N. Bacalso underpass 80 percent complete

Over a year since the P638-million underpass project along N. Bacalso Avenue started, WT Construction Inc. has now completed 80 percent of the project.

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-7 Project Engineer Roy Dela Cruz told reporters that they are almost done with the underpass project in the south district.

This was after the contractor is about to finish the phase IV of the project located along the northbound lane.

"Yes 80 percent complete nata. Ang phase IV modagan pana og middle of November," Dela Cruz said.

To recall, it was last July that WT Construction Inc. started working with the phase which involves excavation, boring of piles, among others.

Aside from this, by mid-November, the contractor will proceed with the phase V, which is the excavation in the middle portion of the underpass.

The underpass project has six phases. The first phase is in front of a fast food chain, the second is in front of the shopping center. The third phase is located near corner F. Llamas Street and fourth is in the northbound lane of N. Bacalso Avenue.

The fifth and sixth is in the middle portion of project.

That is why dela Cruz expected that the traffic condition at the south district will not be as monstrous as before when the construction started in August 2017.

"Yes mo-improve gyud na, moease na ang traffic. Siguro naay traffic gihapon, but dili na worst," Dela Cruz said.

The commuters and motorists start to experience horrendous traffic when the construction begun. In fact, the travel time of the commuters reached up to two hours from the south going to the city proper.

Dela Cruz added that concreting of the side roads in the northbound and southbound lanes is ongoing.

With this, they expected that it will be open to traffic before December.

Dela Cruz said the underpass project will be completely done in March 2019.

Meanwhile, he said they are now waiting with the approval of the P18 million worth of road widening project in the said area.

He said the road widening is for the both lanes of N. Bacalso Avenue.

Dela Cruz is confident that their director will approve it since the road right-of-way (RROW) issue before has been settled already.

The road widening is part of the underpass project but it was implemented late due to the issue on RROW.