TRAFFIC GRIDLOCK

Bumper-to-bumper traffic along N. Bacalso on Wednesday night.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

CCTO stops traffic rerouting dry run set today with last night’s traffic congestion along N. Bacalso Avenue. Southbound traffic is still expected to worsen when the repair of the Tabunok Flyover resumes Friday.

Traffic heading to the southern gateway of Cebu was heavy last night as the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) began a dry run into the rerouting scheme along N. Bacalso Avenue and F. Llamas Street.

Vehicle and foot traffic along the area started moderately and was manageable yesterday morning, but the situation took a turn for the worse by nightfall, with southbound vehicles moving slowly bumper to bumper for over 200 meters since the portion of N. Bacalso Ave. in front of McDonald’s Mambaling has been closed for the traffic rerouting dry run.

“The volume of vehicles has really increased (in the evening). In my observation, I think it is four to five times more than during the morning when we started the dry run,” CCTO operations chief Francisco Ouano told Cebu Daily News past 8 p.m. yesterday.

Traffic congestion for southbound vehicles reached as far as the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) campus, going to the Mambaling Flyover until the closed portion of N. Bacalso Ave.

But Ouano said the biggest problem they encountered in yesterday’s dry run was that the alternative roads made available for the rerouted public utility jeepneys (PUJs) and private vehicles were still not ready to cater to more vehicular traffic.

Roads like Ganciang and Tagunol Streets in Barangay Mambaling are still riddled with potholes that have not been fixed by the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7), he said.

Also, the traffic rerouting signages have not been properly and completely installed by DPWH-7, he added.

No more dry run

Ouano said they decided to scrap the scheduled second day of the dry run today, Thursday, and would not do so until the DPWH has completed fixing the streets identified as rerouting routes.

“For me, as the operations chief of CCTO, I have observed that it is useless if we do another dry run if the DPWH will not be able to complete the patching of asphalt roads,” he said by phone last night.

Ouano said it was also agreed between the CCTO and DPWH-7 that the construction for the first phase of the P683-million underpass project along N. Bacalso Ave. would not start unless the diversion roads have been improved by the DPWH.

It was likewise agreed that DPWH-7 and its contractor would need to put up of pertinent signages to help vehicles follow the rerouting scheme.

Traffic to worsen

Suspending the dry run was a better decision, according to Ouano, as the DPWH-7’s second engineering district was also scheduled to continue repair works of the flyover in Barangay Tabunok in Talisay City, which is along the same stretch of road as N. Bacalso Ave. that formed part of the South National Highway, the primary gateway to southern Cebu from Cebu City.

In an advisory, Leslie Anthony Molina, head of the DPWH second engineering district, said the retrofitting of the expansion joints of the Tabunok Flyover is already scheduled this Friday, June 9, until June 22.

reROUTING DRY RUN. Cebu City Transportation Office operations chief Francisco Ouano (left) talks to a CCTO personnel early on Wednesday when traffic was still light to moderate at the start of the rerouting dry run on N. Bacalso Avenue where an underpass project will be constructed. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

It will be the second phase of the flyover rehabilitation, which costs P20 million and will be implemented for 14 calendar days by PLD Construction.

“We are requesting your good office for your assistance regarding the matter and to please disseminate the said information to our constituents to prevent any delay and inconvenience which might occur during the project implementation,” Molina said in the advisory which was sent to different media outlets.

This Friday’s closure will already be the third time that the Tabunok Flyover will be closed to vehicular traffic this year.

The flyover was closed to traffic from March 31 to April 2 and from April 4 to 5 for the first phase of the rehabilitation project, which included the scraping of the existing asphalt, its replacement with a new one, and waterproofing.

The project amounted to P9 million and was awarded to First Grandeur, Inc.

Ouano said the added traffic congestion expected from the flyover repair was another compelling reason why they would no longer push through with today’s dry run.

Adjustment

For his part, DPWH-7 Project Engineer Roy dela Cruz said they would not order the contractor to start with the project without the go signal from the CCTO.

“We will coordinate with CCTO if there are necessary improvements. They are the experts in traffic. We will heed the advise of the CCTO,” he said.

Dela Cruz said though that they hoped to start the project construction as soon as possible since the contractor was now ready.

The closure of N. Bacalso Ave. started at 7:37 a.m. yesterday. Southbound vehicles were made to turn left to Caimito Street. But immediately, traffic buildup was observed as vehicles coming from the three-lane N. Bacalso Ave. had to be made to pass through the one-lane only diversion road.

This prompted the CCTO to make adjustments on the scheme.

Since lesser traffic volume was observed on the northbound lanes of N. Bacalso Ave., the CCTO decided to open one of the three lanes of the northbound side so that southbound vehicles can use them aside from Caimito St.

The scheme was implemented at around 9 a.m. yesterday. This immediately eased up the traffic flow in the area.

Surprised

Jake Ilustrisimo, a 25-year-old freelancer and part-time professor of a university in Cebu City said that while he was surprised by the dry run, it was not as bad yesterday morning when he passed by the area at around 10 a.m. coming from his home in Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City, and bound for downtown Cebu.

“There really was volume of vehicles on the road, but it just flowed. I expected it to get worse,” he told CDN.

Commuters like Ilustrisimo were dismayed that all three southbound lanes of N. Bacalso Ave. were closed to vehicular traffic yesterday, as they thought only one lane would be closed.

“There was a little traffic for a while. But it did not last for 20 minutes. But my concern is really when going home. I think it will be much worse.

Maybe twice as bad as when going to Cebu City,” said Ralph Saberon who rides PUJs every day from his home in Minglanilla to Cebu City where he works as a graphic designer.

Ouano also said there were still some motorists who complained that they did not know about yesterday’s dry run even if the plan had been widely circulated in print and broadcast media in Cebu.

Longer routes

For his part, 41-year-old PUJ driver Glenn Campos lamented that the traffic rerouting would mean going through a longer route, which translated to more time on the road and lesser income.

Campos, who drives a 09G PUJ, said he was paying P1,000 as daily rental for the jeepney and usually earned up to P2,000 for 10 rounds in his route.

But with the rerouting, he projected that he would be only manage from seven to eight round trips.

“Dako kaayo og kuha sa among oras. Maayo unta og dili traffic pero traffic man kay huot jud kaayo ang mga dalan like sa Caimito, Ganciang ug F. Llamas. Mogamay jud among kita kay makuhaan among rounds ani,” he told  CDN.

(It takes so much of our time. It would be better if there’s no traffic, but it is very congested since the streets like Caimito, Ganciang and F. Llamas are packed. Our earning will be lesser since we can only do fewer rounds).