Express-Way Updates

Le Sabre · July 7, 2010

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

Rumesh88 · February 5, 2014

On 2/4/2014 at 10:11 AM, Sylvi said:
I use regularly to go to Ja-Ela, newly opened Colombo Katunayake Express way. This Express way is a blessing to residents there.
Sylvi Wijesinghe.

Not yet I'm afraid. How long does it take for you to reach from Col3 to Peliyagoda ad to pass the same section on return? All your gains from using the expressway is lost there. Same with E01. For someone coming from Galle to Colombo it only takes one hour to reach Kottawa but it takes more than 20 minutes just to pass Kottawa town. What should have been done was to extend E01 with the circular section up to Kerawalapitiya soon after commissioning E01 and then to extend it to Katunayake. The whole thing is a much needed and excellent project, but when it came to planning or setting the prioroties they simply failed as they always do.

Supra_Natural · February 5, 2014

On 2/5/2014 at 9:23 AM, Rumesh88 said:
Not yet I'm afraid. How long does it take for you to reach from Col3 to Peliyagoda ad to pass the same section on return? All your gains from using the expressway is lost there. Same with E01. For someone coming from Galle to Colombo it only takes one hour to reach Kottawa but it takes more than 20 minutes just to pass Kottawa town. What should have been done was to extend E01 with the circular section up to Kerawalapitiya soon after commissioning E01 and then to extend it to Katunayake. The whole thing is a much needed and excellent project, but when it came to planning or setting the prioroties they simply failed as they always do.

In terms of the Katunayake expressway , the Colombo to peliyagoda traffic issue was a problem even before the expressway so whatever time wasted getting to peliyagoda was wasted back then as well, on top of which it took upto an hour (sometimes more) to get from kelaniya bridge to the airport area. Now the run from the airport to kelaniya takes approx 15 minutes, so total journey time is considerably reduced even if Peliyagoda/dematagoda/borella holds you up.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Supra_Natural

Reckless · March 14, 2014

Quote

Minister Basil Rajapaksa on inspection tour

Galle-Matara Expressway opens on March 15

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa on Saturday inspected the 31 kilometre Galle-Matara Expressway to be opened on March 15.

The road begins from Pinnaduwa, Galle and ends at Godagama, Matara. The new road constructed by local engineers under the Highways Ministry’s direction on the advice of President Mahinda Rajapaksa will make it possible for travellers to reach Kaduwela from Matara in one-and-a-half-hours. The maximum speed is 100 kmh.

Following the inspection Minister Rajapaksa said that after completion the Kaduwela-Galle and Galle-Matara Expressways will become one expressway from Katunayake to Hambantota via the Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts by the middle of this year.

The objective of these constructions is to reduce traffic congestion in the Western Province and encourage the development of highly populated urban areas in the Western Province.

The volume of vehicular traffic in these areas is around two million per day and most of them are compelled to move via Colombo city due to lack of alternative roads.

Starting from the Kottawa entry point the 11km-long first section of the Colombo Outer Circular Expressway is scheduled to be completed in three stages. The first section was completed and opened on March 8.

The second and third stages of this highway are expected to be completed by 2017. It will connect the Kaduwela-Kadawatha and Kadawatha-Kerawalapitiya stretches.

Work on extending the expressway from Matara to Hambantota is scheduled to begin in June.

Work on the Northern Expressway has already begun and its first stage will be from Enderamulla to Ambepussa, the second stage from Meerigama to Pallandeniya and the third from Ambepussa to Kandy. Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody, Deputy Minister Nishantha Muthuhettigama, Parliamentarians Dr. Ramesh Pathirana and Manusha Nanayakkara, Highways Ministry Secretary Ranjit Premasiri and a number of senior officials participated in the inspection tour.

http://www.dailynews.lk/local/galle-matara-expressway-opens-march-15

whmsujith · September 7, 2014

I think Electronic Toll Tickets are to be issued in CKE soon as I saw hoardings mentioning that. If anybody knows more details, please post.

