REPAIR WORK nearly DONE
Good news for travelers going to and from Talisay City and Cebu City.
The Tabunok Flyover has been opened to vehicular traffic starting 3 p.m. yesterday after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) completed its rehabilitation project on the structure ahead of schedule.
And unless there is a big earthquake that would hit and damage the flyover, there should be no more need for it to be rehabilitated again in the future, according to DPWH Second District Engineer Leslie Anthony Molina.
“We have already rectified all defects, included the dilapidated steel parts were already replaced. We also used good materials. Unless there’s an earthquake (there’s no need to repair it again),” he said.
The DPWH and its contractor, PLD Construction, were able to finish the repair six days ahead of schedule.
The second phase of the flyover’s rehabilitation started last June 9 and was targeted to finish by June 22.
But as of yesterday, the repair was already 95 percent completed which made it possible to reopen the flyover to vehicular traffic.
Molina said they only need to clean up the underside of the flyover including removing some of the weed that had grown on it.
This, he said, did not require closure of the flyover anymore which was why they have already asked the City of Talisay Traffic Operations Development Authority (CT-TODA) to reopen it to the public yesterday.
“We finished earlier because we introduced a one-day curing of the cement instead of the seven-day curing. We also found out during the implementation of the project that the repair needed is not very big,” Molina said.
He added that they did not encounter any problem in replacing the flyover’s expansion joints as well.
No rerouting dry run
Meanwhile, the traffic rerouting dry run for the P683-million underpass project along N. Bacalso Ave. in Cebu City will not push through next week yet, despite the request of the DPWH.
Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) operations chief Francisco Ouano said this was agreed during a meeting with DPWH Project Engineer Roy dela Cruz, Councilor Dave Tumulak and the City Engineering Office yesterday morning.
“We agreed that we will try to patch first the rerouting-affected roads. By then, we will see if it is ready for another dry run because we are talking about a project that will take almost two years,” he said.
Based on estimates from the DPWH, they would need to pour a total of 540 metric tons of asphalt for the patching and repairing of the alternative roads for the traffic rerouting, which includes Caimito St., Ganciang St. and Tagunol St.
During the first dry run two weeks ago, the CCTO found out that because of these dilapidated alternate roads, traffic became heavy in the area.
Dela Cruz also said they plan to push through with presenting the project first before the Cebu City Council next week to apprise them about the details of the underpass project.