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

  • New solutions to old problems set to cut emergency response times
    April 30, 2015
    David Crawford looks at the latest developments in emergency response. Ensuring speedier reactions to transport and travel crises is becoming increasingly important. US statistics suggest that as many as 1,000 ‘saveable’ lives can be lost each year in major cities because of operational defects in their SOS operations.
  • Freight poses growing problem for city authorities
    March 3, 2017
    Wes Guckert considers possible solutions and countermeasures to the problems of increased freight deliveries in growing cities. In January 2016, the US Department of Transportation (USDoT) conducted a session on the SmartCity Challenge and Urban Freight and Logistics. This session was a follow-up to the USDoT report titled, Beyond Traffic 2045.
  • CRASH Predicts ‘unpredictable’ in traffic incidents
    November 11, 2015
    Road crashes are not as random as they may appear and analysing data can reveal patterns that can help various authorities target their resources more accurately. David Crawford reports. Figures from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that in 2013 there were 32,719 people killed on American roads and 2.31 million injured. While these form part of an overall 25% drop over the decade from 2004, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx continues to stress that reaching the procl
  • Centralised traffic control, managing changing traffic demands
    January 23, 2012
    Paul van Koningsbruggen and Dave Marples of Technolution BV describe, using a national example from the Netherlands, how smart add-ons to traffic control centres combine to increase cross-centre capabilities and cost-efficiency. Increasingly, traffic management is becoming the natural partner of the civil engineer, improving flows over existing infrastructure to deliver an alternative to laying more blacktop. As in any emerging market, the first steps towards mature traffic management have not necessarily r