The Cebu City government is planning to build two access roads to connect Barangays Toong and Pamutan to the city center. | Screengrabbed from Google Maps
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government is planning to open two access roads in the southern mountain barangays in order to divert traffic from the downtown area.
Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairperson of the City Council’s committee on infrastructure, said that a 6-kilometer access road from Barangay Toong to Barangay Pardo is being studied by the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW).
The road will pass from the barangay road of Toong to the mountain road in Pardo near a country club.
Another 3-kilometer access road is being studied from Barangay Pamutan to Barangay Campo Cuatro, along the boundary of Cebu City and Talisay City.
The road will start from the Pamutan barangay road and will end at Campo Cuatro, opening to the Central Highway.
Guardo said these roads would make it easier for Barangays Toong and Pamutan to reach the city center without having to go north.
Barangay Toong can only be accessed through the Busay road in the north, while Pamutan can only be accessed through the Buhisan road in the central part of the city.
The time it takes to travel from these barangays to the city center varies from two hours to three, while the access roads can cut the journey to only thirty minutes to an hour.
Guardo said they were hoping for these projects to be fast-tracked as Mayor Edgardo Labella wants to create more diversion roads in the uptown to reduce the traffic congestion downtown.
“We will seek support from the Department of Public Works and Highways to fund the two roads, but this is really a city project, and we hope to realize this under this administration,” said Guardo.
Documentations were in the process for the two access roads, which Guardo said they hoped to construct simultaneously, and afterward, a feasibility study would be conducted in the two areas.
The challenge will be acquiring the lots that may be affected in the road-making, although the city does not expect many structures to be affected.
“We think in a year we can already start the construction. We plan to purchase equipment so that we can fast-track these kinds of projects,” he said.
The DEPW will be purchasing a bulldozer, two backhoes, a number of payloaders, graders, and dump trucks, so these can be used for civil works.
Guardo also said the new access roads would be four lanes in order to accommodate trucks carrying goods, as most mountain barangays were mainly agricultural.
He said the current barangay roads were not ideal for agricultural development because they were only two lanes and could barely fit a loader truck. /dbs