Express-Way Updates

[Le Sabre]

Havent heard much news on the southern expressway, colombo-katu , colombo -kandy and outer circular road projects.

Anybody has any updates on these projects so far.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Le Sabre

[DevakaC]

See i dont know if you are joking or not

But it wont work cause the highway is suppose to charge us a fee and i dont think everyone would be willing to pay everyday irrelevant of how fast they go to work.

Haha I was kidding about the traffic plan but not about the stalled vehicles. Just imagine a Prius stalled middle of the road as your taking one of those many bends on the freeway doing excess of 100kmph.

[heavyD]

Just imagine a Prius stalled middle of the road as your taking one of those many bends on the freeway doing excess of 100kmph in a massive ten ton truck with no brakes!

I took the liberty of changing your post, if you don't mind.

[The Stig]

Haha I was kidding about the traffic plan but not about the stalled vehicles. Just imagine a Prius stalled middle of the road as your taking one of those many bends on the freeway doing excess of 100kmph.

Ahhh what a sight

And imagine all the fireworks we will get when our folks try to tow their "High Breeds" with conventional methods and overload their batteries, boom ! ! ! Sweet

[SeanD]

Will we need to maintain a GPS map of traffic cams - like they do in UK, until they get savvy and start moving them around?

What most people in the UK who rail against speed cams don't realise is there is a reason why the cam was put in its original location in the first place - somebody once died there.

[Californikan]

http://www.photo.gossiplankanews.com/2011/07/southern-highway-pictorial.html

[ShintaroX]

Wonder how long they'll wait to dig that shit up to lay a pipe.

[Scooter]

Great photos, Cali, tx so much for the post. Followed link and had a look at full series. Wow, what a road project....so much work...some of the cuttings look to be spectacular. (Love to see some pics of the Colombo end, anyone got some?)

Interesting that the road authorities appear to have selected uppercase lettering for destination signage rather than the upper/lower case approach in most other countries. What an excellent drive this is going to be. (Who's going to be the Autolanka first! )

(PS, and completely off topic....is the international plate for SL, CL???)

[knightowl]

Good spot Scooter,

Upper/lowercase combination is the key to word recognition, rather than reading the whole thing. Instantly when driving high speed. It was there in one of the Top Gear program where Captain slow goes and meet the lady who changed all the signage in UK roads.

[Archfiend]

Some contribution from me to this thread!

Edited August 7, 2011 by Archfiend

[rangerover]

Very nice! I hope there won't be any tools trying to picnic on the road shoulders!

Edited August 8, 2011 by rangerover

[Bugatti]

Very nice! I hope there won't be any tools trying to picnic on the road shoulders!

Question: Is the highway accessible to motorists? or is it closed off for traffic?

[Californikan]

Question: Is the highway accessible to motorists? or is it closed off for traffic?

The expressway is definitely closed until it opens hopefully next month. MR has given instructions that it is not to be opened until everything is ready. What that exactly means I'm not sure since the rest stops and petrol stations are still under construction, even though the actual expressway is almost complete.

Last month four men in a vehicle were caught by the police for illegally entering the Southern Expressway and fined Rs.6000 each.

Also last month a trishaw carrying 5 people illegally entered the highway at Dodangoda. The trishaw driver was not used to high speed driving and lost control near Munamalwatta, skidded off the road and crashed into a bowser which was parked on the expressway. Two are dead and three are severely injured from that crash.

[Californikan]

Another great thing about the expressway system is that it'll automatically raise people's expectations and requirements and standards for their vehicles.

Once people get a taste of expressway driving, they will want/need a car that is comfortable and stable at 120kmph, and not just at 60kmph.

People will have a whole new level of standards and expectations for their vehicles.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Californikan

[Scooter]

Reckon you're right there. Cali, about vehicle expectations/needs changing. Lot different doing a steady 80+kph or so for a hour compared to stop/start around a city.

Police officers' memories of the early days of the UK M1 frequently allude to the trail of oil on the motorway leading to the blown-engined car stranded on the verge after it's driver's first real high speed adventure!

For those who might be interested, here are 2 old UK coppers reminiscing in the Northampton Chroncile (2009) about the first days of the UK M1.

