Abstract:
In the field of transport geography and planning, road accessibility analysis is one of the
important analysis. The evolution of transportation systems has currently led to changes in
urban form. Accessibility is the measure of the capacity of a location to be reached by, or to
reach different locations. Therefore, the capacity and the arrangement of transport
infrastructure are key elements in the determination of accessibility.Centrality refers the
most closeness and betweenness places in a road network and it helps to establish new
developments in that area.This study attempts to examinepotentials for expanding cities in
the area according to the road infrastructure facilities. The objective of the study is
identifying the level of accessibility and centrality of the Mahaweli C region. Data gathered
from the department of survey and to analyze, accessibility in this area,
geographic accessibility matrix and potential accessibility matrix. As well as to identify the
closeness and betweenness centrality of the region and road densities have been used
Spatial Design Network Analysis (SDNA) tool in QGIS and Kernel density analysis tool in
ArcGIS (10.3). The Mahaweli system C is a resettled area under the Mahaweli Development
Project. Basically, the hierarchical structure of the roads which are A, B, C and D class
roads. According to the results of connectivity of the area centers and townships, more
accessible places are Dehiattakandiya, Sandunpura, Girandurukotte, Mahawanawela and
Nawamedagama. Node Dehiattakandiya has more emissive than attractiveness (14377
versus 9622), while Node Siripura has more attractiveness than emissive (4202 versus
3559). When considering the closeness values and betweenness values, Girandurukotte,
Mahiyanganaya and Dihiattakandiya town centers are more accessible than other area centers.
According to the Kernel Density of the centrality of closeness, built-up landscape is shown
from the northern to the south area. According to the results, Girandurukotte area is the most
accessible and centralized place in the region. It has more potentials for the development
and more accessible place for people who are living in the Mahaweli System C area.
