Tropical Island Gets Its First Expressway

Sri Lanka, an island nation of 20 million people, has just completed its first express highway, which, as Toll Roads News is quick to point out, is financed through a toll system.

1 minute read

November 29, 2011, 12:00 PM PST

By Tim Halbur


The country lags behind its neighbors, writes Peter Samuel, because it has been stuck in a lengthy civil war. Aid organizations helped finance the 60-mile long Southern Expressway, and toll collection is designed to help the nation pay back the loans:

"Five to ten miles inland of the coast the new 'Southern Expressway" parallels an old mostly 2 lane road forming the main street of many coastal towns and villages. The interchanges of the new highway are designed to be magnets for new development - residential and commercial - as well as catering to traffic not needing to be on the coastal 2-laner.

Extensions are planned from Galle to the east, including to a new international airport. The next 30km, 18 mile is due for opening by end-2013."

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 in TOLLROADSnews

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