Chapter 5

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY

5.1 General

This chapter will select the routes that have the basic physical characteristics for a navigable transport system within CMR out of a selection of the best routes that poses a reasonable potential for operating a public transport system will be identified.

5.2 Identified Waterway Routes in CMR.

Five independent waterway systems listed below, can be identified on existing physical conditions to provide navigable channels connecting key transport nodes. These are,

1. system from up to Hanwella in Northern

CMR.

2. Hamilton Canal System from to Negambo town via

Kelani River from Peliyagoda, Hamilton Canal, Negambo Lagoon

in the Northern CMR.

39 3. Colombo system in Central CMR.

4. Wellawatte-Kirillapone Canal system in Central CMR.

5. system in Southern CMR.

The above five systems cannot be considered as a single system due to lack of navigability of the interconnecting waterways and have been considered as independent systems. However, out of the above five systems only the two systems; Colombo Beira Lake and Wellawatte-

Kirillapone Canal system in the Central CMR poses the basic characteristics for public transport and elimination of the other three would be justified as follows.

5.2.1 Justification of Non Feasible Routes

5.2.1.1 Kelani River System

The elimination of this system for public transport is solely on environmental grounds. Colombo's main water supply intake lies at

Ambatale, approximately 10 kms upstream of St. Sebastian Canal and

15 kms upstream from the river mouth. At the confluence of the St.

Sebastian Canal, the water quality of the Kelani River is poor, and is degraded by the industrial and domestic wastewater outfall of the

Greater Colombo area. Thus any kind of motorised navigation would further degrade the water quality of the Kelani River, which has a huge economic cost on the country.

Furthermore, the river regime is influenced by the intrusion of seawater in the estuary. A salinity level along the river depends mainly on the upstream fresh water discharge, but also on the seawater volume that penetrates into the river with strong tides. Salt intrusion is also favoured by sand extraction from the riverbed (UDA, 1996).

According to DHI, Kelani River water near Ambatale presently has a

40 salinity level of 0.5%, which is acceptable for drinking water. But there is a proposal by the environmental authorities to construct a salinity barrier across the Kelani River to mitigate this problem, which would hamper navigation beyond that point.

Hence by considering the environmental impacts, which also needs further studies to be assessed, and the future developments on the system, it can be eliminated as technically non-feasible.

5.2.1.2 Hamilton Canal Syste m

Table 5.1 Road speeds & Passenger flows on Negambo Road Corridor. (1999)

Dist. On Modal Share (%) Avg Road Total Pax. Location A3 Speed ('000) Bus PV Rail (Km) (Km/h)

Victoria Bridge 1.7 237 61.7 34.9 3.4 26.4

Peliyagoda 3.0 289 59.0 38.0 2.9 24.0

Wattala 7.0 213 63.6 32.4 4.0 30.6

Thudella 17.0 138 69.0 25.6 5.4 32.7

Kochikade 39.4 116 78.3 18.0 3.7 37.9 (CMR Boundary)

Source: CUTS2 Working Paper 25, 1999

The road speeds and passenger flow on the corridor from Colombo to

Negambo along the A3 highway are tabulated in Table 5.1 (Atkins,

1999). It could be seen that the average road speed in this corridor increases with distance from Colombo City where the average road speed at Peliyagoda and Kochikade being 24 & 38 km/h respectively

(Table 5.1) where the average daily traffic (ADT) entering the Colombo city from this corridor is 58,846 veh/day (Kumarage, 1999). According to the Source Book of Cities and Automobile Dependence the average speed on canal is taken as 25 km/h (Newman, Kenworthy, 1990), which is the average speed, maintained in inland waterways in the

41 world of similar capacity as in CMR where the stoppage times at terminals and other delays in between are accounted.

Table 5.2 Travel distance & time between Victoria Bridge and Negambo Town Travel Time (Mts) Travel User Peak Off Peak Distance (Km) By Car 90 45 Road 30.5 By Bus 100 60 Canal 72 30.1 (At the speed of 25 km/h)

The Table 5.2 compares the travel distance and travel time from

Negambo to Peliyagoda via road and canal. The travel distances through canal are taken using the digital data provided by the Survey

Department and by the use of ArcView GIS Version 3.1 software. The travel time tabulated for canal is without the waiting and transfer time upon which canal users have a marginal benefit on travel time saving during the peak period. The average daily road and rail passengers entering the city through the Victoria Bridge from this corridor is

237,000 Pax./day out of which approximately 40% is generated from

Ja-Ela, & areas (Table 5.1).

