Traffic seen as Mananga bridge work starts

COMMUTERS, who ply the Cebu south, must brace for heavier traffic as preventive maintenance work in Mananga Bridge II in Talisay City begins.

The Cebu City-bound lane of the bridge has been closed to give way for the civil works while the southbound portion of the bridge is now used to accommodate all traffic bound south and those who are going to the city.

But Jonathan Tumulak, Provincial Focal Person on Traffic Management, said they had yet to conduct a coordination meeting with the officials of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), City Engineering Office of Talisay, and the traffic managers of the city on Thursday (today), to discuss the measures they would take to ease the traffic congestion that the project would entail.

Tumulak said the closure of the portion of the bridge for the road works had not been coordinated to the province.

“Ni-check lang ko sa nadawat nako nga report mao na nga akong gi-adto ang area and positive nga naa gyod didtoy gitrabaho. Mao to akong gipicturan unya gi-coordinate nako sa DPWH,” said Tumulak.

Tumulak added that a report reached him that the road closure had started on Tuesday.

He said that during his conversation with an official of the DPWH, no reason had been given as to why the project was not coordinated prior to implementation.

“Ilang gipahibaw nato nga dugay-dugay na diay unta ni nila nga gi-schedule pero karon lang nahimo. The other day pa kuno na gisiradoan,” said Tumulak in a phone interview.

Tumulak admitted that the road closure would likely cause heavy traffic flow in the area, especially that the DPWH was set to open the lanes beside the Mambaling overpass next week.

He appealed to motorists to continue taking the Cebu South Coastal Road in the South Road Properties (SRP) in order to minimize the volume of vehicles that would use the bridge.

Tumulak also admitted that the project would take long since the works will involve the entire structure.
He said the DPWH would be asked to discuss in their coordination meeting today the specifics of the project.