AFTER a gridlock was experienced by motorists and commuters during the dry run for the closure of Talomo Bridge 1 Wednesday, June 20, 2018, the Davao City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) recommended that establishment of alternate routes must be completed first before widening of Talomo Bridge 2 starts.

Speaking during the I-Speak forum Thursday, CTTMO chief Dionisio Abude said that initially, their earlier plan was for a three-day dry run, but with Wednesday's traffic jam, they called off the experiment after just one day.

He said the one-day dry run was enough to observe what could go wrong and how the traffic situation would look once the widening of Talomo Bridge 2 starts.

Putting up barriers helped ease the traffic at the Talomo Bridge area as these stopped motorists from overtaking. But bottlenecks were experienced in Puan and in Mintal because there were still roadworks going on for these alternate routes.

Moreso, several stretches of these alternate routes still had electric posts right on the carriageways as these were not yet removed by the Davao Light and Power Company.

Abude said that he will submit his recommendation to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH 11) since their recommendation would be their basis on when they would start with the bridge widening project.