Skip to main content

Sri Lanka launches new highway traffic management system

Sri Lanka has recently opened the new highway traffic management system (HTMS), implemented by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, (MHI) on the country’s Southern Expressway. The installation is the country's first full-scale system of its kind, and it is expected to contribute significantly to improved safety and reduced congestion on a local expressway. The expressway, which opened in 2013, stretches 120 kilometres from Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka, to Matara. Construction work was performed under
August 11, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Sri Lanka has recently opened the new highway traffic management system (HTMS), implemented by 4962 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, (MHI) on the country’s Southern Expressway. The installation is the country's first full-scale system of its kind, and it is expected to contribute significantly to improved safety and reduced congestion on a local expressway.

The expressway, which opened in 2013, stretches 120 kilometres from Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka, to Matara. Construction work was performed under a grant-in-aid provided by the Japanese Government (Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA]).

MHI handled all aspects of the project from engineering, procurement and installation to adjustment and operation training. The system includes some 30 sets of full-colour traffic information signboards, approximately 40 sets of vehicle detection cameras, weather sensors and other roadside equipment, as well as the central computer systems for data processing, operating status monitoring, etc.

The expressway will eventually be connected into neighbouring expressways already in operation. New expressway construction is currently under way in the country in preparation for an anticipated dramatic increase in vehicle traffic in the coming years.

The new HTMS is designed to provide expressway users with timely traffic information during bad weather or accidents, helping to prevent congestion and accidents caused by natural disasters and improving traffic management.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cooperative systems - traffic management centres of the future?
    February 1, 2012
    What will the traffic management centre of the future see and do? TNO's Frans op de Beek, who was responsible for putting together the Cooperative Mobility Demonstrations which included the Traffic Management Centre at this year's Intertraffic exhibition in Amsterdam, offers some insights. The road tours and demonstrations which took place at this year's Intertraffic to mark the conclusion of COOPERS, CVIS and SAFESPOT, the European Commission's (EC's) three major cooperative mobility projects, gave visitor
  • Hard shoulder running aids uniform traffic flow and safer driving
    January 23, 2012
    David Crawford detects a market for European experience. Well-established now in at least three European countries, Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) on motorways is exciting growing interest in the US. A November 2010 Report to Congress by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), on the Efficient Use of Highway Capacity, notes the role of HSR in the European-style Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies now being recommended for implementation in the US where, until recently, they were virtually unknown.
  • Mexico’s Durango-Mazatlan highway sets tunnel safety standard
    August 26, 2016
    Mauro Nogarin looks at the management of the longer tunnels on Mexico’s Durango-Mazatlan highway. In recent years the National Infrastructure Fund of Mexico has increased investment in the installation of ITS systems on selected highways to increase road safety. One such major investment is the 230km long Durango-Mazatlan highway which is 12m in width and has an average speed of 110km/h.
  • Machine vision - cameras for intelligent traffic management
    January 25, 2012
    For some, machine vision is the coming technology. For others, it’s already here. Although it remains a relative newcomer to the ITS sector, its effects look set to be profound and far-reaching. Encapsulating in just a few short words the distinguishing features of complex technologies and their operating concepts can sometimes be difficult. Often, it is the most subtle of nuances which are both the most important and yet also the most easily lost. Happily, in the case of machine vision this isn’t the case: