Traffic is expected to be heavy around the Cebu City Sports Center tomorrow (Saturday) for the title fight of Nonito Donaire Jr. and Hungarian boxer Zsolt Bedak.
The Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) advises motorists to avoid passing through Osmeña Blvd.
“There is a big possibility that we will close a portion of Osmeña Blvd. from corner R.R. Landon St. to corner P. Del Rosario St. at around 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.,” said CCTO operations chief Jonathan “Joy” Tumulak.
Only the right side of Osmeña Blvd. (if you’re coming from the Fuente rotunda going to the downtown area) will be closed, he said. The other side, leading to the rotunda will be open to motorists.
Private vehicles and Public Utility Jeepneys (PUJs) will be re-routed to F. Ramos by allowing them to left turn from Osmeña Blvd. to Arlington Pond (the road near the CAP Theater) or to R.R. Landon St., which is the road beside Cebu Normal University.
“According to the organizers, they are expecting 13,000 to 15,000 people who will watch the boxing match. We are also expecting that there will be a lot of people watching because it’s an international fight and a title fight,” Tumulak said, adding that tickets are also not very expensive.
In the event that more people will flock to the sports center, Tumulak said they will implement a longer closure scheme. Instead of just starting at the corner of R.R. Landon St., he said, they will close Osmeña Blvd., starting at the area near the Department of Health (DOH) 7 office.
Aside from Osmeña Blvd., they expect that F. Ramos St. and Junquera St. would also get congested tomorrow afternoon until evening.
CCTO will allow parking of vehicles on both sides of Osmeña Blvd., Pelaez St., R.R. Landon St., and P. Del Rosario St. as long as they will not double park.
Tumulak said after the vehicles have parked and the people have gotten inside the sports center and traffic has normalized, they will re-open the closed portion of the road.
The fight, which is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., is expected to end at around 11 p.m. to 12 midnight, he said.
By this time, Tumulak said they may again have to temporarily close a portion of the Osmeña Blvd. to facilitate the exit of people and vehicles after the fight.
“But we don’t see as much problem this time because it’s already late and there won’t be a lot of traffic by that time,” he said.
CCTO will be deploying 50-60 traffic personnel to help man the area starting as early as 1 p.m. tomorrow.