Southern Expressway User Manual
If you’re not doing fine, call 1969.
The Southern Expressway (E01) served 6,000 vehicles in its first 18 hours, collecting Rs. 1.5 million in tolls and seeing one accident. As the latter shows, for this highway, it’s important to read the manual. The RDA has been running ads in all the papers, I noticed when I wiped my face with one at the lunch kade. Here are some of the relevant instructions republished.
Who Can Go
Cars, trucks and buses only. “Pedestrians, Three Wheelers, Motor Cycles, Tractors and Bicycles are not permitted to enter the Expressway.” The cars that do go have to basically be functioning cars. One thing to pay attention to is the tires. If they’re worn out they do burst, this has happened to me at low speed, at high speed this is disastrous. Another is wheel balancing, the steering wheel used to shake about 80k until I got the wheel’s balanced.
How Much (Toll Charges)
The E01, though not quite built as such, is a toll road. Hence you need cash, preferably exact, when you enter any interchange. The rates for ordinary vehicles are shown here. It’s pretty cheap. The manual takes care to specify that people should enter the right ramp, not make U-Turns when entering, and keep the ticket stub because you’ll need it to exit.
Where (On Earth Are These Places)
The image at right shows you what destinations these largely unknown interchanges connect to. My first question was ‘where is Kottawa?’ It’s just past Maharagama, so you can take the High Level Road (which essentially begins as Havelock Road) all the way. During traffic time this is a hellacious drive, FYI. You can also access the interchange through Battaramulla/Pannipitiya way, but that always confuses me.
The other option is to connect to the Kahatuduwa interchange, which is near Horana. You can connect to the Colombo-Horana road from Nugegoda, it runs through Boralesgamuwa. This road effectively begins as Dutugemunu Street in Pamankada.
Both High Level and the Horana Road effectively start in Pamankada (inland Wellawatte, essentially) and run parallel for a while.
What the other interchanges mean is somewhat explained in the graphic. Basically, if you want to go to Hikka, get off in Baddegama. If you want to go to Una, get off in Pinnaduwa.
What To Do In Emergencies
Basically, pull over to the nearest milepost, call 1969 (Summer Of 69?) and wait for help. The emergency lane is so narrow that you’re not even supposed to get out of the car except in emergencies. So basically, stop, put hazards on, call, wait.
For reference, the maximum speed is 100k, and you should leave much more than a cars length between yourself and the guy in front of you. It can take hundreds of meters to fully stop, so stay well behind. Definitely don’t drive drunk or on the phone, and if you’re feeling tired, just pull off at the nearest interchange and sleep. Habits that have no place here include U-Turns, asking for directions, stopping to pee, etc.
Hopefully these tips should help. The user manual is available in English, Sinhala and Tamil. As they say on the Internets, RTFM. Read The Freaking Manual.
I hadn’t realised it was a tollway, but the charges seem fair, especially considering the time savings. I’m actually looking forward to check it out when I go back in January :)
Fuel saving can be higher than the toll fee.
Perhaps the user manual should also note that entrance is at your own risk and is not recommended:
http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=192121159
In US as you may know, we do not pay to be on highway, freeway but we pay dearly to cross bridges. I pay $6 to cross bay bridge during rush hours. It is another matter in Japan. When we are in Japan we travel to my Mom’s ancestral village by express way and pay about $83 (at current rates) for 300KM. So this seems a steal.
The US has plenty of toll highways, particularly in the Northeast – most famously the NJ Turnpike, but also PA, MA, OH and others have them. I think Florida also has a turnpike. The tolls vary, but are generally nowhere near as expensive as those in Europe or Japan.
Yep Rajiv, there certainly are toll roads with $1:00-2:50. But these are non existent in CA (about 4) and the rest of the west coast. Yes East coast has those toll roads and if you really want can avoid them with or without GPS / smartphone help :) .
I haven’t looked forward to driving a stretch of road so much since taking the causeway bridges in the Florida Keys back in 1994.
From memory, some highways in Malaysia were built as two-lanes, only to fairly quickly have a rebuild to three lanes at great cost (and no doubt inducing the usual backhanders). Not sure there’s a need for three lanes here just yet, but the lane width is a concern, not least given the interesting driving habits of the average Sri Lankan. The lack of room to open doors on the emergency lane is worrying, worse still if there are blind corners. The cops need to be vigilant not just with regard to the way people drive, but also the roadworthiness of vehicles. If a vehicle doesn’t have working brake lights, it should not be on the road, especially not one with higher speeds. I’m also not sure about the 80kph minimum limit – if you feel the conditions demand driving slower, then you should generally be allowed to use your judgement. 60kph would seem better.
However, this is a very positive step forward for Sri Lanka. The current road network is dangerous for road users and pedestrians, it’s incredibly slow and adds significantly to pollution and a high use of fuel.
Yeah this minimum speed seems to be unclear. I’ve seen some sites claiming it’s 50kmph not 80kmph.
Most European highways do OK with two lanes most of their length, widening to three in high traffic areas.
KINDA CARS THAT WOULD GO ON THE E01 DRIVE 80KMPH+++ MOST OF THE TIME ON OUR ROADS?
LOL @ user manual. Is this the first highway ever in Sri Lanka? Whoever heard of a user manual for a road?! And what’s up with the no motorcycles and rickshaws rule? Motorcycles can easily handle 100kph.
It IS the first proper highway, and in Europe, you need to pass certain written and practical tests directly related to highway driving to get your licence. There’s nothing like that over here. Most bikes should be able to handle the minimum speed, but in SL that’s often not the case. Rickshaws can barely make 5kmph, unless pulled by the Flash. You must mean trishaws.
Rickshaw is short for auto rickshaw. In fact trishaws, rickshaws and three wheelers are synonyms in Sri Lanka. There are no human powered rickshaws there.
Galle Matara traffic on A2 is greatly inconvenienced at the Dewata Highway Access Road entry point by the Traffic Lights. The problem is there is NO big traffic flow into the Highway most of the time, , so it is better if the point is manned by Traffic Police personnel unil such time here is sufficient traffic entering the Access Road
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