Driving out of Colombo’s TRAFFIC congestion

Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe LLB, LLM, MPhil, Attorney-at-Law

Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness - George Santayana Little Essays

Recent media reports indicated that the Police emergency hotline unit said that heavy traffic congestion is persisting in Colombo. According to the Police, traffic congestion has been reported in Bastian Mawatha, technical junction and Ceramic junction. Police said that there is traffic congestion from technical junction and Ceramic junction towards Colombo. Therefore, motorists were advised to use alternative routes.

A survey has revealed that the government loses Rs. 35,000 million annually due to the traffic congestion in Colombo. Professor of Transport and Supply Chain Management in the Moratuwa University Amal Kumarage who conducted the survey said the development process can be hampered as a result, and that the congestion was mainly due to the absence of a proper system to control vehicular traffic in the Greater Colombo areas.

The main reason for congestion the poor city plan wing, inappropriate public transportation facilities and insufficient traffic system, which leads to waste of time, fuel and wear and tear of vehicles, Professor Kumarage highlighted that the country was losing 1.5 per cent of the GDP due to traffic congestion.

More vehicles

Dr. Kumarage further said that the flyovers and highways would provide little solution to the prevailing conditions of traffic in the city. It would only create more congestion in the city.

For example Baseline road in Dematagoda which had two lanes before was made into six lanes to reduce traffic. Professor Kumarage further said that traffic at the Baseline road has increased after being made in to six lanes more than what it was with two lanes due to more vehicles on the road and no proper traffic plan, Dr. Kumarage said the Moratuwa University special degree in transport and logistics provides a management base but has technical components in the areas of transport systems, supply chain, and maritime and air transport, in which students can secure a specialization.

The Professor said that the congestion could not be reduced in one day, but a good city plan, friendly public transport facilities and a sufficient operational traffic system was the only way to resolve the current congestion in the city.

Developed countries

The Authorities also have paid their attention to construct a broad road to enter the city of Colombo, connecting it to the Bridge across the Kelani River, near the Kelani Viharaya, and to take prompt actions to widen the relevant roads enable to run more vehicles through the Bridge across the Kelani River, at Mattakkuliya.

Many people travelling to work are inconvenienced due to the traffic congestion. It has become necessary to implement transport methods used in developed countries as a remedy for the traffic congestion. Lanka C News reported that the Authorities have paid their attention on widening the by roads in the city of Colombo, and to direct the motor vehicles to travel on those roads, to minimize the heavy traffic congestion on the roads of the Colombo city.

A possibility study is now being conducted for the above task, while, discussions are now in progress in this regards, between the Chiefs of Traffic Police and the higher officials of the Roads Development Authority.

Public transport

It was reported that the traffic management strategic plan formulated and implemented by the Ministry of Transport has proposed to promote the public transport while reducing the entry of private vehicles to the Colombo city. Dr. Kumarage as the Chairman of the National Transport Commission revealed that the plan proposed in 2010 stipulated that the number of private vehicles entering Colombo city could be reduced by 50,000 from 175,000 to 125,000.

This would improve traffic speeds by 50 per cent and reduce pollution levels by 50 per cent. The policy proposed to increase railway passenger arrivals in the city by 50 per cent as one of the alternatives to reducing road vehicles. It further proposed improvement of the quality of the railway service and it is expected to start new services where feasible.

In order to achieve the desirable goals the policy proposed to reserve at least 1/3 of the existing road space within a 10km radius from Colombo Fort for high occupancy vehicles and such areas to be utilized for high priority bus lanes. Also, a pre-feasibility study was being carried out by the National Transport Commission (NTC) to look into the possibilities of introducing a new mass transit mode like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to city of Colombo and suburbs.

At least 1/10th of the space of all roads within the city area are to be reserved for the use of non-motorised transport and it is expected to provide pedestrian sidewalks and bicycle lanes where appropriate and possible measures are being taken to reroute the bus routes in the city and suburbs to reduce overlapping routes and to reduce unproductive circulation, transfer and waiting time for buses.

New transport policy

With this exercise the utility value of buses is expected to be enhanced while contributing to fuel saving and reduction in emissions. Surveys for this have already been completed and a few routes have been changed. It was reported that the new policy has targeted to reduce the number of goods transporting vehicles arriving in the Colombo city by 50 per cent by relocating or decentralising logistic centres and distribute activity outside the city.

It was revealed that according to the estimates over 830,000 people arrive in Colombo city daily and of them 90 per cent arrive by roads. Only around 80,000 or nearly 10 per cent are carried by the railway. The road passengers enter the city by 12 main roads and 56 per cent of the passengers arrive by buses while the others by private vehicles, such as cars (11 per cent), motorcycles (5 per cent) and hired vehicles (18 per cent). Over 200,000 vehicles arrive daily in Colombo. Of them 11,000 are buses, 15,000 goods vehicles and balance 175,000 private vehicles mostly carrying one or two passengers. In addition 250,000 vehicles have been registered within the Colombo municipal area. According to the new transport policy, the government will regulate the present and future traffic to manage problems created by excessive traffic entering the cities. (Source: DM)

Jay walkers

It is essential to take all necessary steps to reduce the number of private vehicles entering the city and to encourage the use of public transport modes. The National Transport Commission has already introduced a new value added bus service "Cityliner" to attract private car users to public transport. The "Cityliner" provides comfortable and reliable service to the passengers at a reasonable cost while contributing to alleviate the congestion in the city and reduce air pollution. It has been noted that jay walkers and persons crossing the roads without using the pedestrian crossings provided for this purpose also contribute to traffic congestion. Three-Wheeler drivers and some motor cyclists are in the habit of veering through heavy traffic adding to traffic congestion. The time has now come to encourage all citizens to use public transport and to simultaneously enhance the level of service of all public transport modes.

The Automobile Association of Sri Lanka has conducted road safety programmes and seminars to improve public awareness on traffic congestion and related problems assisted by experts in the field. In the future too the Association can provide a useful service to the public in this field utilizing its resources.

The Ministry of Transport is geared to take meaningful steps in this regard. With the introduction of the expressways and improvement of the road network Sri Lankans could expect an efficient transport system sans congestion in the near future.