AS SOON as the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) or the third bridge linking Mactan Island to mainland Cebu is completed in 2021, widened roads and new road opening will be in place in Cordova town to address the volume of motorists that will soon cross the bridge.
While Lapu-Lapu City awaits similar projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to complement the P28-billion bridge, road rehabilitation and widening in the city’s major arteries have already been implemented since 2015.
Cordova Vice Mayor Victor Tago III disclosed that the area for the coastal highway was cleared of inhabitants starting July 2018.
The three-kilometer roadway starts from the bridge in Pilipog all the way to Gabi-Marigondon bridge.
“That’s a 30-meter-wide coastal highway, so that’s four lanes,” according to the vice mayor.
Permits were also sought from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) to use the area for the project since the location is alongside fishponds.
Piling of filling materials has started and will be entirely done within the year.
“Initial budget estimate for now is P180 million for the road opening. That is only for clearing the area,” Tago said.
On the other hand, the DPWH has allocated a separate budget for road cementing for the entire coastal highway of up to P800 million.
This will take two to three years to finish, just in time for the completion of the CCLEX.
For a parallel infrastructure project in the town, Tago said there is a separate team working on the road widening for the circumferential highway from Gabi bridge to Pilipog bridge.
The works started last June 2018 and are estimated to be completed in two to three years.
The five-kilometer loop will have four lanes. But this time, there are residential and commercial structures that need to be demolished as a road easement will be implemented.
Public hearings by DPWH officials with the affected structure owners will include a discussion on the estimated cost of damage to every property that will be demolished.
Tago said the project cost is more than P200 million, not including the budget for the payment of the affected structure owners that will be determined after the public hearings.
To ease traffic flow once the third bridge will be operational, slow-moving vehicles in Cordova, like trisikads, motorkads and tricycles, will no longer be allowed to use the highway.
“Trisikads will be in barangay roads only,” the vice mayor uttered.
Meanwhile, when the 8.5-kilometer CCLEX was still a proposal, Lapu-Lapu City had spent over P230 million in a span of three years since 2015 for the concreting, widening and rehabilitation of city roads.
The projects were intended to decongest traffic.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, in her State of the City Address last July 2018, mentioned that road opening projects and rehabilitation of alternative and diversionary routes along the main arteries were part of the priorities of the city’s infrastructure programs.
These include the Aviation Road traversing from Barangay Basak to Buaya; Masiwa-Ibabao Road to decongest traffic in Barangay Marigondon and Agus; Ibabao-Malinao, Bunga Road in Agus; and Pakpakan Road that helps the riding public avoid the bottleneck in going to Sudtunggan, Barangay Basak.
Radaza assures that before 2018 ends, Pag-ambakan-Ylaya road, a 1.5-kilometer road linking two sitios of Barangay Marigondon, will be open.
At present, over 80 kilometers of the City’s Mainland Road Network have been concreted and asphalted.
Furthermore, City Planning and Development Coordinator Engr. Perla Amar said they are waiting for the DPWH to present road projects to complement the third bridge.
Amar referred to (a) roads in Barangay Babag, Lapu-Lapu boundary of Pilipog, Cordova on the west side, and (b) roads in the Marigondon boundary of Gabi bridge on the east side, which serve as entrance and exit points of both local government units.
He hopes the DPWH will implement the road projects before the CCLEX is completed. (FVQ)