City council ok's road closure, traffic rerouting, Sept. 1 to Dec.

Some streets in the city will be temporarily closed and traffic rerouted, from September 1 to December, due to works on the subway or Segment 3B-2 tunnel of the Cebu south coastal road project.

The city council yesterday approved the temporary road closure and the traffic rerouting scheme, after hearing the report of project manager Isoji Matsui, of the Metro Cebu Development Project, over the progress of the works.

Traffic Group chief Marlou Martinez said traffic signs-road is closed, detour, no entry, no left turn, this way, etc.-would be put up along Osmeña Road near the V. Sotto intersection, and on S. Osmeña Avenue between Legaspi and Gullas streets.

City planning and development manager Nigel Paul Villarete, also the project manager of the South Road Properties, said the Japan Bank for International Cooperation already approved the P1 billion loan for the construction of the tunnel and the overpass. The Department of Public Works and Highways, in implementing the project, already awarded the contract to the winning bidder, Kajima.

The subway or Segment 3B2 is one of the components of the viaduct section of the multi-billion-peso CSCR project, going under Plaza Independencia up to McArthur Boulevard.

It connects the P8-billion highway to the SRP coastal road, and consists of a 610-meter twin box tunnel and a 360-meter reinforced concrete retaining structure.

The 21-meter wide tunnel is about 0.97 kilometers long, with a four-lane road and a dividing wall in the center.

It was initially expected for completion on 2008, and it was designed to ease traffic from both the north and south of Cebu City.

The project however would displace 400 families, but most of them chose to go for relocation to the government's socialized housing in barangay Budlaan. The rest however settled to accept the disturbance - Garry B. Lao/RAEfee.