THE Mandaue City Council approved on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, a resolution implementing a new traffic scheme on A.S. Fortuna and Hernan Cortes streets.
During its regular session on Monday, the council also approved the installation of a new traffic light sequence at the Banilad intersection to ease traffic congestion in the area.
The resolution, authored by City Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, chairman of the committee on transportation, mandates that vehicles coming from Hernan Cortes St. within Sitio Panagdait and heading towards Cebu City via Foodland must turn right onto EV Espina St. (Sacris Extension Road).
They may then proceed straight or turn right on A.S. Fortuna St. to reach M.C. Briones St. (Highway Seno).
On the other hand, vehicles coming from M.C. Briones St. and heading towards Cebu City via Foodland must proceed straight to A.S. Fortuna St.
Vehicles headed for Cabancalan must either turn right onto Hernan Cortes St. or turn right at Sacris Extension, turn left to Aniceto St. in Banilad, then turn right to Hernan Cortes in Cabancalan.
Vehicles from Hernan Cortes St. in Barangay Cabancalan may turn right to Cebu City or proceed straight to Hernan Cortes St. within the Panagdait area.
However, those headed towards M.C. Briones St. within Highway Seno may proceed straight and turn left to Aniceto St. in Banilad, then turn right to Sacris Road Extension and left to A.S. Fortuna St.
Alternatively, they may turn left to EV Espina St. (Sacris Extension Road) and turn right to AS Fortuna St.
Finally, vehicles from Cebu City via Foodland may proceed straight to A.S. Fortuna St. and proceed to M.C. Briones St. within Highway Seno or turn right to Hernan Cortes St. within Panagdait.
It is the responsibility of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) officials to implement the new traffic scheme.
Hyl Retuya, Team division head, said on Tuesday, Jan. 23, that they have already carried out dry runs of the new re-routing since last year, and the resolution is only to formalize the new routes.
Retuya said the new scheme aims to prevent vehicles from Panagdait from turning left at the intersection proceeding to Foodland and those from Cabancalan turning left at the intersection proceeding to Highway Seno.
He added that they came up with the initiative after assessing these areas and discovering heavy traffic congestion during the peak hours from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
According to the latest traffic count by Team, roughly 1,000 vehicles pass through Hernan Cortes and A.S. Fortuna streets.
During the dry run of the new route schemes, Retuya claimed that traffic congestion had somewhat been reduced in the area.
New traffic light sequence
The resolution also mandates a new traffic light sequence at the Banilad intersection, shortening its traffic light cycle from three cycles to two cycles only and reducing its traffic light time from 230 to 140 seconds.
A traffic light cycle refers to the total time required to complete one sequence of all movements around an intersection.