Maguikay flyover repair snarls Mandaue traffic
Traffic in the barangay Maguikay portion of the highway in Mandaue City was a mess yesterday morning due to the ongoing repair works on the flyover.
Steel plates used by the contractor to cover flyover joints being repaired got displaced and blocked vehicles.
Work on the flyover which included replacing its asphalt overlay and joint repairs are supposed to be done on night time only.
The gridlock affected the stretch of M.C. Briones from barangay Tipolo to barangay Basak in the north as well as A.C. Cortes Avenue, M.L. Quezon and A.S. Fortuna streets.
Mandaue City Administrator James Abadia said they responded to the traffic chaos after receiving a report from motorists around 7 a.m. He immediately informed the Dept. of Public Work and Highways (DPWH) which in turn relayed the problem to their private contractor.
He regretted the late arrival of the contractor who came in at around 9 a.m. and took them an hour to replace the steel plates.
Edwin Ermac, head of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) said even if they deployed additional traffic enforcers, the rush hour volume was very difficult to manage.
Monitoring team
To prevent a repeat of the problem, the DPWH assigned a team of workers to monitor the flyover.
“Ma dislocate man gud ang steel plates kay dili man flat ang dalan. Pangita-an pa namo og paagi aron dili na molihok ang steel plates.” said Engr. Roy Dela Cruz of Benrey contractors.
(The steel plates are prone to dislocation because these are not placed on flat surface. We are still finding a way to remedy the situation.)
He explained that they started working on it Thursday night and it was supposed to be opened at 5 a.m. the following day, but because it rained at dawn, they covered the hole with steel plates and left the site. The flyover was opened to traffic at 4 a.m.
Repair work will run for 11 days or until Feb. 3.
The flyover closes at 9 p.m. and opens at 5 a.m. the following day, but on weekends, it closes at 8 p.m. and opens at 6 a.m. on the next day.