According to the surveys done by the Transport Engineering division of

University of , the average daily trips that have originated from Negambo to Colombo and vise-versa are 29,405 Pax./day, out of which 60% are by bus, whom will be the most benefited by a canal service. However the demand for the waterway solely depends on the above two end points Negambo and Peliyagoda, as trips generated in between them will be very low due to the low residential population along the canal banks apart from Uswettakeyyawa and Pamunugama areas where the people have a direct benefit on access to the main roads which is lacking at the moment. However, the trip generation from these areas are not substantial to make an impact on the canal service.

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Further the fact that the Hamilton Canal is 3.8 km east of the existing

Colombo- Puttalam Highway (Fig 5.1) and poor transfer and access between the canal and the highway makes the attraction to the canal from the present trip generating zones very low.

Though the number of daily passengers between Negambo and

Colombo is encouraging for the canal service, when the proposed

Colombo - Expressway (Fig. 5.1) is completed it will considerably reduce the travel time of intercity commuters between

Negambo & Colombo, which will draw the Negambo - Colombo passengers from the canal back to the road. Thus its sustainability as a mode of public transport is questionable particularly due to the impact from CKE.

5.2.1.3 Bolgoda Lake System

The Bolgoda System in the Southern CMR consists of Northern

Bolgoda Lake, Panadura River, Bolgoda River and Southern Bolgoda

Lake as navigable waterways and the two canals; Aluth Ela and Keppu

Ela connecting the Southern Bolgoda Lake to which are non navigable at present. The Werassa Ganga north of Northern

Bolgoda Lake is also non navigable. Thus there is only two continuous links that can be identified for public transport in the Bolgoda Lake systems. These are between Kospalana Bridge near University of

Moratuwa to Panadura Town via Panadura River and Kospalana to

Bolgoda via Bolgoda River (Fig 5.2). The disadvantage for the system as a public transport mode is due to its radial flow with the road network and due to its course being along less populated areas.

The above two navigable links cannot be justified as a mode of public transport considering the low passenger movement along the corridor.

According to the TRANSPLAN V.4, the average daily flow at Bolgoda along the Panadura - Bandaragama road is 6130 Veh/day. Slow boat

44 speeds and the longer distance along the Pandura River to Panadura from Kospalana, compared with road travel further diminish its merit.

Slow speeds are particularly due to 'Ja Kotu', and removal of which would make a huge social problem as many people make their living out of it. Though continuity to Kalutara could be made after dredging the Keppu Ela, the longer distance compared with road makes it non justifiable.

Fig 5.2 Map of Bolgoda Lake System

4> Considering the above, Bolgoda Lake system as a mode of public

transport can be eliminated, as it is evident from the above data that

the system would not be sustainable. But it has a potential for

recreational activities, the study of the feasibility of which is beyond

the scope of this thesis.

5.2.2 Justification of Feasible Routes.

5.2.2.1 Wellawatte - Kirillapone Canal

The 8.1 km long, navigable channel from Diyawanna Oya up to the

sea outfall at Wellawatte passes through 4 A-class highways and 3 B-

class roads listed below, making it one of the most potential

waterways for public transport as it acts as a transverse link for the

radial roads in the city.

Pig 5.3 Map of Wellawatte - Kirillapone Canal System

46 The main roads that have access to the canal are,

• - Sri Jayawardenapura Road

• Colombo - Galle Road (A2)

• Colombo - Rathnapura Road (Havelock Road) (A4)

• Baseline Road

• Road

• Duplication Road

• Road

The saving on travel distances for bus passengers and car passengers

who will use the boat service as a part of their journey are tabulated in

Table 5.3 for a selected O-D pairs which reflects the influence of the

transverse canal link. The saving for car passengers is shown in

parenthesis.

Table 5.3 Travel distance saving for bus /(car) users transferring to boat

Travel Distance Batt. Raja. Narah Open Uni. Kiril. Weav. Dehi. Wella Bamba. Kollu. Saving (Km) 662201 661340 662124 662155 662118 662159 662802 662001 662005 661201 0.22 0.82 0.77 1.71 0.90 662201 - 0 (0) (0.82) (0.36) (0.50) 0 (057) 0 0 0.09 0.89 0.21 661340 0 - 0 0 (0) (0.14) 0 (0.21) 0 0 0 22 0.80 0.13 0.13 Narahenpita 662124 (0) 0 - 0 0 (0.21) (0) (0.13) 0 0 Open Univ. 0.82 0.69 1.49 0.81 Nawala 662155 (0.82) 0 0 - (069) (0.83) 0 (0.81) 0 0

0.77 0 09 0.69 „ Kirillapone 662118 (0.36) (0) 0 (0 69) 0 0 0 0 0 Weaving Mills 1.71 0 89 0.80 1 49 0.08 0.08 High Level Rd 662159 (0 50) (0.14) (0.21) (0 83) 0 - (0) (0.08) 0 0

0 13 0 08 Oehiwela 662802 0 (0) n. 0 (0) - 0 0 0

0 90 0.21 0 13 0 81 0 08 Wellawatte 662001 (0.57) (0 21) (0.22) (0 91) 0 (0.08) 0 - 0 0

I") 662005 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0

Kollupitiya 661201 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -

47 The results show that the savings in distance are high for existing

public transport users. The minimum path calculated with and

without canals for links with a saving is presented in Appendix 3 & 4.

