After second skywalk removed: Roads expected to be passable today

CEBU, Philippines — The road along Osmeña Blvd, particularly around the area where the second skywalk was recently removed, is expected to be fully opened today, Feb.26,2024.

But that’s if all clearing operations have been completed last night, as announced by the Cebu City Traffic Office (CTO) as of press time.

Based on the announcement by CCTO through their Facebook page, the removal of the skywalk located in front of Cebu Normal University was completed last night and they can open the roads, which were partially closed.

However, they want to make sure everything has been cleared before re-opening the closed sections.

Last week, the City government had a partial road closure along P. del Rosario Street to RR Landon stretch for two days beginning last February 19.

After two days, full closure was implemented until yesterday for the removal of the main span of the second skywalk.

During this period, everyone was advised to follow the provided rerouting scheme.

Regular traffic flow had been promised to resume today.

However, CCTO’s assistant head, Atty. Kent Jongoy told The Freeman yesterday that the area still needs to be cleared before it will be re-opened.

“We need to have it cleared before we allow the full opening,” Jongoy said, adding that the contractor assured that the area will be cleared. On the other hand, they promised to inform the public right away for new developments.

The approved number of days for the removal of the said structure was 15 days as approved by the Traffic Management Board, but Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama earlier said that it should be completed as fast as possible.

Two weeks ago, the first skywalk along Osmena Blvd near the Department of Health-7 was removed. It caught the ire of the public as roads were closed without prior announcement which caused horrendous traffic in the area.

CCTO has explained though that there was no intention to close the roads at first, but they saw the need to do so for everyone’s safety.

The removal of the two skywalks are done in line with the implementation of the Cebu BRT project. —/ATO (FREEMAN)