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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Infra committee urges study on 3rd bridge
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Development planners agreed yesterday to recommend feasibility studies on building a third bridge connecting either Mandaue City or Cordova town with Lapu-Lapu City.
In a meeting yesterday morning, the Regional Development Council (RDC) 7’s infrastructure development committee (IDC) passed a resolution asking the full council to take up the matter in its meeting next month.
RDC 7 private sector representative Valeriano “Bobit” Avila proposed the resolution, following criticisms the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB) got for ordering a one-way traffic scheme that caused heavy traffic on the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge last week.
IDC chairman Emmanuel Rabacal joked that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano, who are against plans of constructing a third bridge, would have objected to the resolution had they attended the meeting yesterday.
However, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 Director Juanito Abergas said that in a traffic count and preliminary study on the proposed Lapu-Lapu City flyover, their planning division said the project is “not necessary.”
Not now
“According to our survey, a vehicular overpass is not (economically) feasible. The roads can still accommodate the traffic,” he told the committee.
Sun.Star Cebu secured a copy of the preliminary survey, which contained data on the average daily traffic on the intersection in the Lapu-Lapu City approach of the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.
It also included computations on traffic growth rates and projected costs and savings if a flyover is put up.
Engineer Leah Negre of DPWH 7’s planning division said the preliminary survey revealed that after computing the benefit-cost ratio of constructing a P105-million flyover, the project was found “not feasible as of the moment.”
The projected benefits to be reaped by road users did not exceed the capital costs and the projected annual maintenance expenses of P6 million.
DPWH 7 presented results of the survey to the MCBMB before the implementation of the one-way scheme.
Odd-even
The agency had suggested, among others, rerouting schemes that include the revision of travel lines of public utility vehicles and an odd-even scheme to limit private vehicles.
It also recommended to the MCBMB some improvements in traffic management, especially the designation of loading and unloading areas for commuters, and the training of Lapu-Lapu City’s traffic enforcers by experts from the University of the Philippines-Transport Training Center.
Road excavations and maintenance work by utility firms are also to be undertaken only at night.
A 24-hour vehicle towing service also needs to be available to remove all obstructions.
As medium-term solutions to the traffic problems in the area, the DPWH 7 suggested that Lapu-Lapu City install an automated synchronized traffic control system for all its major intersections and widen some major thoroughfares.
Strict laws
Avila said the strict enforcement of traffic laws will be necessary, noting numerous cases of illegally parked vehicles along Mayor Maximo Patalingjug Jr. Ave.
Even if an overpass is put up, Lapu-Lapu City still has to manage the traffic in the area well, he added.
Rabacal, who also sits in the City Traffic Management System of Lapu-Lapu City, said deploying additional traffic personnel in the area will not solve the problem, since there is a need to disperse the volume of vehicles that pass through the intersection.
He said Lapu-Lapu City plans to borrow money from the Capitol to finance the flyover construction.
However, DPWH 7’s study showed only an average of 4,947 vehicles are expected to use the flyover from the Lapu-Lapu City public market side to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Manual count
An average of 5,198 vehicles are also estimated to use the flyover from the MCIA side, heading towards the public market area.
The data stemmed from the 24-hour, seven-day manual vehicle count by the DPWH-Cebu 5th engineering district outside Gaisano Mactan last June 7 to 13.
Negre said the estimated number of vehicles expected to use the flyover daily only represented a portion of an average of 27,914 vehicles that were recorded during the survey period.
They verified the initial data during a second manual count last Oct. 25.
Projected traffic growth rates of cars, vans, jeepneys, buses and trucks showed the maximum increase will be about 25 vehicles annually.
This was based on annual income, transport demand, income elasticity and population growth rates secured from the DPWH Project Management Office feasibility study.
(November 23, 2005 issue)
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