E01 expressway (Sri Lanka)

Southern Expressway
Colombo–Matara Expressway
Route information
Maintained by the Road Development Authority
Length:	133 km (83 mi)
Existed:	27 November 2011 (2011-11-27) – present
History:	Kottawa-Galle section Opened on 27 November 2011 Galle-Matara section Opened on 15 March 2014
Major junctions
North end:	Kottawa  A4  - Start of  E02  Colombo Outer Circular Expressway
	Exit 2 → B84 in Kahathuduwa - Start of  E06  Ruwanpura Expressway Exit 3 →  A8  in Gelanigama Exit 4 → B304 in Dodangoda Exit 5 → B157 in Welipanna Exit 6 → B14 in Elpitiya Exit 7 → B153 in Baddegama Exit 8 → B594 in Pinnaduwa Exit 9 →  A17  in Imaduwa Exit 10 → B465 in Kokmaduwa
South end:	Godagama  A24
Location
Towns:	Panadura, Kalutara, Matugama, Bentota, Elpitiya, Ambalangoda, Galle, Matara
Highway system
Expressways of Sri Lanka

The Southern Expressway, also known as the Southern Lanka Distributor (Sinhala: දක්ෂිණ ලංකා අධිවේගි මාර්ගය Daksina Lanka Adhivegi Margaya), Tamil: தென்னிலங்கை அதிவேக நெடுஞ்சாலை) is Sri Lanka's first E Class highway. The 126 km (78 mi) long highway links the Sri Lankan capital Colombo with Galle and Matara, major cities in the south of the island.

The Southern Expressway Project- SEP- was introduced by the Road Development Authority and the Ministry of Highways as far back as late 1980s. the University of Moratuwa undertook the Environment Impact Assessment — EIA study in 1996 and the report was submitted in early 1997 and in 2002 began under the "regaining Sri Lanka" programme^{[1] [2][3]}

Construction of the highway began in 2006 and completion up to Galle was done in November 2011. Later in March 2014, the section from Galle to Matara was declared open for the public. The construction of the expressway was partly funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, who were responsible for the 65 km (40 mi) section between Kurundugahahetekma and Kokmaduwa and the Asian Development Bank for the 161 km (100 mi) section between Kurundugahahetekma and Pinnaduwa. The expressway currently reduces the time taken to travel from Colombo to Galle (116 km (72 mi)) to one hour from three hours and Colombo to Matara (29.3 km (18.2 mi)) to one and half hours from four hours taken by the regular A2 highway.

The extension of the expressway to Hambantota was inaugurated on 4 July 2015. The extension will be four lanes (with allowance of further two lanes in future), the cost of US $180M is being funded by the Exim Bank of China.^[4]

On 10 August 2015, a Highway Traffic Management system was inaugurated and currently covers the length of the expressway, including the Outer-Circular Expressway.

Intersections

Kottawa Intersection

Earnings and Traffic volumes

Toll structure

As of now the tolling process is done completely manually (i.e. with cash only). Yet an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) System is proposed and in implementation process.^[6]

Toll for class 1 vehicles

See also

• Roads portal
• Sri Lanka portal

References

• Sri Lanka govt extends Colombo-Matara Highway to Weerawila
• RDA - Southern Expressway
• Consultancy

Expressways and Highways in Sri Lanka
Class E	E01 E02 E03 E04 E06
Class A	A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 A24 A25 A26 A27 A28 A29 A30 A31 A32 A33 A34 A35