From Cordova to Natalio Bacalso in Cebu City: Longer 3rd bridge?

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government is in discussions with Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway’s proponent to extend the bridge to Barangay Mambaling all the way to N. Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City, instead of just landing it on the South Road Properties.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña revealed that the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp. has floated the idea of extending the 8.5-kilometer bridge by 1.5 kilometers.

“It will go around the SRP. It will follow the canal between the SRP and the Badjao area and it will make a right turn to Mambaling road and it will connect with Natalio Bacalso Avenue,” he said.

Osmeña said he met with officials of CCLEC on March 13 to discuss the major extension of the bridge that will connect mainland Cebu and the island of Mactan via the municipality of Cordova.

CCLEC President Allan Alfon confirmed that there are ongoing talks to extend the bridge to the side of Cebu City.

“We hope we can really have it. That’s our direction. We need our bridge to help address the traffic in CSCR (Cebu South Coastal Road) in SRP than aggravate it,” he said.

Alfon said motorists from Mactan will have the option to go straight to the city if there’s no need for them to drop by the SRP.

Once discussions will be finalized, the extension of the bridge will then form part of the final detailed design.

To recall, CCLEC awarded the P22.6-billion design and build contract to the Cebu Link Joint Venture (CLJV), a joint venture of Spain-based Acciona Construccion S.A., and Philippine-based First Balfour Inc. and D. M. Consunji Inc.

Osmeña himself welcomed the proposed extension of the bridge, seeing it would decongest traffic along N. Bacalso Avenue and the Cebu South Coastal Road.

The 8.25-kilometer expressway is envisioned to be finished in 2021. By that time, the underpass project on N. Bacalso Avenue will have been completed.

“There are adjustments. I’m very happy. So we will cooperate. It’s mutual (decision). We have been discussing this. If you’re coming from Natalio Bacalso, you can now go straight to the bridge. It will be an elevated highway,” the mayor said.

Osmeña could not tell yet the specific areas on N. Bacalso and Mambaling because the proposal will still have to be finalized.

During the talks, he said, CCLEC also assured that the city government will not shell out funds for the extension.

According to Alfon, the CLJV is now 60 percent done with the boring test which is needed to determine the strength and properties of a required building foundation.

“We are confident that we are still on time towards the schedules that we committed to one of our grantors, especially to the City of Cebu represented by the mayor,” he said.

Alfon said the construction of the foundation or the piling will start end of June this year or early July.

The CCLEX will have two lanes in each direction and will feature a main navigation span bridge, along with viaduct approach bridges, a causeway, roadway, and toll facilities.

Alfon said the project will give people from Cordova direct access to Cebu City and vice versa, adding that it is seen to decongest the traffic in the two existing bridges between Mactan and Cebu.

The project is expected to be completed in 2021, which is exactly 500 years after Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Cebu. – JMD  (FREEMAN)