MOTORISTS may soon expect a smoother travel experience as the Cebu City Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) intends to patch all potholes around the city before the year ends.
City Engr. Josefa Ylanan said that starting yesterday, DEPW personnel will be working overtime, including on weekends, to make sure that damaged roads all over the city are patched by the end of the month.
She said they are working on a P35-million allocation from the 2017 annual budget.
Ylanan added that the civil works is part of the City Government’s preparation for road concreting as asphalting is no longer deemed effective given the unpredictable weather.
“The mayor wants us to finish our program of works by end of December because concreting na ang target sa syudad. Asphalting will just be a short term measure. So, bahala madugay but we are now on the concreting side,” she said.
The city engineer said they will also repair the alternative routes currently used to give way for the construction of a multi-million underpass project on N. Bacalso Ave.
Although this is no longer under the City and is with the Department of Public Works and Highways 7, she said they will just include it so as not to further inconvenience the motorists, especially private cars, that ply these routes.
These dilapidated roads prompted Mayor Tomas Osmeña to postpone his plan to ban private cars from accessing N. Bacalso Ave. during peak hours. The prohibition was suppose to start on Dec. 4.
The postponement will be effective between one to two weeks depending on how long will it takes for the DEPW to complete the asphalting of the access roads. Alternative toads near N. Bacalso Ave. will be a priority.
When the ban will be implemented, Osmeña said those private car owners who will send their kids to school on N. Bacalso Ave. will be exempted.
As proposed, the banning of private vehicles will start from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.