E L N I N O · September 9, 2014

On 9/7/2014 at 11:30 AM, whmsujith said:
I think Electronic Toll Tickets are to be issued in CKE soon as I saw hoardings mentioning that. If anybody knows more details, please post.

As of what I heard from the officials, here are some details:

- They are going to implement it most probably before the end of this month.

- A card is issued from their customer office (@ thorana junction) for the end users which needs to be pasted on the windshield.

- It is linked to a BoC account of the end user which needs to be topped up.

- The electronic toll gates automatically open when you reach it and the toll is displayed and you are charged.

- They 'might' give a discount for the ones who move to electronic toll system.

whmsujith · September 9, 2014

On 9/9/2014 at 9:14 AM, E L N I N O said:
As of what I heard from the officials, here are some details:
- They are going to implement it most probably before the end of this month.

- A card is issued from their customer office (@ thorana junction) for the end users which needs to be pasted on the windshield.

- It is linked to a BoC account of the end user which needs to be topped up.

- The electronic toll gates automatically open when you reach it and the toll is displayed and you are charged.

- They 'might' give a discount for the ones who move to electronic toll system.

Thanks machan,

That means no "user fee receipt" will not be issed and I have to find a way to get the fee reimbursed!

Edited September 9, 2014 by whmsujith

The Don · September 9, 2014

On 9/9/2014 at 10:16 AM, whmsujith said:
Thanks machan,
That means no "user fee receipt" will not be issed and I have to find a way to get the fee reimbursed!

Tell the company to buy you the card

whmsujith · September 9, 2014

On 9/9/2014 at 10:46 AM, The Don said:
Tell the company to buy you the card

Yes DON, I can ask, but that is only for the first time, then to top up...neither me nor company has BOC accounts.

Have to find out validity period of the card, maximum top up limit and so on. I am using CKE around 15-16 times up and down per month.

It'd good that this is being introduced to reduce the conjestion. Today I counted more than 30 vehicles were waiting in all 5 gates when reached toll gate at Peliyagoda. It's same for every Monday morning.

Komisiripala · September 9, 2014

bro i'm sure you can find a way around this. speak to your company. even they want to make this a less of a hassle i'm sure. even VVTi has a similar issue. but electronic toll collection is a step in the right direction

Blitz · October 10, 2014

guys, seems like this gonna come in action soon..

http://www.lankadeepa.lk/index.php/articles/267315

dafq.

Ruslan · October 10, 2014

On 10/10/2014 at 12:45 AM, Blitz said:
guys, seems like this gonna come in action soon..
http://www.lankadeepa.lk/index.php/articles/267315]http://www.lankadeepa.lk/index.php/articles/267315[/url]

dafq.

Ha haa, wait till i mark these cameras as pois on my GPS.

in US there was this community based pois for garmin which came in handy for speed cam locations and cop locations. Gps device will emulate a buzz when above poi is near

Something similar,

http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles/us/red-light-cameras

Edited October 10, 2014 by Ruslan

Blitz · October 10, 2014

On 10/10/2014 at 2:05 AM, Ruslan said:
Ha haa, wait till i mark these cameras as pois on my GPS. in US there was this community based pois for garmin which came in handy for speed cam locations and cop locations. Gps device will emulate a buzz when above poi is near
Something similar,

http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles/us/red-light-cameras

apparently its gonna monitor you form start to the end which means a gps device wouldn't do the job, but is that even possible?

ramishkad · October 10, 2014

On 10/10/2014 at 2:36 AM, Blitz said:
apparently its gonna monitor you form start to the end which means a gps device wouldn't do the job, but is that even possible?

I doubt it will be implemented immediately though. If the description is correct that system is pretty sophisticated and will need to be on trial for quite some time to alleviate false positives and algorithm adjustments based on the trial data. If the product is according to description, it's a good engineering feat. But if it's going to catch minor speed hikes like 105kmph as the photo suggests, it's going to be a real pain in the ass because you sometimes reach these speeds while overtaking.

Ruslan · October 10, 2014

On 10/10/2014 at 2:36 AM, Blitz said:
apparently its gonna monitor you form start to the end which means a gps device wouldn't do the job, but is that even possible?

