P840-M road plan seen easing Quezon traffic woes

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—An P840-million, 7.2-kilometer bypass road will be constructed in Sariaya, Quezon, starting next month to ease traffic along the Maharlika Highway, a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official in the province said.

Celestial Flancia, head of the DPWH-Quezon second engineering district, said the bypass road was projected to ease by at least 40 percent the regular traffic volume on the Sariaya section of the Maharlika Highway.

“That would mean a lot to ease the traffic problem of motorists,” Fiancia said on Tuesday.

The road construction, barring road right-of-way problems, is expected to be finished in 2017, she said.

Traffic flow on the Maharlika Highway in Sariaya often becomes horrendous because of narrow streets passing through the town proper, aside from the growing number of motorcycles being used as public utility vehicles.

Funeral marches along the highway also cause traffic jams that delay travel time by an average of 30 minutes.

The bypass road project, which includes four bridges, will start in Barangay Sampaloc II and traverse farmlands in the villages of Tumbaga I and Antipolo. It will end in Barangay Isabang in Lucena to connect with the Quezon ecotourism road, now on its second construction phase.

With existing bypass roads in Tiaong and Candelaria towns, the completion of the Sariaya project will help ease traffic woes of motorists along the central parts of Quezon, Flancia said.