Open letter to IGP, Traffic DIG, Kollupitiya Traffic OIC

Having worked as a road building engineer in Europe and the US for more than 30 years, I returned to Sri Lanka, last year. I am currently living in Colombo South and travel to Colombo Fort a few days a week during the morning rush hour, which I cannot avoid.

Sri Lanka’s road network, especially in Colombo, is reasonably good in comparison to those in the developing world, and chaos on roads in the city and its suburbs can be tackled effectively if the police adopt effective traffic management and consult experts in related fields. Life is a process of learning. (I have learnt from my junior colleagues!) Instead, the police practise traffic control, which experts frown on.

Yesterday (03), I left home around 7.30 am, took the Marine Drive and got close to the Kollupitiya Railway Station around 7.55 am. (The police did an excellent job at the William Grinding Mill junction and at other intersections along the way!) There was a long line of vehicles near the Kollupitiya railway station and it did not move at all, and by the time I passed the Kolluptiya junction, it was around 8.20 am. Hundreds of motorists and bus commuters wasted nearly 30 minutes.

There were a couple of police personnel controlling traffic at the Kollupitiya Junction, and they obviously did not know what they were doing. I could see congestion on the Galle Road as well. On certain days, I take the Galle Road in a bid to avoid the congested section of the Marine Drive near the railway station, but still get stuck in traffic for nearly 20 minutes. This is because the police interrupt the two flows of traffic on the Galle Road and the Marine Drive from time to time, according to their whims and fancies. Vehicular traffic is like water; its flow must not be interrupted because interruptions cause overflows.

There are several factors that contribute to traffic congestion at the Kollupitiya junction. One is that many buses are parked near the railway station, blocking one lane with some of them moving into other lanes blocking them as well. Thereafter they proceed hogging the left lane and turn right at the junction, disrupting the flow of vehicles moving towards Fort. Buses must not be allowed to idle near the railway station and made to stick to the inner lane so that they can turn right at the junction ahead without hindering the flow of vehicles behind them.

This best option is that buses should park on the other side of the Marine Drive facing Bambalapitiya and proceed a little distance in the same direction before turning left and reaching the Galle Road, where they can turn right again. A policeman can be stationed at the turn-off to facilitate their movement again oncoming traffic. Then, the vehicles on the left lane of the Marine Drive can move past the railway station without being obstructed, and they should be allowed to move continuously even past the colour lights at St. Michael’s Road intersection, where vehicles on all lanes moving toward Fort are unnecessarily stopped for vehicles reaching the Galle Road from St. Michael’s Road to turn right towards Fort. It does not make any sense to stop the left lane traffic as vehicles from St. Michael’s Road can turn right, using the other lanes. (This is the standard practice in other countries.)

There are two pedestrian crossings between the Kollupitiya Railway station and the Galle Road, the distance between them being about 30 metres. One crossing is more than enough with a policeman helping pedestrians.

When the Marine Drive traffic flow continuously, that on the Galle Road does not have to be stopped; the two middle lanes can be kept open for vehicles to move towards Fort.

Traffic can be managed at the Kollupitiya junction with the help of only four experienced policemen capable of innovative thinking. My experience is that we have enough and more of such officers, but they are not given a free hand, and most of the police personnel deployed on roads are inexperienced.

Mr. IGP, Mr. Traffic DIG and Mr. Traffic OIC (Kollupitiya), please follow what I have outlined above and help ease congestion at the Kollupitiya Junction. I am sure you can do it.

I grant that the police are doing a thankless job. They are also overworked and underpaid. I doff my hat to them. But they can do better.

Eng. P. W. Rajapaksa

Nedimale