Traffic builds up at the Bulacao highway in Talisay City for southern Cebu-bound vehicles (above) caused by the closure of the Tabunok Flyover which is undergoing repairs. Vehicles along the highway crawled bumper-to-bumper that even motorcycles (left), which only need a little space to navigate through traffic, had no room to escape the line of slow-moving vehicles passing through the highway.Photos by Junjie Mendoza
TALISAY CITY
THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has turned down a proposal by the Talisay City Council to limit the ongoing work on the Tabunok Flyover to nighttime and allow traffic to flow on the bridge during the day.
Leslie Anthony Molina, DPWH second district engineer, said that the proposal was not feasible because the rehabilitation work on the flyover involved changing its old expansion joints.
“Kadto ilahang proposal dili to mahimo. Kay dili man to puwede paagian ang flyover samtang atong gitangal ang expansion joints. Kay buslot naman ang tulay kay gibakbak nato ang bridge,” Molina said.
(Their proposal could not be done because we cannot allow vehicles to pass through the flyover while we took out the expansion joints. There is a hole now in the bridge.)
The Talisay City Council had proposed to limit work on the flyover from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next day after heavy traffic formed in the area after DPWH closed the flyover last week to give way to the second phase of the flyover repairs.
Molina said that limiting the rehabilitation work on the Tabunok Flyover to nighttime is also no longer necessary as DPWH is set to reopen the bridge to the public this Friday afternoon, June 16, after completing work on the expansion joints yesterday morning.
The second phase of the flyover rehabilitation project, which involved the replacement of six expansion joints, started last June 9 and was estimated to be completed in 14 days.
Molina noted that PLD Construction managed to finish the project in half the time.
“We already poured cement on the expansion joints so we still have to prohibit cars from passing through the flyover. It will take another two days for the cement to dry up,” Molina explained in Cebuano.
The bridge will reopen at 3 p.m. on Friday, the DPWH official said.