Sunday, August 12, 2007 Veco to relocate posts in Ban-Tal area
THE Visayan Electric Company (Veco) is negotiating with owners of lots on the Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave.-A.S. Fortuna St. junction for the transfer of three of its posts that will be affected by road “flaring” that the Cebu City Hall is implementing.
Flaring, or providing a separate lane vehicles could use anytime notwithstanding the presence of traffic signals, is one of the proposals of an urban planner to help ease traffic woes in the area.
Councilor Augustus Pe, Jr., chairman of the council committee on public order and safety, said the utility company is discussing with property owners since the posts will have to be relocated from the sidewalk to the private lots.
Assurance
“We’re trying to improve the traffic situation in the area,” he said.
Also last Wednesday, Vice Mayor Michael Rama asked Veco to move its posts in front of the University of San Carlos-Technological Center in Talamban before Aug. 30.
Ben Arkoncel, Veco vice president for customer service, assured him that the company will comply.
He also met with Pe, who drew an outline of the Gov. Cuenco-A.S. Fortuna intersection and pointed to him the positions of the posts and why these should be relocated.
Separate lanes
Pe said separate lanes will be carved out of the sidewalks at the four corners of the crossroads for the flaring.
The result will be similar to the junction near the Keppel Building at the Ayala Business Park, where northbound vehicles can turn right anytime to Cardinal Rosales Ave. and to Juan Luna Ave., unaffected by changing traffic signals.
Vehicles from Archbishop Reyes Ave. and Escario Ext. can also turn right anytime to Cardinal Rosales towards Mar-riott Hotel.
Urban planner and City Planning Officer Paul Villarete, in a separate interview, said the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) is currently identifying sites for pocket loading and unloading areas in the Banilad-Talamban area.
Once pocket lanes are established, passengers can no longer get on or disembark from passenger jeepneys anywhere, as loading and unloading will be barred in the right lanes of the four-lane road from the Salinas Drive corner to Talamban.
Ban
Last Friday, the Citom also started implementing the ban on southbound vehicles from making a left turn to the Banilad Town Center (BTC) and northbound vehicles from turning left to Gaisano Country Mall near the skywalk.
This is to prevent crossing vehicles from impeding traffic flow.
Earlier, Citom declared the Banilad-Talamban area, specifically from the J. Panis junction to the A.S. Fortuna St. intersection, as a “no fault zone,” or an area where all road laws would be strictly implemented.
Being a critical portion of Gov. Cuenco, the same stretch was also declared as a “no stopping” area prior to that order.
Villarete told Sun.Star Cebu that it was just one of the several measures the City has eyed to ease congestion at the J. Panis St. and A.S. Fortuna intersections.
Permanent change
But owing to a light traffic “volume” yesterday, the Citom temporarily lifted the prohibition on left-turning vehicles to Gaisano Country Mall and the BTC on Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave.
Citom executive officer Arnel Tancinco said they will resume imposing the new traffic scheme in the area tomorrow.
He had emphasized that although experimental, the change will be made permanent if Citom sees a significant change in the traffic situation.
Bottlenecks on J. Panis and the Foodland area are being focused on because they tie up traffic all the way up to Talamban.
“If we achieve a certain percentage (of improved traffic flow) there, it will have an effect on the whole Banilad-Talamban traffic,” Tancinco said. (RHM)
