Valenzuela mayor appeals to DPWH over Tullahan Bridge defects

After more than six months and two official letters, Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday renewed his call to top officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to repair the damaged portions of the newly constructed Tullahan Bridge along Macarthur Highway in the boundary of Valenzuela and Malabon.

The bridge approaches, which were built with low quality asphalt, have “melted in the rain” and was eroded by the large volume of vehicular traffic.

Gatchalian said he is reiterating his earlier request to look into the circumstances surrounding the construction of the bridge’s approaches.

He asked the DPWH to identify the contractor of the bridge and provide a copy of appropriate documents related to the bridge’s construction.

Engineer Glenn Delima said he was hired by contractor Feldstar Builders and was assigned to repair the bridge only yesterday.

Delima was supervising four other workers shoveling sand, gravel and filling materials, into a small truck.

He added that the potholes would be filled with asphalt.

He gave a wide grin when reminded that the asphalt would just melt away in the rain.

“Sinusunod lang naman namin ang gusto ng Public Works,” he told The STAR.

Gatchalian said his letters to Public Works Secretary Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, which was also sent to the Office of the President and Sen. Bong Revilla, Senate Public Works committee chairman, have fallen on deaf ears.

The mayor also called for an investigation into the defects of the bridge.

Gatchalian said he has received complaints from motorists and pedestrians that were affected by the huge potholes, some as deep as 12 inches, on both northbound and southbound approaches of the bridge.

The STAR witnessed several vehicles maneuvering through the huge potholes to cross the bridge.

The situation has worsened the traffic problem in the busy highway, which is Metro Manila’s gateway to the North.

In his first letter to Ebdane dated Jan. 2, 2008, Gatchalian said that from the time the construction of the bridge approaches started in May 2007 up to the time it was completed in October of the same year, the construction of the bridge was hit by numerous controversies, including the alleged anomalous use of funds and unexplained delay of the project.