Starting 6 a.m. today, traffic will be rerouted in the North Reclamation Area as concreting work continues in S. Osmeña Road.
All vehicles bound for the south can’t pass this highway. They have to use Logarta Street passing the Aboitiz soccer field.
But the flow of vehicles heading north to Mandaue city through S. Osmena Road will not be affected, said Joy Tumulak, operations chief of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management).
He said the change has been coordinated with Cebu city and Mandaue City traffic teams.
Some intersections near the border of both cities, like the SM City area, will have chokepoints.
The bottlenecks in Mandaue city include the corner of Ouano Ave and the Aboitiz Football Field.
Two Citom personnel will be posted in congested areas in each shift from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 10 pm.
Tumulak identified the chokepoints in Cebu city as (1) S. Osmena corner Cabahug St.; (2) Cabahug St. corner F. Urot St.; (3) Kaohsiung St. corner F. Urot St. and (4) Kaohsiung St. corner A. Soriano Ave.
The rehabilitation of the national highway is a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7.
Its contractor WT Construction will scrape off the asphalt as a prelude to concrete paving.
This time they are working on the section from corner S. Osmenga Cabahug to the Mahiga Bridge.
March 31 is the target deadline to complete cementing both sides of the road from the corner near Radisson Blu hotel to the Mahiga Bridge.
The road rehabilitation project starts at the tunnel of the Cebu South Coastal Road until the Mahiga Bridge at the border of Cebu and Mandaue cities.
The seaside lane or northbound lane of S. Osmena from corner Juan Luna St. until corner Kaohsiung St. remains closed.
Half of the closed lane is already concreted by the project contractor.
As a result, one-way traffic will be enforced for vehicles heading north along S. Osmeña road from Radisson Blu hotel to the Mahiga Bridge.
Vehicles from the north passing through Ouano Ave. should turn right near the Aboitiz Football Field going to M. Logarta St. through F. Urot St.
Those going further to Cebu City should turn right from F. Urot, passing through Cabahug then to A. Soriano Ave. An alternative route from Urot will be turning right through Kaohsiung St. then to A. Soriano Ave.
Destination
Trucks from Mandaue City who wish to go to the Cebu International Port (CIP) area can turn left from Urot, pass through Cabahug and then cross over going to the CIP.
“We will be observing this new traffic scheme for one week. If we see that there are things that should be adjusted or changed, we will do so to improve traffic flow in the area,” Tumulak said.
With the new scheme, Kaohsiung, F. Urot, Canahug and M. Logarta streets are expected to be heavily congested since they will remain two-way thoroughfares.
Affected
For passengers coming from Mactan Island, Tumulak suggested taking the ferry to mainland Cebu to avoid the roadwork.
Concreting
For the next phase of the project, the 240-meter southbound lane from corner Cabahug St. to the Mahiga bridge, the contractor expects to finish the work in 24 days.
“We are taking advantage of the good weather to hasten the completion of the project,” said DPWH 7 Regional Director Ador Canlas.
He said they want to complete the entire project by April before the start of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings. Some meetings will be held in Cebu.