“Golden Gate Kalyani” will be open to the public today after 3.00pm - “Golden Gate Kalyani” will be open to the public today after 3.00pmHiru Gossip, Hiru news, Gossip Lanka News | Hirugossip | Hiru Gossip | Hiru Fm Gossip | Hiru Gossip Official Web Site | Gossip Lanka

The Road Development Authority states that the new Kelani Bridge which was opened yesterday will only be opened to the public from 3 pm today.

Most of the people who came this morning did not have the opportunity to use the bridge since the access to the bridge was blocked from the Katunayake Expressway.

Many people were trying to use the new bridge this morning and there was heavy traffic in the Peliyagoda area.

However, after 3.00 pm today, the public will have the opportunity to use the bridge.

The six-lane bridge, which aims to ease the traffic congestion in Colombo and suburban areas.

The bridge was constructed with advanced technology from Japan culminating in several milestones in transport technology in Sri Lanka. The bridge itself consists of two sections – the extradosed bridge section over the river, and the steel box girder viaduct section over the existing roadway. Both technologies are used for the first time in Sri Lanka.

The extradosed design enabled the bridge to have the widest span without piers in any bridge in Sri Lanka. As no piers needed to be constructed on the river bed, there is no impact to the water flow or ecology of the river itself.

The steel box girder technology enabled the viaduct section to be constructed with narrower curves to optimize space, and quicker construction to optimize resources with minimum disruption to traffic.

The Japanese contractors and consultants employed Sri Lankan professionals as well as skilled labor as much as possible. One of the contractors was a joint venture between Japanese and Sri Lankan companies.

In addition to the direct technical transfer through employment, the Japanese companies conducted training programmes for the professionals from the implementing agency Road Development Authority (RDA) to transfer technology for long term sustainability.

The New Kelani Bridge constructed with advanced technology culminating in several milestones in transport technology in Sri Lanka has been named the “Golden Gate Kalyani” (Kalyani Rani Pivisuma).