Towards a proper road classification system for economic development of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Road transport is vital to economic development, since conveyance of both people and goods are vital for a country's growth. Within this context Sri Lanka too has been investing heavily on road networks during last few years. To sustain a a good road network, having a systematic road management system is essential. In such systems, roads are classified and recorded along with its attributes and all maintenance and planning is done using this system. Therefore road classification is the key and having a well defined procedure to classify roads is a must. However, at present, in Sri Lanka, majority of the roads are unclassified. In Sri Lanka, vast amounts of road infrastructure facilities have been built in the past and is still continuing, but ironically a proper classification system is yet to be implemented. Based on the current classification system, roads are categorized as "A" , "B" , "AB""C" , "D" and E class . Class A , B and AB roads are managed by Road Development Authority and are considered as national roads. The national road network consists of nearly 12,000km of roads. Class C and D roads are managed by Provincial Road Development Authorities and total length of class C & D roads is about 16,000 km. Over and above these roads there are many more miles of roads that have been built, yet not categorized under any of these classes and .. remained for years without a classification. Most of these roads are low volume roads and total approximated length is around 70,000 km. Majority of those roads are managed by Municipal councils, and Pradesiya Sabhas. The National Road Master Plan (2007- 20 17) has categorized them as E class roads. T'he : proper classification of all roads are important because it ensures that National, provincial and local government funds are spent on the appropriate road based on user needs and accountability is assured. Accessibility depends on many factors including the availability of roads, their condition, design and the means by which people can reach them and travel on them. Roads have two key functions which may not be compatible with each other, firstly, to enhance the mobility of vehicle users and secondly, to increase accessibility to locations where people want to travel to and from. Thus, high speed roads have fewer entry or exit points so that vehicles can better maintain their higher speeds whilst local roads have many points of access to residences, businesses and intersections which mean that traffic must move more slowly.