwa control room will also have a Fire Brigade, Police station and toll centre monitoring systems with CCTV cameras", Gunaratne added.

Drastic steps have also been taken to mitigate the environmental impact of the project, basically to mitigate floods, since the Expressway has been constructed having filled the environmentally sensitive Muthurajawela marshland.

"To mitigate floods due to the blockade of the waterways in Muthurajawela, we constructed 42 bridges to facilitate the smooth flow of water. Another 102 large-sized box culverts were also constructed to facilitate the smooth flow of water in the marshland", he said. "We have improved the Old Dutch Canal across the Muthurajawela marsh to mitigate floods in the area and the canal will be widened to 40 metres.

This canal is about eight kilometers in length and some sections of it have been neglected for a considerable period. The project has already been completed giving new look to the area", he said. The trace through the Muthurajawela was selected since it avoids the displacement of families. Only 700 families had to be shifted and the owners had been compensated amounty to Rs.3 billion.

"By doing so we incurred additional costs. Although the project was estimated to cost US$ 292 million, it rose to US$ 335 million, for construction purposes alone", he said. Explaining the plans to reduce the traffic congestion at the Peliyagoda junction, Gunaratne said a new bridge across the Kelani Ganaga will be completed within the next two years.

There is a plan to connect this bridge to an elevated highway starting from Peliyagoda. "Therefore, traffic congestion could be managed in the future when those structure are completed", he added. e Government has spent US $ 350 million on the project, Ports and Highways Ministry Secretary Ranjith Premasiri said.

If not for the guidance and leadership of President Rajapaksa this project would not have been a reality today", he added.Project Minister for Port Development and Highways Nirmala Kothalawala said that the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway has become a reality under the visionary leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as he was committed to make the dream of the nation come true under the Mahinda Chinthana. Similar to the way we fulfilled the expectations of the people with the implementation of the Southern Expressway we are fulfilling another dream of the people today with the opening of the Colombo Katunayake expressway, the Minister said.

"President Rajapaksa has instructed us to give top priority for the protection of the environment in future too". Even those who criticised the project are using it today, he said. More than 15,000 vehicles will use this road daily. The savings we could effect under this project can be invested for the future development of the country", the Minister said.