REROUTING ANEW
Second traffic dry run on N. Bacalso Ave., Cebu City on June 20 in anticipation of the construction of the P638-million underpass; also next week, repair of diversionary roads starts
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 plans to hold a second traffic rerouting dry run on N. Bacalso Ave. on Tuesday.
The traffic rerouting is in preparation for DPWH 7’s construction of a P683-million underpass and other road improvement projects on the busy southern thoroughfare.
Also on Tuesday, maintenance work on all interior roads, where public utility vehicles will be diverted once the dry run will take effect, will also start.
However, Engr. Roy dela Cruz of DPWH 7 said they will need the approval of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) for this.
“We will request CCTO to allow us to do the maintenance while we work on the underpass project. Maintenance work for roads is a continuing work that is why we can do the two civil works at the same time,” he said.
Dela Cruz said the patching and other repair works on interior roads will not affect the flow of traffic since they’re planning to do it late at night, when there are fewer vehicles.
But Atty. Ismael Garaygay III, CCTO executive director, said they will stick to their recommendation that interior roads should be fixed first before the second dry run.
“We have yet to receive a formal request to them but it would be better if they follow the first recommendation,” he told SunStar Cebu.
CCTO operations chief Francisco Ouano said the setup might no be also doable because patching works might still cause the buildup of vehicles.
The two-day traffic dry run is a required step before civil works of the underpass project, which will be undertaken by WT Construction Inc. and CEDCO Engineers Consortium, can start.
The project will have six lanes, which include a two-lane underpass and two service roads on both sides with two lanes each.
The underpass will be nine meters while the side roads, or service roads, will be 7.5 meters on each side. There will be a three-meter sidewalk on both sides.
The entire project will be 700 meters long, but the actual underpass will be only 620 meters.
The underpass will have a vertical clearance of 5.2 meters.
Civil works for the project is expected to last for 18 months and will be implemented in stages.
The contractor will also be working on widening N. Bacalso Ave. from the current 20 meters to 30 meters.
The first traffic dry run was done last June 7, but CCTO canceled the second day of the road test due to concerns on the dilapidated diversionary roads.