Buses, trucks to bring devotees to Calungsod thanksgiving Mass

If you want to attend the Nov. 30 national thanksgiving Mass for St. Pedro Calungsod, better plan ahead.

At least 20 shuttle buses will pick up devotees at selected stops and bring them to the open-air venue in the South Road Properties (SRP), where the celebration will take place.

Bus stops will be in front of the Talisay City Hall for people from the south and S. Osmena Avenue near the Cebu Technological School for those in the north.

Those who want to walk to the templete can take the Mambaling access road where senior citizens and Persons with Disabilities  will pass.

Preparations were announced yesterday in a traffic and security briefing by police and Cebu Archdiocese officials.

The SRP will closed to traffic from 10 p.m. of Nov. 29, Thursday until 7 a.m. of Nov. 30, Friday.

Traffic signs and barriers will be put up, including media coverage facilities, during this period.

Roads near the 300-hectare SRP will also be closed at 6 a.m. on the day of the event, Nov. 30.

Only one lane of the SRP will be open for shuttle buses and private vehicles – the seaside area.

The other side of the road will be used for the religous procession.

Public utility vehicles have to pass through the Mambaling flyover.

3 ENTRY POINTS

There are three entry points to the SRP thanksgiving site:

1) the tunnel near Plaza Independencia;

2) the road along the Talisay fishport;

3) and the Mambaling access road.

The tunnel and the Talisay City road to the templete is exclusive for vehicles.

Golf cars will be fielded to ferry Persons With Disabilities (PWD).

Each of about 140 parishes in Cebu will be given four passes for six-wheeler trucks and 40 passes for four-wheel vehicles.

Color coding

Vehicles from the north, which have red pasess, will enter through the tunnel.

Vehicles from the south, which have blue passes, will enter through the Talisay City road to the templete.

Yellow passes will be issued to guests, VIPs, committee members, and those with special roles in the Mass. Those with yellow passes can use any of the three entry points.

“We have limited the number of vehicles. Not all areas in the SRP can accommodate vehicles,” said Msgr. Dennis Villarojo, over-all chairman of the Cebu celebration.

Senior Supt. Melvin Buenafe, Cebu City police chief, said they have prepared the security plans for the event.

Joy Tumulak, assistant executive director of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management, said the SRP will be closed from 10 p.m. to 12 midnight of Nov. 29 for clearing operations. Then from midnight to 7 a.m. , it is closed again to give way for the installation of traffic signs and barriers.