According to the field surveys done, average daily traffic along the

roads in the canal corridor are considerably high, with highest being

on the Sri Jayawardenapura Road which carries 59407 veh/day (Table

5.4). Thus locations for the boat piers can be identified (Fig 5.3) close

to the intersections of these roads so that a convenient access and

transfer to the canal service is provided.

Table 5.4 Speeds and Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of roads in Canal Corridor (2003)

Annual Avg. Daily Car / Three Motor 2-Axle Multi Land Location Van Bus Speed Traffic Jeep Wheeler Cycle truck Axle Vehicle (Km/h) (ADT) Sri J'Pura Rd (Domino's Pizza Ethul 59407 32.7 24.4 15.3 15.6 5.4 6.1 0.2 0.3 15.80 Kotte) Galle Rd 51298 42.8 22.9 15.9 9.1 8.3 1.0 0.0 0.0 19.95 (Wellawatte Bridge) Baseline Rd 23849 29.5 20.7 26.9 10.2 1.7 9.7 1.0 0.1 26.61 (Appollo Hospital) Havelock Rd 48968 36.7 19.6 19.6 13.2 7.2 3.5 0.0 0.1 13.99 (Weaving Mills)

Narehenpita Rd 20234 40.9 18.1 14.3 17.1 1.5 7.0 1.0 0.2 21.90 (Wall tiles) Nawala Rd 29734 33.9 22.4 15.0 14.6 3.0 10.7 0.3 0.1 21.90 (Open university)

According to the Source Book of Cities and Automobile Dependence

the average speed (accounting the stoppage times at terminals) on the

canals in the world of similar capacity of Wellawatte-Kirillapone Canal

is estimated at 25 km/h (Newman, Kenworthy, 1990), which compared with the speed achieved on roads (Table 5.4), a clear benefit for the

boat user is predominant.

48 Table 5.5 Travel Times for Public Transport Passengers Travel Time (Min)

By Bus Only By Bus And Boat Origin Destination No of Time No of Time Bus Route Transfer (Min) Transfer (Min)

Battaramulla (170,177.174) - ; Apollo Hospital 49.47 1 28.08 Borclla (103,135,178) - Narehenpita

Battaramulla (177) - Kollupitya; 76.08 Kollupitya (100.101) - Wellawatte -

Battaramulla (170,177,174) - Borella; Wellawatte 2 39.76 Borella(154)- Wellawatte 67.01

Battaramulla (163) - Dehiwela; 47.43 Dehiwella ( 100.101) - Wellawatte • iattaram u CD

Battaramulla (177)- Kollupitya; 66.83 Kollupitya (100.101) - Bambalapitiya •

Battaramulla (170.177.174) - Borella; Bambalapitiya 57.76 2 40.40 Borclla(104. 154) - Bambalapitiya

Battaramulla (163) - Dehiwela; 56.68 Dehiwella ( 100,101)- Bambalapitiya

The travel time saving for public transport users are tabulated in

Table 5.5, where the travel times are calculated for bus commuters taking the waiting time and transfer time as 5 minutes per transfer.

The findings reflect that there is a considerable saving on travel time for commuters using the canal service to these selected destinations from Battaramulla. Due to faster speeds achieved on water, the saving in travel time is even significant to destinations such as Bamabalpitiya from Battaramulla, where there is no saving in travel distance

(Table5.4).

The Travel time comparison between canal travel and car travel is presented in Table 5.6 where the trip end is taken at adjacent to the canal, as the highest level of benefit to the car passenger is when there is no transfer to another mode after the canal travel. A out of vehicle

49 time of 5 minutes is assumed for a transfer from road to canal and

vise-versa for the car users which accounts for the waiting and access

time at the canal terminals.

Table 5.6 Comparison of travel times by canal and road

Travel Time (Min) Origin Destination By Car at Peak Hour By Canal * Route Time (Min) At 25 km/h

Nawala Open Sri Jayawardenapura 12.80 13.37 University Mw, - Nawala Rd.

Narehenpita Sri J'pura Mw, - Nawala (Apollo Rd - Narehenpita rd - 16.42 16.54 Hospital) Baseline rd. Ethulkotte (Domino's Havelock Rd Sri J'pura Mw, - Nawala Pizza) Rd - Narehenpita rd - 19.42 19.21 (Weaving Mills) Baseline rd - Park rd.

Sri J'pura Mw, - Nawala Wellewatte (St. Rd - Narehenpita rd - 22.00 21.42 Peters) Baseline rd - Park rd - Lorensz Rd - Galle Rd.

* 5 minutes waiting and access time at canal terminals.

There is no significant saving on travel time for car passengers

transferring to the boat, thus passengers needing to take another

mode to travel to the destination at the end of the canal trip will have

further reduced benefits or no benefits at all in terms of saving on

travel distance and time.

Thus from above observations presented it can be ascertained that the

Wellawatte - Kirillapone Canal system has the criteria in terms of

navigability, transferability and capacity to function as a technically

feasible transport system which may be the most attractive to the

present day public transport users.

50 5.2.2.2 Colombo Beira Lake

The strong radial character of Colombo's road network is even more pronounced in the Beira Lake area. The main roads are oriented north-south without a single east-west link north of Dharmapala

Mawatha, connecting Galle Road and D.R Wijerwardena Mawatha (Fig

5.4). Akbar Mawatha and T.B. Jayah Road are the two east-west roads in the northwest and southeast corners of the area. The former connects Galle road, R.A. de Mel Mawatha, Baladaksha Mw, CA.

Gardiner Mw and ; while the latter provides a link between

D.R. Wijerwardena Mw, and Union Place. With the exception of Akbar

Mawatha in the West and Southwest portion of the Beira Lake, there is no other east west crossing of the lake.

Fiq 5.4 Map of Biera Lake

51 According to the Beira Lake Business Plan Study, the residential land use accounts for 25% of the land area, institutional -19%, defence establishment 12%, cultural /recreational - 11%, commercial - 15% and manufacturing - 5%. There are about 320,000 jobs in the

Colombo municipality out of which 45,000 are in Beira lake area, giving a higher job to population ratio of 3:4 (UDA, 1996). Vehicular traffic flow within the area does not show any strong tendency to peak at specific time period but remain relatively steady throughout the twelve hour period from 7.00 AM to 7.00 PM. The largest traffic volumes have been observed to be during the midday period from noon till 1.30 PM. The midday traffic flow is mostly attributed to employer business trips, school and other lunch hour trips, which are mainly, obtained using public transport. The peak hour passenger flow within the Beira Lake area is higher for public transport with 16,000 pax/hr compared to 4,000 pax/hr by private modes. Majority of the traffic and transit movements in the area by private vehicles are through movements (UDA, 1996) which predicts that the influence of a boat service will not significantly change the private vehicle travel patterns.

The navigable route for the boat service can be identified as shown in

Fig 5.4 where three prospective pier locations at Galle Face near old

Parliament complex, at D.R. Wijerwardena Mw near railway station and at Hyde Park Corner can be identified.

Table 5.7 Travel Distance Between pier

Hyde Park Fort Railway Galle Face Corner Union Travel Distance St. Secretariat Place (km) Road Water Road Water Road Water

Fort Railway St. - - 1.15 0.77 2.42 2.21

Galle Face 1 15 0 77 3.42 2.78 Secretariat - - Hyde Park Corner 2 42 2 21 3.42 2.78 Union Place - -

52 Table 5.8 Travel times between piers

Galle Face Hyde Park Corner Fort Railway St. Travel time Secretariat Union Place (mts) Car Bus Ferry Car Bus Ferry Car Bus Ferry

Fort Railway St. - - - 3.46 4.15 1.85 10.02 12.02 5.30

Galle Face 3 46 4 15 1 85 8.24 16.99 6.67 Secretariat - - - Hyde Park Corner 10.02 12.02 5.30 8 24 16 99 6.67 Union Place - - -

The travel distance by road and water together with the travel times on each mode is tabulated in Tables 5.7 and 5.8 respectively. These show a significant saving on travel time, which is due to the faster speeds that, can be achieved on water.

The Beira Lake system can be identified as being technically feasible for a mode of public transport on the facts provided in this section, which shows that it fulfils the majority of the criterion on technical feasibility with improvements to the transport network with an additional east west link and substantial savings on travel time and distance for the passengers using public transport system in the Beira

Lake area.

5.3 Concluding Remarks

Five independent waterway systems were identified on existing physical conditions having a navigable channel connecting key transport nodes. However only two systems namely; Wellawatte -

Kirillapone canal and Colombo Beira Lake can be identified as being technically feasible as a mode of public transport.

Thus on the technical findings of this chapter, the Wellawatte -

Kirillapone Canal can be ranked as the best waterway route on which a public transport system can be implemented.

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