Boring of city’s bypass tunnel begins

THE tunnel boring activity of the Davao City bypass tunnel construction project started on Thursday, May 12.

In a statement posted by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the development of the construction projects progressed with the initial excavation done on the north portal and the south portal’s northbound direction, since the bypass is a two-tube mountain tunnel. This is the first long-distance mountain tunnel in the country.

The excavation uses specialized equipment such as drill jumbo, concrete spraying machine, and articulated dump hauler.

“Designed to have better seismic resiliency by Japanese experts, the tunnel construction activities at the south portal - southbound and northbound directions were earlier started in November 2021 and March 2022, respectively,” DPWH’s statement read.

According to DPWH, the bypass tunnel stretching 2,3 kilometers will cut travel time between Barangay Toril, Davao City and Barangay JP Laurel, Panabo City from almost two hours to 49 minutes to reduce traffic congestion in Davao City.

The ongoing project under Contract Package 1-1 has a budget of P13.23 billion financed under the Special Terms for Economic Partnership Loan between the Philippines and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.