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Message: <blockquote data-quote="monson" data-source="post: 21609185" data-attributes="member: 30005">‘BRIDGE ON THE KOTTE ROAD’ READY END 2O172017-05-04<img src="https://ceylontoday.lk/image_article/cc-04-05-2017-5.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />STORY AND PICTURES BY RAVI LADDUWAHETTYThis story may not have the same enigma and suspense of Bridge on the River Kwai where the bridge was in the salubrious climes of Kitulgala enveloped with the luscious greenery and the chilling meandering waters of the waterfalls and streams which featured in the 1957 British-American epic war film directed by David Lean and starring William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa. Based on the novel Le Pont de la RivièreKwai (1952) by Pierre Boulle, the film is a work of fiction, but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943 for its historical setting.It is all about the bridge or the flyover which is connecting Parliament Road at Rajagiriya where it would have the traffic flowing uninterrupted without the cross traffic from Cotta Road and Nawala Road.This is a Rs 4.5 billion project is funded by the Government of Spain and a Spanish contractor where the local contractor is Access Engineering. The loan is absolutely on concessionary terms payable in 30 years and that too, at a concessionary rate of merely under 1 per cent, Chairman of the Road Development Authority (RDA) Nihal Sooriyaarachchi told Ceylon Today.Civil EngineerThe RDA Chairman, himself a Civil Engineer said the contract agreement specified that the project was to end in 2018 but the surveys and the studies that he had done with his RDA team of engineers had revealed that the project could be finished end 2017.The strategic move is to stall the cross traffic and this will see that there is an uninterrupted flow of traffic on all routes, he explained. Quoting an example, he said if a motorist wanted to travel from Nawala to Battaramulla or to Parliament, he will be able to move without disrupting the traffic on the main Parliament Road highway.The funds are credited to the project and not to the government. So, there will be no way that the money would be pilfered or tampered with. However, there is no contractual obligation on the part of the government to pay extra to the contractors for finishing ahead of time, but it will only enhance the credibility of the contractor as having the reputation of finishing the job ahead of time.Three more flyoversHe also said there would be three more flyovers near the Castle Street Maternity Hospital and Cotta Road, both near the railway lines so that the traffic which is very heavy during peak hours in the morning and the evening, would be slashed.The project will have two double lanes and will be constructed in steel to ensure its rigidity where even buses and lorries and other heavy duty vehicles could travel unlike Galle Road, Dehiwala flyover. We have tested the strength of the flyover and there is absolutely no reason for panic at all, he assured.This is seen as the most important as there are ten morning trains on the Kelani Valley line starting from 7.00 a.m. and it is a repeat innings in the evening as well which stalls the traffic by a considerable period of time, leading to massive delays in the office traffic in the mornings and also in the evenings, both at Castle Street and Cotta Road at the railway crossings.Movement of trafficThere would be also another flyover on Baseline Road near Campbell Place so that the movement of traffic could be fast tracked on Baseline Road. The government has apparently learnt from the benefits of the Dematagoda railway crossings which have a flyover and there are absolutely no delays.However, the other three new flyover projects are at discussion and design stage yet, the RDA chief said.- <a href="https://ceylontoday.lk/print20170401CT20170630.php?id=20321" target="_blank">https://ceylontoday.lk/print20170401CT20170630.php?id=20321</a></blockquote>

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