Bridge traffic worsens in Cebu City

CEBU CITY—It used to take 10 minutes by jeepney for education student Dianne Rose Gador to reach her school. On Tuesday, however, she decided to walk because she knew that the ride could last two hours due to the heavy congestion at the old Mactan-Mandaue Bridge.

Gador, who lives near the bridge’s approach in Lapu-Lapu City, said it took her about 30 minutes to walk to the other end of the bridge, where her school, University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu-Mandaue (UCLM) campus, is found. She was sweating when she arrived at UCLM at 9:40 a.m.

“Traffic on the bridge was barely moving and I knew that I would be late for my 10:30 a.m. class if I took a jeepney ride, so I decided to walk instead,” she said. “It was already hot but I was left with no other choice but to walk.”

Several workers and students also decided to get off the jeepneys and walk to cross the bridge.

Traffic has been heavy on the two bridges linking Mactan Island and mainland Cebu due to simultaneous road repair projects, which are expected to be completed in six months.

TRAFFIC CRAWL Vehicles move at a snail’s pace while crossing the Marcelo Fernan Bridge from Lapu-Lapu City, passing United Nations Avenue in Mandaue City, as rehabilitation work at the first Mactan-Mandaue span begins. JUNJIE MENDOZA/CEBU DAILY NEWS

The ongoing repair of the old Mandaue-Mactan Bridge coincided with the concreting of D.M. Cortes Street, which connects the two spans. The bridge repair cost P129 million, while the 1.11-kilometer road concreting project cost P50 million.

Glen Antigua, head of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue, said the congestion was at its worst between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., when students and employees leave their houses for their schools and offices.

Motorists coming from Mactan Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu complained that it took more than an hour before they could cross the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

On Tuesday morning, Ador Canlas, regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways, met with Mayor Jonas Cortes of Mandaue City and Mayor Paz Radaza of Lapu-Lapu City, as well as with the traffic heads of the two cities and projects contractors, to discuss the traffic problem.

One solution raised to ease the bridge situation was to increase the number of ferry boats and barges plying the Lapu-Lapu-Mandaue route.

Cortes offered the privately owned Ouano Wharf in Mandaue as docking area for vessels bound for Lapu-Lapu.

Ferries may dock in resorts in Lapu-Lapu, Canlas said. The Department of Tourism may help identify resorts with possible docking areas, he added.