Members of Northamptonshire Police's first motorway patrol team, set up in 1958, were reunited at Northampton Golf Club yesterday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the M1.Among the guests were two of the eight officers who patrolled the motorway in Northamptonshire for the first time.Frank Hart, now aged 88, and Dick Gimber, aged 77, were headhunted in 1958 to patrol the new road.Mr Gimber, of Hardingstone, Northampton, said: "It was totally different from what we were used to.

I remember it just poured down with rain the first winter it was open. It was very different from today. In those days there was no hard shoulder. There were no speed limits. There was no central barrier." Mr Hart, from Burton Latimer, added: "At the start all sorts of testing things would happen. Stopping on the motorway was the biggest problem. There was no hard shoulder and lorries would sink into the grass verges, so they just stopped on the road. In the early days we were told not to book them, so we were just driving up and down giving out advice." The pair said much of their time was spent dealing with flat tyres and cars that could not cope with the high speeds and long distances of the M1.

There were some other, slightly more unusual, jobs. Frank said: "I remember driving along one day and I saw a family having a picnic by the side of the road. Then there was a Sunday when a guy in a Morris Eight broke down. He had three kids in the back and in those days it was very expensive to call someone out. I thought I would do my bit, so I got my tow rope out and took him a few miles down the motorway."

Different days, eh? Wonder what stories the SExpressway cops will have to tell their grandchildren about the opening weeks?

Do you know if there is going to be a big opening event organised for the SExpressway?

Mygawd, I've suddenly realised that that abbreviation for the new Colombo-Galle motorway looks a bit naughty! Sorry!

[Supra_Natural]

Another great thing about the expressway system is that it'll automatically raise people's expectations and requirements and standards for their vehicles.

Once people get a taste of expressway driving, they will want/need a car that is comfortable and stable at 120kmph, and not just at 60kmph.

People will have a whole new level of standards and expectations for their vehicles.

Wouldn't that mean eco centric penalty boxes like your Prius are automatically at a disadvantage?

[The Stig]

Different days, eh? Wonder what stories the SExpressway cops will have to tell their grandchildren about the opening weeks?

First few weeks we caught plenty of motorist speeding and we made a butt load of cash ?

[Pericles]

Another great thing about the expressway system is that it'll automatically raise people's expectations and requirements and standards for their vehicles.

Once people get a taste of expressway driving, they will want/need a car that is comfortable and stable at 120kmph, and not just at 60kmph.

People will have a whole new level of standards and expectations for their vehicles.

Lots of people at Autolanka have a whole new level of standards and expectations for their vehicles than people like you.

[Intruder]

Lots of people at Autolanka have a whole new level of standards and expectations for their vehicles than people like you.

thumbs up!..!

[harshansenadhir]

Lots of people at Autolanka have a whole new level of standards and expectations for their vehicles than people like you.

Precisely the demand for high end cars and generally for Euros will increase with more highways coming in. People will start looking at safety ratings rather than km/l figure when buying a vehicle.

[Californikan]

Wouldn't that mean eco centric penalty boxes like your Prius are automatically at a disadvantage?

[Pericles]

At which point, as proved by Jeremy, a BMW M3 would be burning less fuel.

I guess the Prii would prefer to stick to the old road and go in the stop/start traffic there.

[Supra_Natural]

Speed is not the point genius, even a Maruti 800 is capable of reaching the speeds required for our expressway. What matters most for safe highway driving are things like stability and handling prowess, both areas in which the Prius and it's ilk aren't really noted for.

which is why the germans always make good highway cars.

[REDLINE]

Precisely the demand for high end cars and generally for Euros will increase with more highways coming in. People will start looking at safety ratings rather than km/l figure when buying a vehicle.

hahahaha....what a naive statement to make...what you think they have highways only in europe?? and only euros have high safety ratings and built for high speeds?...i bet you have bought a euro and waiting for the value to increase now....GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

[jdnet]

hahahaha....what a naive statement to make...what you think they have highways only in europe?? and only euros have high safety ratings and built for high speeds?...i bet you have bought a euro and waiting for the value to increase now....GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

Hey idiot. Learn to read and understand things before commenting. kthnxbye.

[The Stig]

hahahaha....what a naive statement to make...what you think they have highways only in europe?? and only euros have high safety ratings and built for high speeds?...i bet you have bought a euro and waiting for the value to increase now....GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

I dont know how to process that

Is this a clear indication of the failing Sri Lankan education system ?