Road project causes heavy traffic in Carcar

CEBU, Philippines — Commuters to and from the southern part of Cebu experienced a heavy traffic in Carcar City Saturday night because of an on-going road concreting project in Barangay Perrelos.

It took buses from Bato, Samboan more than six hours to reach the Cebu City South Bus Terminal (CSBT).  Normally, this route will only take four hours of travel.

CSBT security head Jonathan Tumulak told The Freeman as a result of the heavy traffic, several commuters waited for buses for hours at the CSBT considering that Fridays and Saturdays are peak days for passengers.

"Ingun sa driver, didto na dugay sa Carcar kay ang istilo, usa ra ka lane ang maagian. Magpuli ug agi tagsa ka wave sa pila ka sakyanan sunud lain na sad nga wave. Ang nag man mga tanod. Dili ma-control sa mga tanod ang uban drivers nga paugat ug maningkamot kinsa una makasulod," he said. (Half of the road was closed so vehicles going to the south and those going to the city took turn in passing the open lane.  But the tanods who are manning the traffic flow cannot control some of the drivers who violate the rule.)

At around 11 p.m., buses started to arrive at the terminal and took stranded passengers to their destinations.

Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura apologizes to commuters for the inconvenience and blamed the contractor of the project, Quirante Construction, for not coordinating with the local government unit.

Apura said he was out of town last Saturday but yesterday, he personally went to the area to observe the traffic flow.

He ordered the project handler to utilize the roadsides to make the traffic flow two-way.

The project site is at Katugasan, Barangay Perrelos, a few meters from the boundary between Carcar City and San Fernando.

Apura assured they will try their best to prevent it from happening again.

The road widening project is being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

DPWH second engineering district head Leslie Anthony Molina said they have given instructions to the contractor to coordinate with the city government.

But he explained that the heavy traffic was due to the on-going concrete pouring last Saturday.

"We'd like to ask apologies and understanding for this, especially to the travelling public," Molina said.

The P10 million project will widen the round to make it four lanes. (FREEMAN)