BRACE FOR THE WORST

By: Nestle L. Semilla February 06,2016 - 12:37 AM

Leave for MCIA four hours ahead of flights

If you have no business in Mandaue City or on Mactan Island’s Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova town, it is best not to go there.

Starting today up to the next six months, traffic will be extremely heavy in roads leading to the Mandaue City proper, where all of the city’s major government offices are located, as well as those that connect mainland Cebu to Mactan Island.

Those who are flying out of Cebu via the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) are advised to leave their points of origin at least four hours prior to their flights.

The MCIA management also released yesterday a map that will guide motorists where to pass, so they can get to the airport at the earlier possible time.

Those who are heading to or departing from Mandaue or Lapu-Lapu cities for Cebu City and elsewhere will need at least two hours as lead time if they want to reach their destinations on time.

Repair work on A. Soriano Avenue (not Ouano Avenue as earlier reported), the main road link to the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge and one of the primary arteries for commuters bound for northern Cebu, will begin today.

Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) operations chief Glenn Antigua warned of “heavy traffic congestion” along A. Soriano Avenue after the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH 7) started the upgrading of the 1.1-kilometer, four-lane avenue on Friday night.

Traffic is heavy enough as it is at the old Mactan-Mandaue Bridge during peak hours. Expect it to worsen when the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) starts the repair of the bridge this coming Monday. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Traffic is heavy enough as it is at the old Mactan-Mandaue Bridge during peak hours. Expect it to worsen when the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) starts the repair of the bridge this coming Monday. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Antigua said they might use the S.B. Cabahug Street as the diversion route for motorists coming from Cebu City and southern Cebu. A detour road was also being prepared at the back of the old Mandaue City public market, he said.

He said they also planned to divert cargo trucks to M.C. Briones St. if it would get too congested along the detour areas, similar to the traffic scheme they implemented  when Cebu hosted high level meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in August and October last year.

He said trucks that have no businesses in Plaridel St. would be diverted to M.C. Briones St. to ease congestion along Plaridel.

Antigua, however, said that the detour road at the back of the city’s public market would not be ready until next week since some portions still have to be cleared of occupants and structures.

LEAVE EARLY

By Monday, traffic will get heavier when DPWH will also start the repair of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge (old bridge). The repair work will be done round the clock and projected to last four to six months, or at most up to July.

“We advise the public especially the students to leave their house as early as possible. We don’t have any (choice) as the DPWH has been asking us to start their project and we keep on delaying it,” he said.

Vehicles bound for Lapu-Lapu City can use both the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge and the Marcelo Fernan Bridge (new bridge). But those coming from Lapu-Lapu City, where MCIA is located, and bound for mainland Cebu, can only use the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

Antigua said this kind of traffic situation would last for the duration of the repair of the first bridge.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said the city government would be deploying additional traffic personnel to ease the traffic congestion in the affected areas.

“Be advised to leave early for your appointments. Traffic congestion may eat up more or less two hours of your time,” she said in an advisory released Friday.

Florentino Nimor Jr., executive director of TEAM and Mandaue City’s planning and development officer, said they have started to clear U.N. Avenue and Plaridel St. to divert to these roads the vehicles bound for Barangay Cansaga in Consolacion town.

He said TEAM conducted a dry run last Thursday, diverting  Consolacion-bound vehicles to these two streets but it was “a bit chaotic” as the motorists were not yet aware of the changes.

“So we hope that it will turn out okay in the next days,” he said.

Nimor said this diversion scheme would hopefully lessen congestion, especially as they were anticipating a spillover of motorists at the back of Pacific Mall along U.N. Avenue and at the corner of Butuanon Bridge, which adjoins the mall.

KEEP IT MOVING

“The only assurance we can give our motorists and the riding public is that we will try our best nga smooth ang flow sa traffic. Bahalang hinay basta moving,” he said.

Also, Antigua added they would designate the section along Pacific Mall as a “zipper lane” or counter-flow traffic lane as they saw it as an effective means of easing traffic in the area.

Traffic along the Marcelo Fernan Bridge is expected to be “manageable” since all of its lane will stay open, Nimor said.

In case traffic will get heavy along the bridge, TEAM enforcers will divert vehicles to S.B. Cabahug Avenue, he said.

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TAGS: Cebu, Mactan, Mactan Cebu International Airport, Mandaue City, traffic

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