NEW LANDMARK | The Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, now popularly referred to as Cebu’s third bridge, is seen from South Road Properties in Cebu City in this April 27, 2023, photo. (Photo by DALE G. ISRAEL / Inquirer Visayas)
CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — To address safety issues involving commuters who continuously stop in the middle of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx) to take TikTok videos and selfies, the corporation operating the country’s longest bridge now plans to put up a space for such activities.
Allan Alfon, president and general manager of Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC), said a permanent space along the bridge will allow people to take pictures, videos and do their TikTok dances without compromising their safety.
“We have to strike a balance between public relations and public safety but eventually we really have to enforce more on the safety because it is risky to continue to allow people to just stop anywhere along the alignment just to do TikTok [and selfies],” he said at a press conference on April 27.
Alfon said a “bisita center” would be put up with a good view of the bridge where people can take “souvenir shots and TikTok all they want.”
3.6 million motorists
In its first year of operation, about 3.6 million motorists used the CCLEx, Cebu’s newest landmark and the first toll expressway in the Visayas and Mindanao. This translates to an average of 12,500 motorists daily.
The CCLEx had a revenue of at least P800 million since it opened on April 27, 2022, and had given P1.69 million and P2 million, respectively, to Cebu City and Cordova town, or about 1 percent of its revenues as stipulated in their agreements with the two local governments hosting the bridge.
Alfon said the CCLEx would be expanded, including the construction of a ramp leading to Cebu City’s Barangay Guadalupe, which would give direct access to the bridge from the city’s inner barangays.
Alfon said they were also working with officials of Cordova, Cebu City, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for the creation of new public utility vehicle routes passing through the CCLEx.
The P30-billion CCLEx connects Cebu City in mainland Cebu to Mactan Island via Cordova. It is the first toll road project outside Luzon of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll road arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.