THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has opened the underpass in Mambaling, Cebu City from midnight of May 12 to midnight of May 13 for a dry run.

This will give the voting public easy access to southern Cebu and vice versa during the midterm elections on Monday, May 13.

Roy dela Cruz, DPWH project engineer, told Sunstar Cebu that the decision to conduct the dry run came from the agency, which owns the road and implemented the project, and not the local government unit.

“We want to determine how many vehicles are using the depressed road during the holidays and how many units will pass it during working days, especially peak hours,” he said.

Delayed

Dela Cruz said the contractor will complete the project by the end of the month, but because of the curing period, the underpass will not be opened to motorists until the third week of June.

He said bad weather last December and January, which resulted in flooding in the area, delayed the project, which was supposed to be finished last March 20 yet.

The public had criticized the project when the agency closed a portion of N. Bacalso Ave. in 2017 when construction started without providing alternative routes or widening roads to accommodate the additional volume of vehicles.

When heavy traffic that lasted past midnight several weeks was experienced in Tagunol, Punta Princesa, Labangon and Tisa for several weeks, DPWH was forced to open one lane bound for southern Cebu and one lane bound for Cebu City in front of Super Metro and Shopwise.