Mandaue: Heavy traffic during IEC Youth Day

CEBU, Philippines – Mandaue City officials is expecting at least 8,000 youths to join the walk from Lapu-Lapu City’s Hoopsdome to Mandani Bay in Mandaue City during the  International Eucharistic Congress Youth Day next month.

This is why the traffic managers of the city have recommended to Mayor Jonas Cortes that the major road projects slated to start this year be moved after this big event to prevent traffic congestion.

“At least 8,000 na, kung kana nga gidaghanon, mura’g di gyud na masud sa usa ka lane lang,” said Glen Antigua, head of operations of Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue.

Antigua said  while they are prepared for this walkathon, if the Department of Public Works and Highways-7  would go ahead with its plan to start the repair of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge, then there may be congestion there, as only one lane will become passable once the repairs start.

For this year, the city has at least two pending road repair projects, and Mayor Jonas Cortes is giving the green light to just one of them.

City planning and development coordinator Florentino Nimor said for the moment they will only allow the A. Soriano road concreting project of  DPWH as they can provide alternate access roads for the trapped vehicles.

The IEC youth delegates will also use this stretch of the road, but Nimor said that will be manageable if the DPWH will not close one of the first bridge’s two lanes.

The first bridge repair is also expected to start this month, side by side the A. Soriano project.

Nimor said  while they can provide a detour route for vehicles passing by A. Soriano, they can no longer prepare if the first bridge becomes a one-lane road.

He said if the A. Soriano repair is completed (contractor PB Obial assured to finish in three to four months), then that will be the perfect time to start with the first bridge's work.

And by this time, it will already be March and the IEC has long been finished, he said.

However, DPWH’s project engineer Danilo Pasicaran had already warned that the bridge repair should not be delayed due to the structure's signs of decay.

Pasicaran said the contractors are waiting for the go signal while his supervisors have yet to approve of the city’s request to delay these projects. (FREEMAN)