DPWH 7 working on solution to Cebu City’s traffic problem

THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 is gathering data in several intersections in Cebu City for its detailed engineering design (DED) to reduce traffic.

Nonie Paylado, head of the planning and design division of the DPWH 7, clarified that these activities are not related to any civil works or actual construction of a particular project, but the output will be used to figure out the suitable traffic measure that will be implemented in a specific area or intersection.

“It will be an undertaking to compare or to study the several options that might address traffic (either road widening, flyovers, underpass, road clearing and traffic signalization, among others) and to figure out which of these measures is more appropriate or more effective,” he said.

He said they are conducting soil drilling, geotechnical survey/site investigation and topographic surveys (used to identify and map surface features of the terrain in a given area) on P. del Rosario St., V. Rama Ave., Gen. Maxilom Ave. and Juan Luna Ave.

On April 15, 2021, the DPWH 7 conducted a public hearing for three proposed major infrastructure projects in Cebu City: two flyovers and an underpass.

The two flyovers will be located on Osmeña Blvd. corner N. Bacalso Ave. to P. del Rosario St. corner Leon Kilat St. with a length of 1.140 kilometers and N. Bacalso Ave. corner V. Rama Ave. with a length of 1.265 kilometers. The 915-meter underpass will be constructed at the South Road Properties in Barangay Mambaling corner Cebu South Coastal Road.

Although Paylado could not specify the exact amount of each DED project, he said the funding came from the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“These are not construction stages yet. We are not sure if the civil works for these would-be projects will be funded. It will all depend on Congress,” he said in Cebuano.

Paylado said the best way to solve the traffic problem is a combination of mass transport and component infrastructures.

“We are trying to formulate, based on our mandate, infrastructures that will address traffic, but we need coordination with the DOTr (Department of Transportation) so that we can go hand-in-hand with mass transport,” he said. (WBS)