IF PLANS push through, the fourth bridge that will connect Mactan Island and Mandaue City will be a steel box girder type bridge and will be different from the existing bridges in Cebu.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has expressed willingness to make the detailed engineering design for the fourth bridge after the feasibility study is completed.

Nonato Paylado, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 planning division head, said the loan agreement between the Japanese and Philippine governments for the bridge might be processed in the fourth quarter of this year.

The fourth bridge, which will be called the New Cebu Mactan Bridge, will connect the area near the Mactan Export Processing Zone (Mepz) in Barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City to Cansaga Bay on the side of Mandaue City.

Paylado said one of the bridge’s components is the Mandaue Coastal Road, which was already included in the master plan.

During the deliberation of the technical working group members at the DPWH central office earlier this month, three kinds of bridges based on the actual span of the fourth bridge were presented: an extradosed bridge like the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, a steel truss bridge like the first Mactan-Mandaue Bridge and a steel box girder that has a steel deck.

Paylado said the steel box girder was chosen so it would be different from the first two bridges. According to Paylado, it will be “iconic” since there is no steel box girder bridge in the country yet.

It features a slender and elegant shape and design and passes aviation and navigation standards. It will take three years to construct this type of bridge.

An extradosed bridge, on the other hand, is a narrow bridge, which means it needs a high central span alignment.

“If you are going to adopt a longer span, the height of the pillars will also be increased. When it is increased, it will not conform to Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines regulations, the aerial clearance,” Paylado told the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board during its first quarter meeting at the Capitol last March 18. (From SCG of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)