{"id":106995,"date":"2020-09-25T16:22:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T23:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106995"},"modified":"2020-09-25T16:22:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T23:22:07","slug":"a-possible-solution-to-traffic-problem-also-doing-justice-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/25\/a-possible-solution-to-traffic-problem-also-doing-justice-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"A possible solution to traffic problem \u2026.; also, doing justice for all \u2026."},"content":{"rendered":"

Chanaka Bandarage<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

After the Southern Expressway was opened (aka Southern\nHighway), a poor villager in Kurundugaha Hethapma told the writer that to\ncelebrate the opening he prepared and treated his fellow villagers with Kiribath.\nThe writer met him again several years after. \nHe asked the villager whether or not he was benefitted by the expressway\nand how many times he had used it. The villager responded saying that he was\nnot benefitted from it and he did not travel on it a single occasion.  He was still happy that there existed the\nSouthern Expressway next to his village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our return journey to Colombo, I said to my friend who\nwas the driver (he owns a latest model BMW sport utility v), that we must open\nup the expressways to motorcycles, three wheelers and InterCity Buses\n(including SLTB) (poor man\u2019s vehicles), (subject to conditions).  A frequent traveler on the expressway, he was\nvisibly moved and very upset. He slowed down and fiercely asked me You must be\nkidding\u201d?  I said No\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I consider that the villager raised an important issue.  These expressways were built from their money\ntoo. We are all paying off the massive debts that the governments have borrowed\nto build the expressways.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, only about 20% of the country\u2019s population \u2013 those\nwho own a car\/vehicle reap the benefit of them. A few luxury buses (who charge\na higher fare) are allowed to carry passengers on expressways; meaning the poor\nwho does intercity travel on ordinary buses are excluded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These three categories (motorbikes, three wheelers and\nInterCity Buses) comprise more than 60% of Sri Lanka\u2019s registered vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that Sri Lanka\u2019s expressways are confined only\nto high income earners is a clear anomaly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is discriminatory too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should not be the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently only the wealthy and the upper middle class\nexclusively use them, solely for their benefit. Even among them, some find it difficult\nto pay the expressway tolls that are high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explained to my friend that though vehicles do ply on expressways,\nmost of the time they are empty.  In the\nnight, expressways are like \u2018ghost towns\u2019. This is not so in developed\ncountries. They are busy all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vehicles ply on our expressways intermittently. The\nvolume of traffic is definitely insufficient. On the other hand the roads that\nfeed the expressways (ie, High Level Road, Galle Road, Negambo Road etc) are\njam-packed with vehicles especially with motorbikes, three wheelers and intercity\nbuses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said to him that not only my idea will open up\nexpressways to poorer sections of our society, it will also become a healthy source\nof revenue for the government (the government is hugely cash strapped). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be a massive injection of new funds to government\ncoffers. Also, my scheme is a solution to the country\u2019s ever increasing traffic\nproblem. The traffic on the main roads will significantly reduce as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explained to him that it is true that some of the poor\nman\u2019s vehicles may not be able to travel at the maximum speed of 100 km per\nhour, but it is not a serious issue.  For\nthree wheelers, we can restrict the maximum speed at 60 km per hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a must that vehicles should drive on the\nexpressways at the maximum speed. We are a small island nation, we can reach\nany destination by road within a relatively short period of time. What is\nimportant is the smooth flow of traffic on expressways.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that due to the addition of these new category\nof vehicles the existing traffic flow could slow down, but it is not a\nsignificant problem. As the expressways are without traffic lights\/traffic cops,\nvehicles will continue to ply uninterruptedly. The latter is the most important\npoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three wheelers could be passenger carrying or owner driver\nones.  There are a very large number of\nowner driver three wheelers in the country. In villages almost every house has\na three wheeler now. They will all get a huge boost from this scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that our expressways are largely empty, these poor\nman\u2019s vehicles should be able to easily maneuver on them. The benefit to the\ncountry and the people will be immense. \nThe benefit will outweigh any negative effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said to my friend that during very busy periods (Sinhala\nNew Year, Christmas holidays) the three wheelers and motorbikes could largely\nbe confined to the left lane or their access to the expressways can be completely\nstopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend laughingly said that countries like Australia\nand New Zealand would never allow such a scheme and I should be mad for suggesting\nsomething like that. He emphasized that expressways are exclusive for \u2018good\nvehicles only\u2019, and it was the intention of the government that built them. His\ndefinition of good vehicles meant sedans (cars), wagons, vans that only a very\nlimited number of people drive in Sri Lanka, and luxury buses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told him that one of the main intentions of the\ngovernment in establishing expressways was to reduce the country\u2019s traffic\nproblem but the expressways have thus far failed to achieve this. I showed him\nthat in contrast the bottlenecks created by the expressways have exacerbated the\nmajor cities\u2019 traffic congestion, especially, Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told him that Sri Lanka is a poor country and the\ngovernment has an obligation to look after the interests of the poor. The new government\u2019s\npolicy of \u2018Saubaghyaye Dakma\u2019 is to incorporate all citizens, including the\npoor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In regards to Australia and New Zealand, I told him that motorcycles\nand intercity buses are already allowed to run on their expressways and they do\nnot have three wheelers. I told him that even cyclists, huge container lorries\nare allowed on their expressways. These two countries have only banned certain\nland vehicles (like tractors) and pedestrians from entering the expressways. Their\nhighways are always busy (24\/7) and earn terrific incomes for the governments.  I told him that the situation in most western\ncountries is similar. They build their highways for all peoples, not just to a privileged\nfew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I further told him that the fact our expressways are largely\n\u2018dead and sleepy\u2019 is a reason for the frequent serious traffic accidents on them\n(speedy and drowsy drivers). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend (a \u2018Colombian\u2019) was visibly upset and accelerated\nhis speed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chanaka Bandarage After the Southern Expressway was opened (aka Southern Highway), a poor villager in Kurundugaha Hethapma told the writer that to celebrate the opening he prepared and treated his fellow villagers with Kiribath. The writer met him again several years after.  He asked the villager whether or not he was benefitted by the expressway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chanaka-bandarage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}