Diggings to start on southbound lane

Works on the northbound lane of the Natalio Bacalso underpass project will already be moved to the other side of the national highway starting on Friday.
CDN photo/Junjie Mendoza

The ongoing underpass construction project along Natalio Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City will already be moved to the southbound lane of the national highway starting on Friday.

With ongoing works, only the outer lanes on both sides of the national highway will be opened to vehicular traffic, said Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) head Francisco Ouano.

Ouano is asking private vehicle owners to avoid the area and instead use alternative roads to refrain from getting caught in heavy congestion.

“We are really expecting traffic to worsen, so we are encouraging motorists who don’t have anything to do in the area to just avoid passing there.

Those who pass by will contribute to traffic congestion and they will also be caught in traffic,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Ouano is asking private motorists to use alternative routes like Caimito, Ma. Gochan, Tagunol, Katipunan and F. Llamas Streets, among others.

He added that there is also an ongoing study to determine the viability of also diverting public utility vehicles away from the construction site.

DPWH project engineer Roy Dela Cruz said that they will bar the loading and unloading of passengers on a portion of the highway where road works are ongoing. Instead, PUJs will be asked to load and unload passengers at the parking area of Shopwise.

From Shopwise, PUJs will then be asked to make a left turn to F. Llamas Street on their way to downtown Cebu City.

An option is to make a right turn to Cabreros Street to refrain from passing by the construction area.

Dela Cruz said he sat down with Ouano on Tuesday to discuss the new traffic schemes.

The Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-) started work on the P683-million underpass project in August.

Construction workers started to dig on the northbound lane of N. Bacalso Avenue fronting Shopwise in Barangay Mambaling.

While diggings were being implemented on the inner most part of the highway’s southbound lane, its three outer lanes remained opened to vehicular traffic.

Diggings will already be moved to the highway’s southbound lane fronting the McDonald’s store in the same barangay starting on Friday.

But this time, the outer most lanes on both sides of the highway will be left open for vehicle use, said Dela Cruz.

Dela Cruz said that while work will already shift on the highways’ southbound lane, some construction materials including its steel sheet piles continue to occupy part of its northbound lane.