Mayors of ‘Bridge Cities’ Vow to Solve Mandaue-Mactan Bridge Traffic

The mayors of the “bridge cities” of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue have vowed to help decongest traffic in the two bridges linking the two cities.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said they earlier conceived the idea of implementing the number coding of vehicles passing through the old Mandaue-Mactan bridge and the Marcelo Fernan bridge.

“We were thinking of that, but it was not immediately implemented after we noticed that traffic eased,” Radaza said.

Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, on the other hand, said the Mandaue Traffic Board voted to send a traffic volume reduction plan for the two bridges to the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board, the body that manages the two bridges.

“We hope that the consideration of this plan can address the ever increasing volume of vehicles plying UN Ave., which is a terrible inconvenience to all commuters,” Quisumbing said.

UN Ave. is on the Mandaue city side of the Marcelo Fernan bridge.

Radaza said the plan to decongest the two bridges includes the purchase of traffic lights to be installed in the 12 intersections in Lapu-Lapu City that are located on national and city roads.

Radaza said they included PHP40 million for this purpose in the city’s budget for 2017 because their request for the installation of the traffic lights to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has not yet been realized.

Radaza requested the DPWH to install traffic lights in Lapu-Lapu in 2014.

She said they made another follow-up in 2015, but the DPWH informed her that they were also seeking an update from the Road Board Central Office if the budget intended for Lapu-Lapu was already available. (PNA) CVL/EB/EDS