Roads are as old as time. They take us to places far and near, whether on foot, car, bus or motorcycle. The concept of roads as we know them now originated in the ancient civilisations of the Indian Sub-Continent and Mesopotamia, while paved roads were first introduced by the Romans who developed techniques to build roads using multiple layers of materials of crushed stone.
They used crushed stone to help with the water drainage too. Some of these roads still exist in parts of Europe. The horse carriage and subsequently the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered car hastened the development of road networks all over the world. Incidentally, the very word “car” comes from Roman “Carrum” for “Wheeled Vehicle”.
As the number of vehicles increased, it became apparent that better roadways should be built to enable faster speeds, which would cut down travel times. This gave rise to the concept of Expressways. Italy was the first country to build an Expressway – autostrada in Italian – exactly a century ago. The Germans then followed suit with the autobahns (which have no speed limit) and the Americans were next with their Interstate highways that begin with the prefix “I”. For example, I-90 is the Interstate highway that begins in Seattle and ends in Boston, a distance of 4,862 Km. I have had the fortune of traversing all three and it is a great experience.
Expressway party
Sri Lanka was late to the Expressway party, but there have been plans for several Expressways from the early 1960s. If you travel through Peliyagoda, you might have noticed a structure now used for hoardings and billboards, but which was originally the starting point for an Expressway to Katunayake. That became a reality only after the lapse of several decades. The Southern Expressway was Sri Lanka’s first, opened in 2011.
Expressways are a boon to any emerging economy but these are essentially multi-generational projects which will see any financial benefits only after the loans are serviced over many decades, apart from the recurring maintenance costs. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has recently given instructions to expedite work on the 39 Km second stretch of the Central Expressway (a previous Government began this project, but it is in disarray due to various issues including allegations of corruption).
Right now, only the 40 Km Meerigama-Kurunegala stretch is functional, so vehicles have to exit from Kanawha and use the normal road up to Meerigama. Thus the middle section must be built without further delay. Then only should the Government focus on the later stages from Kurunegala to Kandy and Dambulla.
Once the entire Expressway is completed, access to the Northern, Eastern and Western Provinces will become convenient. The objective of this initiative is to provide safer and faster travelling facilities to the public. It will create an economic corridor with an appropriate connection among road networks. It is vital to extend the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system now operational on the Katunayake BIA Expressway to all other Expressways for the convenience of regular users.
Sri Lanka has a comparatively big road network for an island of its size (total land area 65,610 Sq Km), with over 12,000 Km of A, B and C roads. Even some developed countries have much smaller road networks. Many bigger developing countries too are literally miles behind Sri Lanka when it comes to roads.
The focus on the existing and proposed Expressway network has taken our attention away from the need to upgrade the existing road network especially in rural areas. This is important as the nearest town could be 20-30 Km away and a good road could mean the difference between life and death for a critically ill patient being taken to hospital.
Much of our road network consists of B and C roads which weave their way in and out of rural areas. Some of them, administered by Provincial and local authorities, are not in very good shape. Regular viewers of news on local TV channels come across a news item or two highlighting the woeful state of a rural road almost every day. These roads are so dilapidated that State and private bus operators often refuse to run fearing damage to their vehicles.
Walk for miles
The result is that schoolchildren have to walk for miles to the nearest school and even critically ill patients have to be carried by a stretcher until a passing vehicle can be hailed on a proper connecting road. Farmers in these areas are unable to bring their produce on time to markets in the city. The economic and social damage is immense, to say the least. Residents living on either side of these neglected roads often say that local politicians promise at every election to repair their roads, but once they are elected, everything is forgotten. This pattern should hopefully change now.
Even in so-called urban areas, there are some roads with huge potholes which have not seen the colour of tar for years. These must be repaired without delay. But at the end of the day, the road network can be widened and expanded only up to a certain extent. It is more beneficial to augment the public transport services in the long term so that the insatiable appetite for private transport is curbed somewhat, reducing the massive burden on the road network and also the fuel imports, as I argued last week in this column.
Moreover, widening and building new roads rarely solves the problem of traffic in any city. The simple fact is that whenever a road is widened or a new one opened, traffic fills it to the brim sooner rather than later. In the end, no matter how many roads are available, traffic congestion will not go away. Parking woes add to the problem.
In fact, while Expressways are no doubt vital, the President and the Government should focus on creating a better public transport network. Getting more private cars on the road is not the ideal solution, though the Government cannot deny anyone the right to buy a motor car in a democracy. Car imports are due to resume in February 2025 initially on a limited scale and we assume that there is a huge pent-up demand for brand new cars in the market. For an island such as Sri Lanka, even 10,000 new vehicles every year is a lot.
Car imports
But even amid the liberalisation of car imports, ways and means should be found to discourage car and other private vehicle use whenever possible. Private car purchases are minimal in cities such as London, Singapore, Tokyo and New York which have good public transport networks. Parking is scarce in some of these cities, another factor that inhibits car purchases. Some cities such as London already levy a Congestion Fee from cars entering the Central Business District (CBD) or a designated Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which New York will also be trialling from next month.
The Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration made a serious blunder with the unilateral cancellation of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system planned for Colombo. This also set off a diplomatic spat with Japan, one of Sri Lanka’s closest all-weather friends. This had the potential to take at least 1,000 cars off the road on the Malabe-Colombo stretch alone, without even taking into account the five other proposed lines. Hopefully, this project will now get under way at last. Had it gone ahead as planned, we would have been using it by now. In fact, Dhaka, Bangladesh went ahead with its LRT around the same time and the trains are operational now while we are still stuck in limbo.
There are also calls to replace the ageing fleet of SLTB buses with an electric, low-floor and disabled friendly bus fleet aligned to a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the major cities. A better public transport network will help alleviate the traffic woes in major cities and also prevent air pollution, making cities safer and more livable. Anyway, there is also a dire need to bring the private bus service to heel, as private bus crews have been allowed to run amok all these years, paying scant attention to passenger safety and welfare. Along with three-wheelers, they are the number one cause for serious accidents.
There should also be a bigger focus on developing the rail network in line with developing the road network. I heard a radio news bulletin back in 1980 that Sri Lanka would “soon” get an electric train service. Nearly 45 years later, we are still waiting for it. Indeed, developing and electrifying the train network should have been done first, before plunging headlong into Expressways. If that was done at least three decades ago, electric trains running at least 150 Kmph would be running between various cities in Sri Lanka by now.
It is indeed shameful that we have not been able to add much to our railway network, apart from a 13 Km line from Anuradhapura to Mihintale and Matara to Beliatta (35 Km). Not surprising, given that we actually truncated a line running all the way to Opanaike, which now terminates at Avissawella. An Expressway to Ratnapura, proposed by a previous Government, cannot make up for this huge loss.
A clean, efficient, punctual and comfortable train service on any given line can help take at least 500 cars off the road during the morning and evening weekday rush hours. It will also enable people to ditch their cars for long outstation trips (Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee). The President must give priority to the electrification of the railways with foreign funding, at least the main two-three lines. That should form part of a holistic approach to addressing transport infrastructure issues in Sri Lanka.
