Citom: Traffic plan needed in construction sites

TRAFFIC congestion is expected with the construction of the Eucharistic Pavilion in Pope John Paul II Avenue in barangay Mabolo.

But a traffic expert said these can all be mitigated and could even be converted into something good for the city’s traffic.

Raffy Yap, executive director of the City Traffic Operations and Management (Citom), said that Pope John Paul II Avenue (formerly Juan Luna) is usually congested being a “retail and tourist gateway” of Cebu City.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma earlier announced the construction of a P300 million Pavilion at the open space of the church-owned lot housing three different seminaries in Mabolo. It will be big enough to accommodate at least 15,000 delegates expected in January 2016.

“There are several ways to bring good traffic. What we are after is good traffic. As long as it is flowing and orderly…it needs careful planning to mitigate its impact,” said Yap, whose own house is located along Pope John Paul II Avenue.

“But, it is too early to project (on the effect). As a resident of Mabolo, we always welcome good developments such as these,” he added

There were no discussions yet in the planning of the Archdiocese’s hosting the International Eucharistic Congress, but for Yap, provisions on parking and how to divide concentrations of vehicles from a single area only should be looked into.

For example, he said, the entrance and the exit should be located at separate areas of the property so vehicles will not be concentrated on a single road.

He also said that there should also be designated parking space entrances and exits that are located far from each other.

Another concern, said Yap, would be the existing flood problem of barangay Mabolo. When constructing the facility, he said, architects should make sure that the structure will not contribute to flooding.

“I am sure all these architects know the designs with better absorption capacity (of buildings),” he said. “I hope they will build it in such a way that it will not contribute to the flooding.”

Aside from traffic, flooding is a perennial concern of the Citom, because floods affect the flow of traffic. /Dale G. Israel, Senior Reporter