Traffic entering SRP to be diverted anew

The City Traffic Operations Management said the diversion of traffic heading to South Road Properties through D. Jakosalem Street may not last long because the contractor of the tunnel construction at the SRP will have to divert the traffic again to P. Burgos Street anytime this year.

CITOM executive officer Arnel Tancinco said that Kajima Corporation, the contractor for the tunnel construction of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project will have to divert traffic due to the ongoing tunnel works.

"From now until the end of the tunnel construction, there would be several access roads that would be opened," Tancinco said.

He said one of the access roads that Kajima plans to open is P. Burgos Street that is also near the new City Hall building.

At 10 a.m. last Thursday, CITOM diverted all vehicles leading to the SRP to an access road along D. Jakosalem Street. Due to lack of information, the rerouting resulted to a traffic bottleneck in several areas of the downtown Cebu City, especially near City Hall.

But the traffic body was able to remedy the situation deploying more traffic enforcers and changing some routes of public utility vehicles, which were the main cause of traffic congestion.

With the expected changes in the traffic routes going to the SRP, Mayor Tomas Osmeña told CITOM to get orders from Kajima because they know where vehicles entering the SRP should pass.

The mayor has also instructed Kajima to notify the court on whatever changes in traffic it wants to implement due to the ongoing tunnel works to avoid being cited for contempt.

In 2005, Alfredo Sipalay, in his capacity as a taxpayer and resident of Inayawan, Cebu City, filed an injunction case against Mayor Tomas Osmeña, SRP Manager Paul Villarete and City Administrator Francisco Fernandez for closing the road.

Some six months after the road was first shut, Regional Trial Court judge Soliver Peras granted Sipalay’s prayer and ordered the coastal road opened —at least until the court resolves the injunction case, or lifts the injunction.

But Osmeña reiterated that the road has never been officially opened because several works are still being done.

The 300-meter tunnel starts from junction of S. Osmeña Road and Legaspi Street and will pass through a portion of Plaza Independencia. It is one of the components of the viaduct section of the P2.5-billion tunnel section of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project. — Wenna A. Berondo/BRP