Cebu City to open road near sports center to help decongest traffic

The road project will start at this area from R. Landon Street (beside the Abellana Police Station) going all the way to B. Rodriguez Street. | CDN File Photo/Niña Mae Oliverio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — As part of the preparations of Cebu City’s hosting of the Palarong Pambansa 2024 and as per directive from Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, a road opening has been proposed near the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).

The road opening project would be 15 meters wide and three kilometers long from R. Landon Street (beside Abellana Police Station) to Urgello Street, then to lower Cawayan connecting to Tangkungan Street and all the way up to Aznar Road, passing by TB. Pavillion and connecting to B. Rodriguez Street.

The road will reportedly  have a sidewalk, curb, and gutter with drainage system on both sides. It is said to be able to accommodate four-lane traffic.

On Monday, November 13, 2023, the head of the council’s Committee on Infrastructure Councilor Jerry Guardo, said that the road opening is in coordination with the CCSC, the main venue for the major sporting event that Cebu City will be hosting in July 2024.

READ: Cebu City is host of Palarong Pambansa 2024

This said road project is expected to ease traffic in the area around the sports center, which is still undergoing renovation as of press time.

“We anticipate that we will have a lot of visitors, participants for the Palaro. So traffic will be a bit heavy in our existing roads here. So, we really have to widen and open roads so it will be not congested and there will be exits for vehicles,” Guardo said.

Aerial view from Google Maps showing the current R. Landon Street and Sports Center

Guardo said they plan to start the road project this month and finish by January or February 2024, saying they have allotted three months for civil works. They are already processing paperworks and legal documents for this road opening.

The road opening will affect informal settlers in the area, Guardo said.

“When you say informal settlers, these are those living near the Sports Center, the ones at this side going to the entrance area,” he said.

READ MORE: Bringing back Palarong Pambansa to Cebu City a team effort — CCSC chief

He said that they have done surveying and consulting the residents of the affected areas, especially in Barangay Sambag 1 last week.

Guardo said that the residents were very supportive of the said plan of the city government.

Parcellary survey for road project

Guardo said they are eyeing to finish their ‘parcellary survey’ for the road project this week.

Parcellary survey is done to identify affected lots within the right-of-way (ROW) limits indicated in the road design plans that is approved by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“On Thursday, we will conduct socioeconomic planning to determine how many structures, how many houses of informal settlers will be affected, how many houses of  private lot owners will also be affected,” Guardo added.

As of Monday, Guardo said that the initial number of the affected informal settlers would be 15 to 20 structures, and he assured that the city’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) has already prepared relocation sites for them.

‘Road recovery program’

He said that during the consultation, they also called the private lot owners to explain the project to them.

Gyardi said the project is part of the ‘road recovery program’ of Rama that aims to decongest the traffic in Cebu City.

As to the budget, Guardo said that the city government has already appropriated funds for the ROW acquisition, with more or less P200 billion funds from the city’s coffer.

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