Well these cameras arent mobile, theorotically its possible. You mark the gps co-ordinates of camera positions, upload them as poi as in your gps device. Did the same while i was in US, worked like a charm

Edited October 10, 2014 by Ruslan

B2Spirit · October 10, 2014

Why would u want to go in to so much trouble to break the law.

After All expressway rules are not so bad and you get a decent speed limit of 100km/h and there are no single/double line issues to worry about.

Edited October 10, 2014 by B2Spirit

Ruslan · October 10, 2014

On 10/10/2014 at 5:09 AM, B2Spirit said:
Why would u want to go in to so much trouble to break the law.
After All expressway rules are not so bad and you get a decent speed limit of 100km/h and there are no single/double line issues to worry about.

Good point, let's say this effort is just for the awareness sake

Edited October 10, 2014 by Ruslan

maheshw · October 10, 2014

+1 we shouid really apricate our ppl work....if the product is same of atleast 75% similar to the one which are in us or other country we shouild thank these guys as well as appricite this work rather than worring abt capturing for any faulty...

Ruslan · October 10, 2014

On 10/10/2014 at 2:43 PM, maheshw said:
+1 we shouid really apricate our ppl work....if the product is same of atleast 75% similar to the one which are in us or other country we shouild thank these guys as well as appricite this work rather than worring abt capturing for any faulty...

"Only" if it's with good intention of catching law breakers and not to increase Government revene in the name of Police fines. Unless it will be a another "Wandurata Delipihiya" story. Edited October 10, 2014 by Ruslan

vishkid · October 11, 2014

I second what rashmikad said. This sort of system will take extensive testing before being implemented. I'm sure it's a pretty good job and they made the SW based on the data and footage provided by the Highway authorities .. the biggest variable they need to tackle will be how they would treat overtaking vehicles differently. Before you make a call on the speed or the lane assignment of a vehicle, you would need to know if the vehicle has recently (time frame to be defined, say within 10s) overtaken another vehicle OR is about to overtake another vehicle (in the next 5s). Even if 100% of expressway is covered with CCTV capable of providing a seamless tracking of every single vehicle, getting above right is quite tricky. Afaik, cops have never copped anyone for reaching 105 while overtaking another vehicle travelling at ~95 - I could be wrong.

And since I've dealt with moving image processing a bit, I can safely say that computing resources needed to accurately track all 1,000 (say) vehicles in the expressway simultaneously is NOT 'any ordinary computer'.

But kudos for the guys - hope they get to take this to next level.

ramishkad · October 11, 2014

On 10/11/2014 at 1:53 PM, vishkid said:
And since I've dealt with moving image processing a bit, I can safely say that computing resources needed to accurately track all 1,000 (say) vehicles in the expressway simultaneously is NOT 'any ordinary computer'.

What if it's an AI? What if the entire highway is eventually put on AI control? What if it becomes self aware and refuse to open the toll gates?

..i've been watching too many movies.

Reckless · October 12, 2014

At last the president has given priority for the Northern Expressway, construction will commence next month.

http://www.adaderana.lk/bizenglish/construction-of-the-portion-of-the-northern-expressway-from-enderamulla-to-galewela-and-the-portion-of-the-link-expressway-from-pothuhera-to-galagedara/

ramishkad · October 12, 2014

On 10/12/2014 at 7:17 AM, Reckless said:
At last the president has given priority for the Northern Expressway, construction will commence next month.

http://www.adaderana.lk/bizenglish/construction-of-the-portion-of-the-northern-expressway-from-enderamulla-to-galewela-and-the-portion-of-the-link-expressway-from-pothuhera-to-galagedara/

Good news. Is this part of the same highway that will connect Colombo to Kandy? Or will that be a separate project?

Edited October 12, 2014 by ramishkad

Reckless · October 12, 2014

On 10/12/2014 at 7:23 AM, ramishkad said:
Good news. Is this part of the same highway that will connect Colombo to Kandy? Or will that be a separate project?

Yes its a part of the Northern Expressway, which will connect Kandy and Jafna to Colombo.