AS rehabilitation of the old bridge resumes on April 2, business leaders are calling for proper traffic coordination and monitoring to lessen inconveniences the bridge repair may bring to trade and tourism.
“There has to be proper monitoring of traffic at the foot of both ends of the bridges, the intersections affected, so that there will be less traffic congestion,” said Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Melanie Ng in a text message yesterday.
Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph, on the other hand, is urging project managers to “take a wider view” of the impact of the traffic, not just in adjacent roadways.
Joseph believes the bridge rehabilitation will have a “snowball effect” through Metro Cebu if proper impact studies are not done and mitigation measures are not implemented before the planned closure.
“I am always surprised at how amateurish these so-called planners are and cannot understand why real traffic consultants are never hired as part of the pre-project planning,” the businessman said.
As for our tourists, Joseph suggests they should just minimize travel to and from Mactan, stressing “there is nothing worse than wasting precious vacation time sitting in traffic.”
Closure
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday said only one lane will be closed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
DPWH 7 Director Ador Canlas said that both lanes of the bridge shall be open every day from 6 a.m to 9 p.m.
This time, Canlas said the work shall include the u-turn slot under the bridge at the Mandaue City side so that motorists who are facing Lapu-Lapu City who want to to go to the University of Cebu Campus need not cross the street.
Canlas said the u-turn slot will also prevent road accidents because vehicles will no longer cross the street, but pass under the bridge.
The decision not to close the entire bridge during the repair was agreed on in a meeting called by Canlas last March 22 with stakeholders, which include representatives from utilities, tourism, business and manufacturing sectors, the Cebu Provincial Government and the city governments of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
Usual schedule
A Mandaue City Official said commuters may leave their house at their usual time for work because the two lanes of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge will still be open to traffic from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
With the bridge open for 15 hours, Arch. Florentino Nimor, executive director of Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue, said the traffic will still be normal.
“Mas maayo advise-an dili. Magdungan gali og gawas kay mo-traffic nuon. Usual time lang nila and on our part maninguha mi sa traffic (It’s better that we will not advise them to leave early. If all the commuters will leave at the same time, it will end up causing traffic congestion. Just leave at your usual time and we will do our part to keep the traffic moving),” Nimor said.
During the hours that the two lanes of the first bridge are open, Nimor said, the contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will work under the bridge’s deck slab by repairing its cracks through epoxy injection and rehabilitate the surface with carbon fiber technology.
At 9 p.m. to 6 a.m, one lane of the bridge, from Mandaue going to Lapu-Lapu, will be closed. Vehicles going to Mandaue can still pass.
Jegma Construction, the contractor, will rehabilitate the deck slab during this period.
Still, light vehicles can pass the bridge while trucks are still advised to take Marcelo Fernan Bridge.
Nimor expected that the bridge repair on April 2 will have a minimum impact on traffic in both cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue City.
On the Lapu-Lapu side, Frank Brazil, head of the Lapu-Lapu City Traffic Management System (CTMS), also expected that traffic will still be normal because there is no changes of the traffic flow during day time.
Brazil said that if there is a need for additional manpower to manage traffic, they have men on standby.
During the start of bridge repair, members of CTMS will also extend their daily work up to 10 p.m.
Beyond that time, Brazil said the contractor will take care in guiding motorists while crossing the first bridge.
DPWH is spending P129 million for the first bridge’s rehabilitation. The repairs, which is supposed to start early this year, has been delayed because of the concern of the existing water pipepline of Metropolitan Cebu Water District that is attached to the bridge and the residents that may be affected of the falling debris.
Postponed
The bridge repair project was supposed to start last year yet, but this was repeatedly postponed because of international events, such as the Iron Man Run, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Sinulog Festival and the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).
The repair project was supposed to be completed by June, but the DPWH was not able to start last February. Now that it will resume on April 2, DPWH Project Engineer Danilo Pasicaran said they may finish it by Aug. 29.
On the pipeline of Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), which is attached to the bridge, Canlas said the water utility firm will sign a waiver that DPWH and the contractor, Jegma Construction will not be liable if their pipe will be affected by their works.
“They were given more than enough time,” Canlas said.
For her part, MCWD Public Affairs Manager Chairmaine Rodriguez-Kara said Jegma already agreed to undertake their pipe support project.
Kara said that on Monday, MCWD will submit the final project proposal to Jegma so Jegma can apply for a permit from DPWH to start the work.
She said that MCWD hopes the work can start also on April 2 so the project will be conducted simultaneously with the bridge repair.
“As agreed with Jegma, the new hot dipped galvanized iron rods will be installed under the bridge to support the pipe. The old or existing pipe support may stay or may be removed later,” Kara said.