More talks needed
Members of the Regional Development Council (RDC) – 7 should first discuss the move to defer the implementation of the P711 million, 800-meter depression road project on U.N Avenue in Mandaue City.
This is the contention of Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado, one of the members of the RDC, following the plan of the council’s chairman, Kenneth Cobonpue, to ask the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to put the project on hold.
Cobonpue said implementing the project might create more problems if implemented now because it did not go through public consultation and DPWH also did not submit a plan for alternate roads.
Cobonpue said further that no traffic count and study were made to determine if the project is a “best, better or cheaper alternative”.
But Alegado said the project is vital for her town since she sees it as an answer to the problem of traffic there.
Consolacion shares traffic woes with Mandaue City as the two neighboring local government units are prone to traffic gridlocks.
Alegado said she is willing to sit down with Cobonpue to discuss traffic plans.
“These are vital projects that we badly need now and in the future, he can call on immediate meeting and entertain a proposal for the traffic plan,” she said.
In December last year, DPWH gave Tacloban-based BM Marketing, the winning bidder, the go signal to proceed with the project.
The project began early this month through a parcellary survey, as presented by DPWH-7 maintenance head, Engr. Faustino Dela Cruz, to the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB) last January 9.
DPWH-7 construction division office head, Engr. Joselito Sayson, said the project is expected to be completed within 910 days.
Businessman Glenn Soco, chairman of the Infrastructure Development Committee of RDC-7, also said prudence must be exercised in implementing the project so as not to create more problems.
"Have we really studied all our options to arrive at the best solution?" Soco asked.
He said that as discussed by the committee, a traffic management plan needs to be in place before the project should be.
Soco also believes stakeholders have to be consulted. "We have to bear in mind that the U.N. Avenue / Plaridel intersection is the most important intersection in Cebu. If the project is not managed properly, it will surely affect tourism and business," he said.
Melanie Ng, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), agrees with Soco.
"Especially as this is a major project to be constructed in a major part of Cebu, the public needs to be informed beforehand on the traffic plan so as to avoid major chaos or disruption of delivery of products and services," Ng said.
Lapu-Lapu Mayor Paz Radaza echoed the call for a traffic management plan.
“I-resolve una nila og unsay option. Once isugod og himo sa underpass, duna lang untay himoon nga diversion road,” she said.
UN Avenue is the access road going to and from Lapu-Lapu City, the location of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Classified as a national road, UN Avenue has four lanes that go all the way to the foot of the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.
UN Avenue is 1.6 kilometers long.
PROJECT
The depression road will have a total of eight lanes. The four lanes in the middle are called “depressed” (or in a lower ground), like pseudo –underpass. These lanes will accommodate those who will pass the bridge.
Of the remaining four designated “service road lanes,” the two paths on the right side are for vehicles traversing UN Avenue but drivers should take a turn before reaching the bridge and service road lane.
The other two roads on the left will be for motorists heading to M.C. Briones Street and D.M. Cortes Street (formerly Plaridel Street).
According to Dela Cruz, vehicles heading to different directions will not get mixed up.