Heavy traffic in UN Ave. as repairs start today

UN Avenue in Mandaue City will be partly closed starting today for road repairs.

One lane of the avenue starting from the corner of Plaridel Street to the foot of the Marcelo Fernan Bridge will be closed to traffic.

Motorists and commuters catching a flight in the Mactan Cebu International Airport are advised to give a 1-hour leeway in their schedule .

“The UN Avenue will be declared a no stopping zone,” Edwin Ermac, head of the Traffic Enforcement  Agency of Mandaue (Team).

Engr. Rachel Lumapas of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office said, the project will be finished by end of November provided there will be no obstructions and bad weather conditions.

DPWH together with Mandaue’s city planning officer and traffic head made an ocular inspection in the UN Avenue last Friday and concluded that the road repairs would indeed result in heavy traffic in the area.

The innermost lane or the lane in the island side will be scraped first and is expected to finish in seven days before the concreting starts, the other innermost lane from the foot of the bridge to corner Plaridel St. is scheduled next.

DPWH’s contractor will work one lane at a time to free three lanes for the vehicles going in and out of Lapu-Lapu City. The road repair project will cover almost a kilometer.

The Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue has already installed instructional traffic signs and advisories regarding the road rehabilitation in U.N. Avenue.

The advisories printed in a tarpaulin were place in major thoroughfares in the city such as in the M.C. Briones highway, Ouano Avenue, A.C. Cortes Avenue and Plaridel streets.

Ermac will deploy traffic personnel in two shifts to closely monitor U.N. Avenue when the project begins.

For vehicles that conk out or figure in an accident, Ermac said, the Umapad road can serve as  entry of tow trucks. /Norman V. Mendoza, Correspondent