Bridge work stalls Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu traffic flow

TRAFFIC crawled in Mandue City near both bridges across the Mactan channel when repair work  was conducted on two, instead of just one lane of the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

The expanded work coverage in UN Avenue caught Mandaue traffic officials by surprise.

They will complain about it to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-7).

“Motorists generally anticipated the Fernan bridge traffic. It was aggravated when the contractor worked on both lanes. They didn’t even inform us about their changes in their original plan so we can make our adjustments,” said Mandaue City Planning Officer Florentino Nimor.

They discovered the change when  they fetched some Japanese consultants at the airport.

They used the old the Mandaue-Mactan bridge  to avoid work on the Fernan bridge only to find it congested.

P.B. Obial Construction, the contractor, started ripping out the asphalt overlay of  the inner lane going to Lapu-Lapu City last week, while cementing the inner lane of the road going to Mandaue City.

Owner Pablo Bacalso Obial said heavy rains delayed their work and they  had to  work overtime to complete their job by February next year.

Nevertheless, Nimor said  local officials should be informed since “the people would first complain to us.”

After reporting this to Mayor Jonas Cortes, he said they plan to designate traffic enforcers at both ends of the two bridges to help regulate vehicular flow. He said they can also ask ferry boats or shipping companies to transport passengers and cars from Muelle Osmena, Lapu-Lapu City to Ouano Wharf.

Edwin Ermac, Traffic Enforcement of Mandaue (TEAM) chief, said a traffic enforcer at the foot of the Marcelo Fernan bridge in M.L. Quezon Highway in Barangay Pusok is being detailed to control the volume of vehicles heading to Mandaue.

Other vehicles coming from north of Lapu-Lapu City or from the airport will be diverted to the first bridge if traffic congestion is experienced at the Fernan bridge.

Frank Brazil, chief of the Lapu-Lapu City Traffic Management System (CTMS), said it would be better if the concreting is done at night when there are less vehicles. Correspondents Fe Marie Dumaboc and Norman V. Mendoza