The Marcelo Fernan Bridge will not be closed for repairs on May 2 as scheduled.
Calling agencies unprepared, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia stepped in and formed a new Technical Working Group to come up with a better work plan on May 16.
She said she only learned from media reports about the proposed bridge closure, that would limit traffic to half of the lanes.
A new date for the bridge repair to replace rubberized joints, which was earlier set by the Department of Public Works and Highways, will be announced later.
May brings peak summer traffic to and from Mactan, where the airport and several resorts are located.
The Mandaue City government also wants to reschedule repairs because May 8 is the Mandaue annual fiesta.
In a special meeting of the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board, which Garcia chairs, the governor voiced dissatisfaction over the explanation of DPWH engineer Eda de Guman about the work plan.
Garcia questioned whether the action plan had “the best possible steps to reduce the riding public’s agony.”
“You never informed the MCBMC or even told me out of courtesy about this project, leaving me flatfooted. Now I am the one who is calling a special meeting instead of your department,” she told the DPWH.
The TWG is composed of engineers from the repair contractor PLD Construction, acting district engineer Ronald Suico of the DPWH’s Cebu sixth district and Paul Villarete, general manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
A revised work plan will be submitted on May 16.
The DPWH said 18 of 20 rubberized expansion joints of the bridge have to be replaced.
Phase one will replace the expansion joints located on the side near the market and will require removal of the center islands separating the four lanes.
Garcia questioned whether removing the center island and shutting down two lanes instead of one was necessary.
She said the month of May generates the highest traffic volume in the summer due to airport arrivals and departures.
“There is no clear traffic count. Then you will destroy the center barricades. What if we close a single lane at a time? I find this a very convoluted system, Garcia said.
“We can imagine the delay of Cebuanos getting to their flights. NOt only Mactan and Mandaue will be affected in this repair but the Cebuanos, our tourism industry and the riding public as well.”
Engineer Daka also said the special meeting would have been more productive if a representative from PLD Construction came.
“There are a lot of questions that the contractor could answer. Will they immediately proceed with construction once the lanes are closed? Is this plan made with the help of the contractor? “
Addressing DPWH, he said “You are not the only ones who value time. The riding public is also concerned with that.”
Edwin Ermac, head of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue said he will bring Mayor Jonas Cortes’s concern to the board’s attention especially with the May 8 Mandaue fiesta.
He said they will assign two traffic enforcers on a three-shift-basis at traffic hotspots in the city. /Peter L. Romanillos, Correspondent with Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza