The new state-of-the-art Kelani Bridge named “Golden Gate Kalyani” in Peliyagoda was declared open this evening (November 24) in a ceremony held under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The six-lane bridge, which aims to ease the traffic congestion in Colombo and suburban areas, is the first-ever to be constructed in Sri Lanka with hi-tech stay cables.

After the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway was declared open, the number of vehicles entering the city of Colombo on a daily basis soared considerably. As the capacity of the existing bridge was inadequate for the large number of vehicles driving across, preliminary plans for a project to construct a new bridge were drawn up in 2012.

Subsequently, the Highways Ministry and the Road Development Authority (RDA) launched the project to construct a new suspension bridge with six lanes adjacent to the existing one.

This bridge features a cable support system that distributes the weight of the deck between two towers. The deck is hung on vertical suspender cables and the main cables, suspended between towers, are connected to the anchorages at each end of the bridge.

“Golden Gate Kalyani” was built under two phases. Rs. 31,539 million was spent under the first phase for the construction of the Steel Bridge Section. Meanwhile, the Extradosed Bridge Section was constructed under the second phase with a sum of Rs. 9,896 million.