SRP tunnel opens next month

CEBU, Philippines - The tunnel section of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project has already been passable since last February but has yet to be opened to the public next month.

City planning and development office head Nigel Paul Villarete said that he was told by the Department of Public Works and Highways that the contractors are just putting some details in place before it will be officially inaugurated.

He said that these details are not part of the structural works.

The tentative schedule for the inauguration which will be led by President Gloria Arroyo is set for April 5, according to a source. It was supposedly set for last March 25.

Villarete said that once the tunnel is open, it will decongest the traffic within the central business district of the city by over 50 percent.

The tunnel is designed to accommodate all kinds of vehicles but as to whether Public Utility Jeepneys will be allowed, Villarete said that it will be up to the traffic management. However, he added that PUJs are not allowed along the South Coastal Road.

General traffic from the south will now have to pass the coastal road until the access ramp where there are divisions for vehicles that either want to pass along MJ Cuenco Ave. or go as far as the North Reclamation Area.

Villarete said that though traffic will be improved in the part of the central business district, traffic will however worsen in the part of S. Osmeña St. where vehicles exit from the tunnel going to SM City Cebu or farther to the north.

He said that they are coordinating with Mandaue City now for the management of traffic in the North Reclamation Area once the tunnel will officially open.

“As we open the tunnel, it will introduce another problem sooner or later in the city,” Villarete warned.

He said that introduction of improvement in transportation will increase car use.

“That’s why the solution to traffic is not purely on transport infrastructures. In fact, you are worsening the situation,” Villarete said.

He said that the most viable, affordable and economical solution for Cebu City is an urban massive transport such as the Bus Rapid Transit, light rail and the like.

He said that the city now eyes the BRT because it is more convenient and affordable because it will not strain the pockets of the riding public.

The segment 3B-2 subway or the tunnel is a P1.2-billion project funded by the national government through its loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

It stretches almost a kilometer long, consisting of a 610-meter twin box tunnel and a 360-meter reinforced concrete retaining structure. –Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP