Colombo-Katunayake expressway project

Travel time saving :

[Basic features ]

*Length = 25.8km

*Carriageway = Four lanes two way mobility

*Number of interchanges = Four

*The total estimated cost = Rs 33.35 billion

*Estimated Cost per KM = Rs 1.3 billion

The most awaited expressway project is now under construction. The 25.8km long highway has been designed in such a way anybody leaves the airport could reach Colombo within 20 to 22 minutes. This expressway has four interchanges, first one at New Kelani Bridge, second, third and last one at Peliyagoda, Ja-ela and at Katunayake respectively, this means only at these locations public could negotiate with the expressway.

At the Colombo end the expressway comes over the old bridge and merges with the existing Kelani Bridge and from there onwards traffic on the expressway will have to move together with the Baseline Road traffic or else have to take a route via Armour Street. Please refer to the sketch. This means expressway traffic too, will have to undergo all sorts of delays we all experience down the Baseline Road.

Just presume a foreigner who arrives at BIA and gets out of the airport by 7.00 am and then via expressway he will arrive at New Kelani Bridge by 7.22 am, then he will need to merge with the local traffic on Baseline Road and on a weekday he will take another 40-50 minutes to reach a hotel in Colombo.

So on weekdays during peak hours anybody who leaves the airport will arrive in a hotel in Colombo approximately after one hour and 30 minutes.

Being a concerned citizen my worry is whether RDA transport experts have had this situation known before they finalize the designs? Unless the RDA doesn’t have alternative means to resolve this issue, with the likely influx of motor cars in days to come the situation would be worse, resulting no apparent gain in travel time savings compared with the prevailing travel times along the Negombo Road (A3) despite users being compelled to pay a toll for the use of the expressway.

One alternative mean RDA could consider is to reduce the peak hour entry volume to New Kelani Bridge. This could be done using the two new bridges completed recently, which are under utilization at the moment.

These two bridges are the New Bridge at Mattakkuliya and other one is the Kelani Siri Bridge.

Handling capacities could be increased mainly by improving the approaches of these bridges and letting the road users known that the Colombo city could be reached via these two alternative entry points.

In fact the RDA should have done these initiatives well before. I am wondering why an organization having a strength of 400+ engineers is sleeping on such socio-economically sensitive mobility issues.

- Tharaka Uduwithana [email protected]