Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Coastal tunnel open 24/7 starting today


STARTING at 6 a.m. today, the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) tunnel will be passable to vehicles 24 hours a day, except to certain types of vehicles that could compromise the safety of motorists.

Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) Board Chairman Sylvan Jakosalem met with representatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Kajima Construction yesterday to discuss the security plan and safety measures at the tunnel.

He said the full opening of the tunnel will ease traffic congestion on N. Bacalso Ave. and downtown, since motorists coming from southern Cebu can now take the tunnel going to the north and vice versa, at any time of the day.

The tunnel was supposed to open last November yet.

During its inauguration last June 10, DPWH opened the tunnel but only on weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 8 p.m.

“The opening will have a huge impact and will really ease the traffic downtown because the motorists will no longer pass through the interior of the city. This is good for the passengers also because they will reach their destination faster,” he said.

Bicycles, pedestrians, garbage trucks, trucks with more than six wheels and trucks carrying gasoline and LPG tanks will not be allowed to use the tunnel, as agreed on by DPWH and Citom.

Motorcycles will be allowed to use the tunnel, but Jakosalem said the rules may change until the City Council passes an ordinance regulating the use of the facility.

The four-lane tunnel passes underneath Plaza Independencia, outside Fort San Pedro, and exits on Sergio Osmeña St. (formerly McArthur Blvd.) in Cebu City.

Construction of the P1.62-billion tunnel began in 2006 and was funded through a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, paid for by the National Government.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 24, 2010.

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