Bridge repair ahead of schedule

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Sixth Engineering District yesterday announced that the repairs at the Marcelo Fernan Bridge will be completed ahead of time.

Asst. District Engineer Renulf Ricardo said in a press conference yesterday, that instead of being completed in the last week of August, the bridge repairs might be accomplished by the 3rd week of July.

 But he assured that they did not sacrifice the quality of the bridge repair to hasten the work that will later compromise its quality. Ricardo attributed the earlier completion of the bridge repairs to the good weather condition that Cebu has been experiencing.

 He said that they are now working on the third phase of their program of works which covers the outermost lane from Mandaue to Lapu-Lapu city side.

 Ricardo said phase 1 which included working on the outermost lane from Lapu-Lapu city to Mandaue city was 6 days advance from its target completion while phase II which involved working on the inner lane from Lapu-Lapu city to Mandaue city, was also completed 6 days in advance.

 With this, Ricardo is hopeful that the work will be completed during the 3rd week of July instead of the last week of August.

 DPWH is working on the bridge to repair 16 of the 18 expansion joints by changing the rubberized expansion joints to metal which is expected to last for 50 years.

 However, due to budgetary constraints, only 14 of the expansion joints will be converted to metal expansion joints while the two will still be replaced with rubber but they will also request for a budget for these remaining expansion joints to be converted to metal expansion joints.

Ricardo explained that once completed, motorists will no longer experience movements when passing by the bridge.  (FREEMAN)