SRP tunnel needs brighter lights, signs

Switch on your car headlights and follow the 60-kilometer-per-hour-speed limit in the SRP Tunnel.

That’s what motorists will be reminded to do after the six-vehicle collision on Tuesday, when a soft drink delivery truck driver who sped into the tunnel’s north-bound lane in Cebu City rammed a truck in front of him.

The tunnel was reopened to vehicular traffic at 4:30 p.m. yesterday.

The Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management (Citom) board yesterday agreed to maintain the present 60 kph speed limit and have it strictly enforced, said Citom chairman Jack Jakosalem.

(Cebu Daily News yesterday noted signboards at the entrance alerting motorists to a slower speed limit of 40 kph and “one lane ahead.”)

Citom is also asking the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to add more traffic signs to warn motorists about the speed limit, to use seat belts and to switch on headlights and tail lights.

“I feel that the tunnel is a little dark but I don’t really know what the international lighting standards are,” said Jakosalem.

A day after the major accident, heavy traffic resumed in the subway, a route favored by motorists heading north and south of Cebu City without having to pass through the congested roads of Mambaling.

The tunnel, which was opened in 2010, is part of the road network of the Japanese loan-funded South Reclamation Project but the infrastructure is still under the control of the DPWH and hasn’t been turned over yet to the Cebu City government.

A sharp curve in the subway limits a motorist’s vision and lack of warning signs about it were first raised as a factor in Tuesday’s mishap, which took place past 5 p.m. during rush hour traffic.

Jakosalem said that if other vehicles inside the tunnel had turned on their lights, they could have illuminated the path of the oncoming delivery truck and warned its driver of the lane full of vehicles ahead.

Witnesses also said the delivery truck was overspeeding.

Jaksoalem said national law allows a 75 kph to 85 kph speed limit on national roads but a Cebu City ordinance allows 60 kph.

A plan to buy automated speed guns and a breath analyzer was approved by the Cebu City Council to check drivers who drive too fast or under the influence of liquor.

“That’s what we’ll use as basis to apprehend violators,” said Jakosalem.

He said the automated speed gun would record the plate number of vehicles going too fast in the tunnel and the data would be sent to the Land Transportation Office, which would issue notices of violation and impose fines.

The tunnel had to be scrubbed down with soap and water first to remove oil slicks for road safety before it was reopened.

“It took us awhile to complete the cleaning process especially since the fire truck that we used had to respond to the Carreta fire,” Jakosalem said.

The truck driver, 40-year-old Florindo Piña of Tailsay City, was killed in a collision that had a domino effect on two sports utility vehicles, a multicab, a truck and a tricycle.

At least nine other individuals were injured.