Mandaue seeks 2-way access to ease S. Osmeña traffic

Severe traffic congestion in Mandaue city after the closure of S. Osmeña Road is expected to continue until the end of the month when road concreting work is finished.

To ease the pressure, Mandaue traffic manager Edwin Ermac said he would seek another coordination meeting next week  to restore two-way access in Ouano Avenue, which was closed.

He lamented that the original traffic rerouting plan was not followed by Cebu city counterparts.

Ermac said Mandaue city was being unfairly blamed for the chaotic traffic in M. Logarta Street and the national highway of A.Soriano where the bulk of vehicle traffic  has shifted with the complete closure of S. Osmena Road starting March 5.

The original plan, he said, was to have one side of Ouano Avenue (facing  the Mactan Channel)  converted to two-way traffic.  This would  allow container vans and trucks to use the inner lane to counter flow on their way to the pier and Cebu

International Port (CIP). Then vehicles from Cebu City could use the outer lane on their way to Mandaue City. SM management had offered to provide  barriers between the two lanes. Ermac said he was  told a day before the actual closure by Joy Tumulak, operations head of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom), that the road section would be totally closed instead.

“Even if we post many traffic enforcers on the street, this won’t solve the congestion,” said Ermac.

He said that instead of minimizing the adverse impact of S. Osmeña Road’s closure, the change has  caused a buildup of traffic on M. Logarta St. (passing SM Hypermart) and the area near the Natasha building across SM City.

He said the original rerouting plan was approved during a Feb. 27 meeting at the  Cebu City engineering office with City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete and representatives of Citom and SM City present.

The rehabilitation of S. Osmeña  Road by contractor WT Construction for the  Dept. of Public Works and Highways is due for completion on March 31.