One-way traffic starts on Aug. 1 near CCMC

CEBU, Philippines - Panganiban Street, where the new Cebu City Medical Center will be located, will be open for a one-way traffic starting tomorrow (August 1), the Cebu City Traffic Office announced.

The CCMC requested the city for one-lane traffic on Panganiban as the hospital starts installing the perimeter fence which is part of the first phase of construction.

“We would like also to request for half portion of Panganiban Street, two meters from stairway up to the sidewalk of N. Bacalso Avenue, to use as our staging area,” read the July 27 letter of Armando Pangilinan, project superintendent of C.E. Padilla Construction Inc. which won the bid for the construction project.

Mayor Michael Rama asked CCTO (formerly known as the City Traffic Operations Management or CITOM) to accommodate the request of the contractor for the swift construction of the new hospital.

With this, CCTO operations chief Jonathan Tumulak said they will implement a re-routing scheme for vehicles coming from the south.

“Half sa road sa Panganiban sirado, one way ang Panganiban Street going to N. Bacalso,” he said.

Tumulak said public utility jeepneys from the south will not be allowed to traverse N. Bacalso going to the recently-closed One Citilink as these vehicles will be only allowed until the corner of V. Rama Street.

 “Kining mga sakyanan from the south, pareha sa route sa Naga, Minglanilla, Carcar City, mosubay sa N. Bacalso, right turn to V. Rama, right turn to Tres de Abril, then back to N. Bacalso to their destination,” he said.

Tumulak, however, said CCTO has prepared an alternative route should the mentioned route be full of vehicles.

“Kon mapuno na diri sa Tres de Abril, ang atong enforcers nga na-assign dihang lugara kay ilang i-divert ang PUJs subay sa V. Rama to B. Aranas diretso sa T. Abella, right turn to C. Padilla, agi eskina Carlock Street hangtod right turn to N. Bacalso,” he said.

As a sort of a dry run, CCTO yesterday already implemented the rerouting for vans-for-hire.

“Ang V-hires from the south moagi sa N. Bacalso then right turn to P. Sanchez Street, lapos ngadto sa B. Aranas, left turn to T. Abella, right turn to Tres de Abril and sulod na sa terminal sa open space sa Taboan pero applicable ra na sa Tuesday until Sunday,” he said.

Every Monday, V-hires will traverse a different route.

“Kay sa Lunes duna ma’y tabo sa Taboan. So gikan sa P. Sanchez Street, lapos ngadto sa B. Aranas, left turn to T. Abella, left turn to eskina Lakandula to terminal sa Ceres sauna, left turn Tres de Abril, to terminal,” Tumulak said.

The rerouting will be effective until the phase one construction will conclude.

To recall, C.E. Padilla emerged as the “lowest calculated responsive” bidder during the bidding for the construction of new CCMC’s first phase. On June 18,  the firm became one of the firms eligible to enter the second stage of the bidding process after submitting the lowest amount of P514,979,659.28.

The city handed over the Notice to Proceed to the contractor on July 16.  (FREEMAN)