No cause for alarm, bridge is still stable

CEBU - Amid the plan to temporarily close the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge for repair, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, chairperson of the Mactan Cebu Bridge Management Board, reassured the public that there is no cause for alarm because the structure is still stable.

In the same way, Department of Public Works and Highways-7 legal counsel Augustinito Hermoso, a member of the MCBMB, said the repair is needed but reiterated that the bridge is still safe and secure.

“Yes, it needs to be repaired. The bridge is still safe and secure, otherwise DPWH could have it closed it for the good of the public,” Hermoso told The FREEMAN yesterday when asked on the structural safety of the bridge.

But according to Garcia, the repair will be made “not in the immediate future,” as this issue was only raised in the last MCBMB meeting, in which the DPWH was instructed to prepare for a program of works on the repair for presentation in the next meeting on December 16.

“So there really is no need to raise the alarm,” said the governor.

Hermoso echoed the statement of Garcia that the repair will not be made in the immediate future. “Maybe by next year… early next year if funds are made available. No estimate yet,” he said.

During the last MCBMB meeting, it was discussed that the structure will be closed for at least two days to traffic to allow the DPWH to do repairs on the potholes on the bridge.

DPWH is allocating P800,000 annually for the maintenance of the two bridges that connect Mandaue City and Mactan island. As of last month, it has a balance of P71,303 for the bridges’ maintenance this year.

Last April, a tugboat towing a barge hit one of the old bridge’s column, an incident that happened about a month after MTKR Damar, which was carrying molasses on its way to Cagayan de Oro City, also rammed the newer Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

These incidents have prompted the MCBMB to come up with some measures to protect the structural soundness of the two bridges, such as putting up of rubber fenders and looking for alternative routes for vessels.

The two bridges, the first bridge worth P65 million and the second bridge worth P2.933 billion, facilitate mobility of passengers and goods to and from the Mactan Cebu International Airport and the Mactan Export Processing Zone.

The Mandaue-Mactan Bridge or popularly called the first bridge is the first of two bridges spanning across the Mactan Channel and connecting the islands of Cebu and Mactan.

The first bridge is 846-meter long and 9-meter wide box truss bridge and was constructed during the term of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

The construction begun in 1970 and it was inaugurated in July 4, 1971 but it was completed in 1972.

The first bridge was designed and created completely by Filipino engineers. -/WAB (FREEMAN NEWS)