The new state-of-the-art Kelani Bridge dubbed as “Golden Gate Kalyani” in Peliyagoda was declared open on Wednesday, November 24 at 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 2014.
