Tuesday, October 10, 2007 Ban-Tal residents request dry run
AFTER the postponement of the Banilad flyover’s construction, a dry run.
Businessmen and residents requested that the city hold a simulation of the traffic rerouting that authorities will implement once construction starts.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) last Monday agreed to put off the construction until Feb. 1, 2008 in response to the request of Banilad mall owners, who wanted to take advantage of the Christmas season.
Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) found the request reasonable and asked DPWH 7 Director Jerome dela Rosa to consider it.
He said the decision was reached because they wanted to spare affected constituents and commuters the hassle during Christmas season and the Sinulog on the third Sunday of January.
The flyover will be built by WTG Construction and Development Corp., which submitted a P86.9-million bid last month.
“We suggest that we use the extra 90 days for a good purpose by making sure that the rerouting plan of DPWH works. We suggest that DPWH holds a dry run for 10 straight days to find out how we could further improve on its plan,” said Bunny Pages, Banilad-Talamban Traffic Solutions Coalition spokesperson.
“In this way, no one gets caught by surprise considering that this will be a year-long construction,” he said.
Assurance
City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem assured them that there will be a dry run once the rerouting scheme is ready.
“We will really have a dry run one of these days to establish which are the better alternative routes,” said Pages, who owns Bright Academy in Banilad, among other ventures.
Jakosalem heads the City Council committee on energy, transportation, communication, and other utilities.
Routes
The councilor said that with the construction deferred until next year, the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) has enough time to plot the best alternative routes.
Although the flyover is a DPWH project, the agency is tapping the Citom, which has more knowledge of traffic situations in the city, to come up with the rerouting scheme.
The flyover, to be built at the Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave.-A.S. Fortuna St. junction, became the subject of intense discussion the past months after businessmen and residents objected to its construction.
They even sought the help of a Cebuano urban planning expert, who said the project is inadequate to address the worsening traffic situation in the Banilad-Talamban area.
They, however, simmered down after the city council decided to endorse the flyover.
Aside from private and subdivision streets, the DPWH is eyeing Hernan Cortes Ave. in Mandaue City as alternative road.
It assured, though, that there will be no full closure of the road during the entire construction period.
But if it cannot be helped, total closure will be done only during night time, when traffic is light. (RHM)
