The Mambaling underpass will be opened this Saturday, June 15, 2019. CDN Digital photo | Rosalie Abatayo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Mambaling underpass will finally open at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, June 15, after 22 months of construction since August 2017.
According to the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7), the P638 million project is expected to ease the traffic in Natalio Bacalso Avenue and F. Llamas Street junction.
Francisco Ouano, Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) head, said he was excited with the opening of the subway as this would end the long sufferings of motorists traversing the national highway.
Read more: Mambaling underpass opens on Saturday
The subway would allow private and cars going northbound to skip the stoplight on the junction saving travel time while jeepneys would still traverse the side roads to pick up or drop off passengers.
Ouano said that trucks would only be allowed to pass the underpass for a limited time as they would be banned during peak hours.
The truck ban follows the general truck ban in the major thoroughfares in the city which disallows trucks to travel from 6 a.m to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Furthermore, Ouano said that buses and minibuses with the point-to-point franchise, and traveling to the southern towns of Cebu would not be allowed in the underpass as well.
These vehicles would continue to use the Cebu South Coastal Road and South Road Properties to reach the South Bus Terminal.
Ouano said he already received complaints from operators, but he said that these buses would cause congestion in the national highway especially during the peak hours.
He also said that the permits of terminal buses allows them to drop passengers only in designated stop points which in Cebu City would be the South Bus Terminal.
However, the KMK bus and the Mybus will be allowed to pass through the underpass because they had a different kind of loading and unloading permit.
The KMK is allowed to pick up and drop off passengers in the jeepney stops while the Mybus have a permit to drop off in certain points from Barangay Inayawan to Mambaling and along the N. Bacalso Avenue.
Ouano said that buses and minibuses caught violating the ban would be asked to return to their proper routes.
“All we ask is for them to understand that if we allow them to pass through the highway, they can cause congestions,” said Ouano in a phone interview.
Ouano reminded the public that vehicles could run only up to 40 kilometers per hour along the underpass.
He said that traffic enforcers would also be assigned in the junction to guide the motorists of the new system as all jeepney would have to use the side roads.
He also said that all jeepneys that were rerouted during the construction of the underpass might pass the junction again. ###