THE remaining portion of the Bolton Bridge in Davao City was already passable on Tuesday, January 25, but only for light motorists, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Davao Region said.
DPWH-Davao announced in a Facebook post that the southbound area of the Bolton Bridge I along Quimpo Boulevard was opened to motorists beginning 1 p.m. of Tuesday, January 25.
The agency, however, said the bridge is passable only to light vehicles weighing six tons and below.
This came a week after the northbound side of the bridge was opened to motorists on January 19.
The Bolton Bridge was closed to motorists on Saturday, January 15, following a fire incident near the bridge, which destroyed 24 houses and affected more than 40 families, as reported by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
Meanwhile, the Davao City Engineer’s Office (CEO) has started clearing the burnt site under Bolton Bridge, vowing to disallow the return of the informal settlers to the site.
This, as CEO head Engr. Joey Felizarta apologized to the public for the inconvenience the fire has caused, especially in the traffic situation.
Bolton Bridge 1 and 2 were closed to traffic on Saturday following the fire incident.
“On behalf of the City Government of Davao, I would like to apologize to the public for the inconvenience brought by the fire last Saturday that damaged Bolton Bridge,” Felizarta said.
He said recommendations were made years back on putting barriers to prevent the building of structures under the bridge.
“As early as the year 2018, barriers were already discussed and some installed under the bridge to prevent settlers from occupying the area. However, we failed to follow through on this action. We accept full responsibility for the inconvenience of the damage and closure of Bolton Bridge,” he added.
DPWH-Davao spokesperson Dean Ortiz has requested all local government units in Davao Region to help them in clearing bridges and other government infrastructure of informal settlers to avoid similar incidents from happening.