Tullahan Bridge done by next week, barring rains - DPWH

Tullahan Bridge will be completely repaired by next week if it does not rain, an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said yesterday.

DPWH-National Capital Region (NCR) project engineer Eduardo Santos said they were supposed to complete the rehabilitation of the bridge last month, but their work was hampered by the bad weather and when contractor Ferdstar Builders’ equipment broke down.

“For the Valenzuela side, we were already set to pour the concrete after the compaction last Oct. 28, but as we were about to, heavy rain poured down,” he said. With good weather, he hopes to complete the task in five days.

Santos said the daily monitoring by the local governments – the bridge connects Malabon and Valenzuela – on the progress of the repairs made them more determined to complete the project, “but we cannot do anything about it if it continues to rain.”

The rehabilitation of the Tullahan Bridge has been the cause of heavy traffic since April last year. To ease the congestion, the DPWH recently opened two of the middle lanes, which were being prepared for concreting, to traffic.

The controversial reconstruction of the decades-old Tullahan Bridge has been highly criticized by legislators and local government units because of delays since it began in April last year, and again when it reopened to motorists in October 2007.

But after a few months, they saw alligator cracks on the bridge’s approaches that later deteriorated and caused further problems for motorists using the bridge.

Santos said repair works included changing the sub-base of the approaches that became saturated with water.

He said this time, they decided to use concrete rather than asphalt for the approaches of the bridge to make them more durable and able to withstand the volume of vehicular traffic and the weight of the vehicles.