Center island, trees at Mambaling to be removed for a wider road

The center island with ornamental trees along the Mambaling Access Road going to the South Road Properties will have to go. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The meter-wide center island lined with 21 palm trees and shrubs in  the Mambaling Access Road leading to the South Road Properties will be removed  this week.

This  is part of the Cebu city government’s preparations to widen the road for the opening of  SM Seaside City Complex in the SRP by the end of the year.

The trees will be  transferred to Block 27 in the North Reclamation Area on Thursday, said the Cebu City’s Parks and Playgrounds Commission (PPC).

Mayor Michael Rama said the city doesn’t need center islands.

He said the city needs an efficient traffic lights system, reflectorized markings, and “lighted” center islands that would just delineate the road.

“I’ve been to Japan and San Francisco,  where road  islands are abhorred there especially in  a small or compact city,” he said.

Asked if he ordered the removal of the center island in the Mambaling Access Road, Rama repliedm

“This is part of what ought to be done.”

He said SM  will be deploying  its own fleet of buses  and that a center island could cause  heavy traffic if even one bus conks out in the middle of the road, making it difficult to provide alternate routes or pull out the bus.

“We planted those palm trees. These  ornamental plants will be transferred to Block 27,” said Manolito Briones, supervisor of the trimming and balling out section of the PPC.

No cutting permit is needed from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7, he said,  since the palm trees are “ornamental.”

Briones said they will complete the transfer of  trees to Block 27 by Thursday.

The plant inventory was made yesterday after a meeting with the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) and the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW).

The center island starts at C. Padilla St. and extends to  the entrance of the University of Cebu in Mambaling.

Removing it “will widen the road ahead of the opening of SM Seaside City and the operation of  other establishments inside the SRP,”  said Joy Tumulak,  traffic operations chief, so they can manage traffic better.

After the concrete is demolished, the DPWH will asphalt the site and the city will paint  solid line markings on the road.

“It won’t affect traffic because the area to be removed is only small. Once it’s removed, the road will be widened. There will be no road closure,” Tumulak said.