DOTr wants to synchronize BRT with other modes of transpo

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) will be reviewing the Cebu Bus Rapid Transport project so it would be synchronized with other proposed mode of transportation for Metro Cebu.

DOTr’ Mark Richmund De Leon, assistant secretary for road transport and infrastructure, clarified that Cebu BRT will now be part of an integrated or intermodal transport system planned for Metro Cebu.

“The project will be modified to fix and to accommodate other proposals like the LRT interconnection, the Skytrain, intelligent transportation system, walkways and railways,” De Leon explained.

He added that the project’s civil works will start next year.

He said they will revisit the Cebu BRT design so that when the infrastructure for this project would be ready to accommodate future transport system, like the LRT.

The DOTr wanted to ensure that a BRT station, for example, would be ready to accommodate the LRT, De Leon said.

As part of the preparation for the implementation of the BRT, he disclosed a meeting with the Department of Public Works and Highways regional officials to discuss their role in the integrated/intermodal transport system.

DPWH would have to undertake road right of way acquisitions and widening of bridges to accommodate required traffic flow, the undersecretary said.

Also, he added that DPWH has to be on board as far as road construction and road improvements are concerned.

He stressed that this would be a concerted effort coming from various agencies in Cebu, not only the DPWH.

Undersecretary De Leon also met with the DPWH, the project implementation unit, the technical consultant hired by the DOTr to do the catch-up plan so that in two to three years the intermodal transport system would be operational.

The meeting aims to come up with convergence programs with the DOTr, he said.

DOTr will also look at which phase as suggested by the feasibility study will be the most feasible to implement first.

“Probably the phase one (which was) previously identified is in a very critical section, meaning masikip ‘yung kalsada. Baka hindi maganda na dun unahin ang BRT. Baka mas maganda na unahin ang BRT sa lugar na mas maluwag,” De Leon said.

Implementing the phase along the Cebu South Coastal Road would be better as an example, he said.

He maintained that there would only be a revisiting of the BRT design to ensure that it would be integrated with the other transport systems.

While LRT would take time to implement, De Leon said the BRT infrastructure would have to be ready to accommodate this system. “We want the Metro Cebu concept to be integrated and intermodal.”

If the Cebu BRT design would be finalized in the first quarter of 2019, the construction of facilities will be implemented in the 2nd quarter, he added. /with Correspondent Jessa Mae O. Sotto