TRAFFIC agencies in Cebu City and Mandaue City advised commuters and motorists to leave home at least two hours early for today’s Walk with Mary and Friday’s Traslacion motorcade.
Fuente Osmeña Rotunda up to downtown Cebu City will be closed by 4 a.m. for the dawn procession tomorrow.
Only one lane will be accessible to vehicles throughout the foot procession, said Jonathan Tumulak, operations chief of the Cebu City Traffic Office. Traffic enforcers will be stationed in intersections along the route.
New route this year for the Friday, January 15 motorcade will pass through barangays Banilad, and Bakilid, Mandaue City.
Tumulak said motorcycle riders should stay at the end of the procession.
Roads will be opened once the end of the foot procession is cleared, he said.
Vehicles will temporarily be halted to give way to the procession.
For Friday’s “traslacion” or motorcade for the ritual transfer of the Sto. Nino image from the basilica to Mandaue City, a new route will bring heavier traffic than usual.
It will pass Banilad and A.S. Fortuna Street.
Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) operation chief Glenn Antigua said those heading to A.S. Fortuna and M.C. Briones streets should leave for their destinations two hours ahead of the motorcade.
Antigua said he expects this year’s Traslacion to end in the afternoon.
Taxi driver Jovencio Lumales said they are used to the congestion caused by the Traslacion.
“I don’t like to turn down passengers. There are still alternative routes in the city that are not traffic congested),” he said in Cebuano.