Partial closure of S. Osmeña Road today

‘AVOID THE POTHOLES’

A ‘DISASTER AREA.’ That was how Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama described portions of the S. Osmena Road during an inspection with Vice Mayor Edgar Labella, former Citom executive director Victor Caindec (behind the mayor) and Citom operations chief Joy Tumulak (wearing traffic aide vest.) (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)

Motorists should avoid passing through S. Osmeña Road in Cebu City due to a revised road experiment scheme to be enforced starting today.

Rafael Yap, reinstalled executive director of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom), said the northbound lanes of a portion of S. Osmeña road beside Radisson Blu Hotel and the SM Parking Lot will be closed today.

This means the southbound lane of that portion will be open to two-way traffic.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he and Vice Mayor Edgar Labella will monitor traffic in the area as early as 5 or 6 a.m. today.

“It will be a partial closure. Alternate routes will be F. Cabahug St. and Kaohsiung St. as diversion points of north to south traffic. For south to north, they can use Baclig Street,” Yap said.

Inconvenienced
The new rerouting scheme was decided upon after a meeting with Citom officials and Rama yesterday afternoon.

Rama wanted to enforce a road experiment on S. Osmeña Road, portions of which were blocked with steel railings at 3 p.m. last Saturday to prevent motorists from travelling over deep potholes.

The unannounced closure of some parts of S. Osmeña Road drew the ire of inconvenienced motorists who were stuck in traffic for more than two hours in a few meters stretch of road as well as complaints from commercial establishments near the area.

With the  new reroute scheme, Rama sees some improvement in the traffic flow in the area.

“(Today) at 5 a.m., we will see. Hopefully, there will be a great improvement because the portion where the crater is won’t be used anymore,” Rama said.

Some problems
The mayor said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has already started to fill the potholes in the area with asphalt.

Rama admitted that the sudden implementation of the reroute experiment last Saturday caused some problems.

“Kadtong gahapon, dakog problema. Karon, kita naman ko sa (Last Saturday, there were big problems. Now, I saw the) movement. There will be a portion at the Cebu Ports Authority that will be available and there will be new roads that will be opened,” Rama said.

Rama said Citom will field 30 traffic personnel in the area today.

He also requested the same number of policemen from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to help oversee the area today.

Disaster area
Citom is expected to conduct a weekly assessment of the experiment in S. Osmeña, Yap said.

“It will continue. By Thursday, we will be making a report to the Citom board and discuss on possible courses of action,” Yap said.

Rama walked for three kilometers from barangay Tinago up to the city’s boundary with Mandaue City to check on the condition of the S. Osmeña Road, which he described as a “disaster area.”

Rama pointed to the crater-like potholes on the road while he asked traffic staffers and some city officials to move the steel railings in order to try another traffic experiment following last Saturday’s unfortunate traffic experiment.

He said the potholes are so large and deep that the rain from last Saturday dawn’s downpour filled them, endangering motorists who were unaware of the road’s condition.

Safety
“It is important that we should bring in all together – the contractor, DPWH, Citom and CPA,” Rama told Cebu Daily News who caught him in his inspection yesterday morning.

Rama was with Labella and Victor Caindec who just gave up his post as Citom’s executive director over the weekend.

Also with the mayor were Tinago barangay chairman Joel Garganera, Metropolitan Cebu Water District Board Chairman Rene Mercado, Citom operations chief Joy Tumulak and Engr. Adolfo Quiroga of WT Construction, the contractor in charge of the road-widening project along S. Osmeña Road.

Rama ordered the reopening of the blocked south bound road from the corner of F. Cabahug street to Kaohsiung street.

He said the closure has to be implemented to ensure the safety of the riding public especially during rainy days.

Work stoppage
To ease the traffic in nearby roads, Rama said he asked the CPA to open the service road and refrain from collecting entrance fees to accommodate the public and help ease traffic brought about by the road closures.

“I’m telling the CPA that we need that area because that area (closed portion of S. Osmeña road) is a disaster area,” Rama said.

He opened the area near the office of Cebu Daily News because the condition is “manageable.”

Once roads are closed and traffic is stabilized, Rama urged the contractor of the DPWH-7, WT Construction to fast-track the road repairs being done on the national highway.

Quiroga said they had to stop their operation to pave S. Osmeña road because their trucks from a nearby batching plant at the North Reclamation Area could not successfully navigate through the affected area.

“We stopped all work yesterday afternoon because we were already wondering how come our trucks arrived an hour after the expected time. Our trucks leave the plant at  4:30 p.m. but arrive past 5:30 p.m.,” Quiroga said.

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