Flyovers not a solution to city’s traffic woes — Rama

Under normal circumstances, Natalio Bacalso Avenue and its flyover as seen in the distance are one of the busiest thoroughfares in Cebu City. But with the city under enhanced community quarantine, the avenue is more like a ghost town.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Flyovers are not the best solution for the traffic problem in Cebu City’s major highways.

This was the statement of Vice Mayor Michael Rama over the plan of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) to build two flyovers at the Natalio Bacalso Avenue and an underpass at the South Road Properties (SRP) Mambaling junction.

Rama said that the flyovers are not what the city needs and will only cause additional suffering to motorists during the years that these will be constructed.

“You know very well that this has to be seriously looked into because having a flyover, it will only ‘fly over,’ transferring from one area to the same area. It has to be something that will cross,” said Rama.

The vice mayor added that the priority should be to widen the roads especially with the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system being slowly realized.

The widening of the road should precede any large infrastructure such as that of flyovers.

“What the city needs is wider roads, tunnel nga di mahimog swimming pool,” said the vice mayor.

Rama has long expressed his disapproval of flyovers saying these are causing more troubles than solving problems for the city.

Mayor Edgardo Labella said there are many concerns on huge projects such as flyovers at the Natalio Bacalso Avenue because of several factors such as road widening, drainage, and traffic impact.

He urged the DPWH-7 to consult the city government especially the Cebu City Council so that any concerns will be incorporated in the Detailed Engineering Design (DED) that is currenlty being conducted by the contractor, CEDCO Engineering.

In previous statements, DPWH-7 and CEDCO Engineering said their public hearings have just begun and they will continue to conduct more public hearings for the stakeholders including the Cebu City government.

“Ngano babagan man ta na? I just hope there will be a public hearing with the officials of the city especially the Sanggunian Panglungsod,” said the mayor.

Still, the mayor reiterates that there are many concerns about the current infrastructure at the national highway including the Mambaling underpass that has recently been flooded after heavy rains.

Labella has not yet received a response from DPWH Secretary Mark Villar over his appeal on the underpass flooding and he hopes the DPWH-7 will fix this soon.

He said that while the city supports infrastructure progress, he said these infrastructures should not cause more problems for the residents. /rcg