Town suffers a year without bridge

CALASIAO, Pangasinan—The long-delayed construction of a 100-meter bridge here has continued to inconvenience central Pangasinan residents and commuters, who have to do business in Dagupan City.

The 50-year-old Villamil Bridge, which was closed in January last year, was supposed to have been replaced with a new structure in May. It connects this town to San Carlos City and the towns of Malasiqui, Basista and Bayambang.

Local officials had stopped the contractor, Foundation Specialists, from demolishing the bridge last year when they learned that a footbridge would not be built.

Vice Mayor Roy Macanlalay said that with no footbridge, residents in villages just across the Marusay River take a 2-kilometer route just to reach the town center.

Route to school

“This is very inconvenient and costly for our townmates, especially for our young people, who walk to school every day and those who go to church,” Macanlalay said.

Although the bridge has been closed to vehicles, pedestrians can still use it.

But the bridge’s closure heavily affected traffic flow from central Pangasinan towns to Dagupan City.

Buses and delivery trucks from Bayambang and Malasiqui towns have been diverted to the Malasiqui-Sta. Barbara road that exits to the Urdaneta-Dagupan highway.

Those coming from San Carlos City have been rerouted to the San Carlos-Binmaley road that intersects with the Lingayen-Dagupan highway.

Variation order

Marietta Mendoza, district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways, said the contractor is waiting for the release of the variation order to complete the project.

“This has been approved by the [Public Works] Secretary [Rogelio Singson] but the contractor needs an official approval of the plan and funding before resuming its work on the bridge,” Mendoza said in a radio interview.

Aside from the footbridge, the variation order also includes the construction of a tunnel in one end of the bridge.

Tunnel

“The tunnel is important because without it, traffic will build up in front of the public market, and it will also be dangerous for students and commuters,” Macanlalay said.

The tunnel will be built perpendicular to the bridge to allow vehicles from the public market to pass through it and exit to a road that runs around a public elementary school. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon