THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) opened on Tuesday the newly-widened and more secured Friendship Bridge located in Barangay Anunas in Angeles City immediately after the two-week waterproof curing of the concrete pavement.

The opening of the vital bridge along the Friendship Circumferential Road West now makes traveling to Angeles City and nearby towns faster and easier.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar led the ceremonial drive-through and inauguration rites to mark the official opening of the bridge constructed under the national government’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

Villar said that the widening of the Friendship Bridge is vital to better accommodate commuters and motorists doing business in the bustling cities of San Fernando and Angeles City, including the Clark Freeport Zone, and Porac town.

“The new Friendship Bridge is the solution to the bottle neck traffic situation caused by the existing bridge in as much as the load section before and after the bridge had been widened,” Villar said.

DPWH-Central Luzon director Roseller Tolentino, meanwhile, said that the project included the construction of additional two lanes and road widening, as well as maintenance work such as repainting using anti-corrosion paint on metal structures and repair of cracks on the Friendship Bridge.

“We constructed a new bridge and approach with a total net length of 618 meters, and an additional bridge with a length of 240.8 linear meters, two lanes on bored pile foundation and approaches,” Tolentino said.

He added that bridge also has provision for concrete slope protection for approaches and abutments and safety devices such as concrete railings, hazard markers (chevron signs) and pavement markings.