Which solution will P-Noy, RDC-7 support?

One group, led by private citizens and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, believes a “better way” to ease traffic flow is to build flared intersections and widen roads.

Another camp, led by former congressman Raul del Mar and Rep. Tomas Osmeña, insists the answer is two more flyovers in Cebu City.

On Monday, a showdown will test the choices.

The conflict over which transport solution deserves government support will bring stakeholders to Malacañang and to Bohol, where the Regional Development Council – Central Visayas (RDC-7) is scheduled to meet.

Mayor Rama said he would use both arenas to press his case for urban growth without flyovers.

Rama said he would attend the RDC meeting in Bohol in the morning, then fly to Manila in the afternoon to keep his appointment with President Benigno Aquino III, who asked to meet him to discuss “local concerns” over the flyover projects.

In that meeting, Rep. Cutie del Mar, key sponsor of the flyovers, will be present.

The mayor’s arch critic, Congressman Osmeña, said he would go to Bohol, along with Cebu City councilors, for the Nov. 28 RDC-7 meeting to make sure the council stands by its previous endorsements of flyover projects instead of taking a “dangerous” path.

Two P600-million overpasses, one in Gorordo Avenue near the Asilo dela Milagrosa and another at M.J. Cuenco Ave., were suspended due to protests by quarters who objected to flyovers as “expensive Band-Aid” solutions that have been funded in the past without comprehensive planning and consultation.

Critics said the flyovers would also diminish the “heritage” value of the core section of the city, where quality of life should be enhanced through better urban design.

The Del Mars denied there was lack of consultation, and point to signatures of barangay captains in most of the city’s 80 barangays, including resolutions of the RDC-7, which is headed by Mayor Rama.

In a press conference yesterday, the Movement for a Liveable Cebu presented a proposal for “flared intersections” as an alternative to two-lane flyovers.

Engineer Fortunato Sanchez Jr. showed illustrations of how an intersection with three to four road lanes would provide for continuous traffic flow with exclusive for left- and right-only lanes.

In this scenario, roads will be widened for the flared intersection. The main expense is buying affected lots by the roadsides.

Existing examples of flared intersections are found in the Keppel-Marriot Hotel intersection in Cebu Business Park and the intersection near the entrance of Cebu Asiatown IT Park and Waterfront Cebu.

“We were instructed to find sustainable solutions. We will present this to (Public Works Secretary Rogelio) Singson,” Sanchez said.

When Singson met lobby members last October, he said he would support a change from flyovers, if the group could get approval of the RDC for an alternative.

Sanchez said the design of Cebu’s two-lane flyovers in four-lane roads was “very expensive” and doesn’t solve traffic congestion.

Cost estimates and a cost-benefit analysis would still have to be made for the intersections of MJ. Cuenco and Gorordo Avenue, where two flyovers are proposed.

Members of the anti-flyover movement promised to show up “full force” in the RDC meeting in Bohol.

They said the findings and recommendations of an RDC Technical Working Group for a “moratorium” on flyovers in Metro Cebu should be adopted.

Joel Lee, convenor of the MLC, said they will attend this Monday’s RDC meeting to show support for the report.

“They can’t just disregard everything in the report. That would be illegal,” he told Cebu Daily News at the press conference at the St. Catherine Hall of the Asilo dela Milagrosa.

Lee said they hope to make a representation from Cebu’s private sector in the meeting.

“We also want to show our support, we wish we could be there. We’re ready to join them if they ask us,” Lee said.

Last Tuesday, the RDC-Infrastrcuture Development Committee voted 6 to 16 not to submit the TWG study findings to the RDC full council for action.

Raul del Mar was instrumental in convincing the committee not to support it.

The TWG, which reviewed Metro Cebu transport studies and programs, concluded that “alternative solutions” to traffic in Cebu should be considered in a comprehensive traffic study and that a moratorium on flyovers be implemented by the DPWH.

The final report raised 10 observations that cast serious doubt on the need and rationale for building flyovers in Metro Cebu, including the lack of “public consultation” and feasibility studies in the way past projects and two proposed flyovers in Gorordo Avenue and M.J. Cuenco were pursued.

Environment lawyer Gloria Estenzo Ramos said the flyovers in Cebu initiated by the Del Mars were a result of “personal wishes” of politicians.

“(Raul) Del Mar’s appearance in the RDC without Cutie is an insult to our intelligence. It’s a mockery of our democratic system. Why is the RDC condoning this?” Ramos said.

Ramos said the RDC-IDC may have voted down the committee report because it was “scared of the truth”.

Also present at the forum were City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) executive director lawyer Raffy Yap, architect Joy Onozawa and businessman Bunny Pages.

“We found out that the flyovers had no thorough study,” said transportation engineer Lynn Gloria Madrona, who was a member of the TWG that prepared the report.

Madrona said she hopes the TWG findings would be taken up in the RDC meeting in Bohol. Candeze R. Mongaya with Doris Bongcac