With many drivers unaware that the entrance to the SRP via the gate beside the Malacañang sa Sugbo was closed at 10 a.m. yesterday, the flow of traffic crawled as enforcers from the city Traffic Operations and Management (CITOM) worked double time to sort out the mess.
Vehicles entering SRP have been diverted to an access road at D. Jakosalem because of work that is being undertaken on the tunnel that will soon become the way out for motorists passing through the coastal road.
Motorists coming from M.J. Cuenco Avenue that wish to proceed to SRP have to turn right to M.C. Briones Street and then turn left to D. Jakosalem extension then to SRP.
Compounding the problem is the usual heavy traffic at the area surrounding Carbon Market where the new access road is plus the people transacting business at city hall.
CITOM Executive Officer Arnel Tancinco said that they already anticipated the traffic bottlenecks especially near the SRP entrance, at the intersection of M.C. Briones and P. Burgos Streets, and also at M.C. Briones and D. Jakosalem Streets. The traffic jam was caused by PUJs because drivers are still confused where to pass, he said.
He explained that the traffic diversion was supposed to be implemented last March 15, but Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the members of the City Council deferred it so further study can be done.
The traffic diversion will last until the end of tunnel works construction next year.
During its regular session last Wednesday, the City Council gave CITOM the go signal to implement the traffic diversion, leaving the traffic body only few hours to prepare and inform the public of the rerouting.
Tancinco said that he deployed two or three enforcers in areas where bottlenecks were expected. Traffic lights at the corner of P. Burgos and M.C. Briones were also activated.
But Tancinco is optimistic that the traffic flow in the area will normalize in two to three days, because they will do their best to solve the problem.
To ease the traffic near the City Hall, he said that they will remove the pay parking on both sides along M.C. Briones, including the front part of the new city hall building.
Tancinco said that this will also create parking problems for people transacting business at city hall, but he promised to talk to the city council that Lapu-Lapu Street and the area beside Sto. Niño church would be used for pay parking.
The traffic official said that starting today jeepneys from Carbon market will no longer be allowed to pass by M.C. Briones and would instead take F. Gonzales Street. This change will affect jeepneys that pass through Carbon and exit at M.C. Briones or that area that would pass through the city hall annex building.
PUJs from M.J. Cuenco Avenue, like those from Mandaue will be allowed only until Urdaneta and Jereza Streets and will have to go back to their route.
The traffic diversion is recommended by Hikonari Maeda, project manager of Kajima Corporation, the contractor for the tunnel of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project.
Subsequent to the opening of the diversion road, Maeda said that the two-lane road bound for the city would be reduced to one. "This is to give more space for the heavy equipment within the piling area and for the safety of the motorists traversing the city-bound lane," he added.
The 300-meter tunnel starts from junction of S. Osmeña road and Legaspi Street and will pass through a portion of Plaza Independencia.
Part of S. Osmeña Avenue, from Plaza Independencia to Pier 3 is also presently closed to traffic due to on-going road works.
The subway is one of the components of the viaduct section of the P2.5-billion tunnel section of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project. - (/NLQ)