DPWH asked to defer projects around Mandaue-Mactan bridge

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III calls for Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB) emergency meeting at the Capitol. (CDN PHOTO/ VICTOR SILVA)

The Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB) sought the postponement of road projects around the first Mactan-Mandaue Bridge while repairs on it are ongoing.

Engr. Pericles Dakay, MCBMB vice chairman, said the regional Department of he Public Works and Highways (DPWH-7) should consider postponing other road projects within the area to avoid traffic congestion.

“Traffic is a system of networks. We should not only consider traffic within the bridge, but the whole system,” he said during an emergency meeting called by Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III at the Capitol this morning.

The traffic management agencies of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue said traffic was manageable on the bridge and in the vicinity since DPWH resumed works on April 2.

But since it was a weekend, they are assessing traffic flow on weekdays.

Engr. Nonato Paylado, planning division chief of the DPWH 7, said the only major project they are working on near the bridge is concreting on Plaridel Street.

Paylado said they will continue to play it by ear. “We also have a traffic scheme for that project which we might incorporate with our scheme for the bridge project,” he said.

Mactan Cebu International Airport General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete also asked the DPWH 7 to conduct a traffic count on crucial intersections, most especially Plaridel Street-U.N. Avenue.

Villarete said a traffic count is necessary to objectively find out how the bridge repairs affect traffic flow in the area. He said based on this data, they could plan necessary traffic interventions./Reporter Victor Anthony V. Silva