This May Day, as all May Days, the best advice is to avoid Colombo by vehicle altogether. While it can be fun to watch the floats go by, the day makes traffic in the city impassable.
Traffic
These are the main streets/areas to avoid. Note that the rallies can be fun to watch, as long as you don’t have anywhere to go.
- Pettah
- Union Place
- Maradana
- Town Hall
- Saranankara Road
- Baseline Road
- High Level Road (near Kirulapone)
- Parliament Rd (Rajagiriya)
Party Rallies
These are the main party rallies. Note that there may be smaller rallies, including one in Rajagiriya by a break-away JVP group.
- NSSP: Pettah
- SLFP: Hyde Park (Union Place)
- UNP: Campbell Park (Borella)
- JVP: BRC Grounds (Havelock Town)
- Mahinda: Kirulapone
Map
Note that we’ve only marked the routes we roughly know. If you see a pin there will guaranteed be traffic on a lot of roads surrounding it. Pay special attention to the purple pin, where Mahinda supporters are having a rally in Kirulapone. This will cause traffic on Baseline and High Level Roads, at least.
And that’s about all the information we have. We hope you have a safe and enjoyable long weekend.
