Phase 1 of Fernan Bridge repairs done ahead of time

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Public Works and Highways-7 finished ahead of its phase 1 target schedule in repairing the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

Santiago Suico, district engineer of DPWH-Cebu Sixth Engineering District Office, said yesterday that the outer lane of the bridge from Lapu-Lapu City going to Mainland Cebu was finished on Sunday, June 10, which is four days ahead of its scheduled date of completion.

Suico said that the repaired lane is now open to motorists.

Suico said that they are now carrying out phase 2 of the repairs, which is on the inner lane (beside center island) from Lapu-Lapu City to Mandaue City which was originally scheduled on June 18 to July 1.

“We are happy that we finished the phase 1 and start repairing phase 2 ahead of schedule. But still, we cannot say that we will finish the entire repair of the bridge ahead of schedule. We can only hope but we cannot promise,” Suico said.

DPWH hopes to finish repairs by August 30.

DPWH will repair 16 of the 18 expansion joints of the bridge. The repair will cost at least P25 million to P30 million.

For the phase 2 of the repair, the inner lane from Lapu-Lapu City to Mandaue City will commence on June 18 to July 1.

For the phase 3, the right Lane from Mandaue City to Lapu-Lapu City will be repaired beginning July 2 to 19.

For phase 4, the left lane from Mandaue City to Lapu-Lapu City will be repaired on July 20 to August 2.

For phase 5, on August 3 to 16, the right Lane at viaduct Lapu-Lapu City side will undergo repair.

For the sixth and final phase, the left lane at viaduct Lapu-Lapu City side shall undergo repair on August 17 to 30.

“But we hope we can finish the project earlier that scheduled,” Suico said.

The bridge is an extra-dosed cable-stayed bridge with a total length of 1,237 meters (4058.40 feet) with a center span of 185 meters (606.96 feet).

It is one of the widest and longest bridge spans in the Philippines and one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.

This P2.3 billion structure was constructed by the Kajima-Sumimoto Joint Venture and was funded through a loan obtained by the Philippine Government from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan.

It was built to decongest the traffic problem of vehicles traveling from Mandaue City to Lapu-Lapu City and as a symbol of friendship between the two countries.  (FREEMAN)