The Southern Lanka Express Highway (also known as the or the Southern Expressway) is the first express highway and the largest road development project in Sri Lanka. The 126 km long highway links the Sri Lankan Capital Colombo with Galle and two other major cities in the south of the Island i.e. Matara and Hambantota.
Southern Expressway is a timely presentation of the pioneering work being made in Sri Lanka today and is hoping to provide massive economic benefits to the country. This will also be useful to improve future development in the Southern Region.
Quick Facts:
The distance of the highway; from Colombo to Galle is 98 km and from Colombo to Matara is 126 km.
A fee of SLR 400 will be charged for a motor vehicle to travel from Kottawa to Galle on the highway. (Kottawa in Colombo is the starting town of the Southern Expressway).
The Expressway will be a toll-road and the speed limit for all permitted vehicles is 100 km/h. Slow moving vehicles like Motorcycles and three wheelers are prohibited to travel.
It takes around 90 minutes to travel from Colombo to Galle.
The expressway will have 11 entry and exit ramps.
The southern expressway will be extended from Matara (according to original plan) to Hambantota, where a new airport and a harbour are being built
