Thursday, January 10, 2008 Odd-even scheme to start next month
WITH no alternative routes for vehicles, the Cebu City Traffic Operations (Citom) board yesterday decided to have an odd-even scheme implemented during the Banilad flyover’s construction, which starts next month.
In mass motion, the members agreed to reduce the number of vehicles using Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave. at a given time by sorting them according to their license plates.
Yesterday afternoon, the City Council agreed to have Citom Executive Officer Arnel Tancinco and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 officials show up in its session next week to brief members on the move.
City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said they could not find any other scheme to adopt, especially that only one lane in each direction will be available once construction commences on Feb. 1.
He said it is important for Tancinco and DPWH 7 officials to attend their session next week since Citom intends to experiment on the scheme starting Jan. 21.
He added that DPWH officials should come so the need for an additional P15 million for the road right-of-way acquisition could also be discussed after the values of properties in the area rose recently.
Blocked
Aside from the flyover, DPWH needs to “flare” or extend portions of the road, specifically by the Mahiga Bridge, to complement the project.
The proposed flyover, which businessmen and homeowners tried to block, will be built at the corner of Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave. and A.S. Fortuna St.
Jakosalem explained that if in a certain day vehicles with license plates ending in odd numbers are the only ones allowed on Gov. Cuenco, vehicles going to Talamban and nearby areas should use the Mandaue City road.
He said they already discussed whether or not PUJs could detour to Mandaue on their way to downtown Cebu City and vice-versa, and agreed it would not violate anything since the point of destination and point of origin, which the vehicles’ franchises set, remain unchanged.
Traffic is expected to worsen in the Banilad area once WTG Construction and Development Corp., which won the contract with an P86.9 million bid, starts building the flyover.
But since it already did pre-fabrication works away from the construction site during the holidays, WTG hopes to finish the project in four months. (RHM)
