Coastal highway from reclamation area pushed

MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes proposed the construction of a coastal highway that will reduce the volume of vehicles in M.C. Briones Street heading to northern Cebu.

Cortes made the proposal to the Regional Development Council (RDC), asking them to study the possibility of creating a highway along the coastal barangays in Mandaue City.

“All pass through Mandaue. One cannot enter Cebu City without passing Mandaue. One cannot also enter the province without passing Mandaue,” Cortes recounted telling officials in Cebu and Central Visayas during a recent RDC meeting.

“This will definitely help decongest traffic in Mandaue. If there’s a coastal highway it will be an alternative road for buses along coastal barangays,” the mayor said.

Building a coastal highway is more practical than widening existing roads which can affect some commercial buildings and residential houses.

“Let’s incorporate in the reclamation that there are enough roads to divert the traffic,” he said.

Cortes proposed that the coastal highway start at the reclamation area in barangay Subangdaku going through Centro, Looc, Cambaro, Opao, Umapad, Paknaan, Labogon and Jagobiao.

Cortes also supports the idea of building a third bridge from the mainland in Cebu and Mactan Island.

But he said the bridge should be built in other areas in order to solve the traffic problem in Mandaue.

“If it still passes through Mandaue, we’re not solving the traffic problem here. If it’s in other areas, the volume of vehicles will be evenly distributed in Metro Cebu,” the mayor said.

Cortes said the coastal highway will still serve as an alternative route for vehicles going to the north and Cebu City.

He said construction of the coastal highway will need a feasibility study funded by the national government and support from Metro Cebu local government units (LGUs). Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos