The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the 3rd Engineering District has started road rehabilitation and widening along Malvar Street to accommodate the increasing volume of vehicles.
Engineer Arthur Torillo, spokesperson of the DPWH 3rd Engineering District, said the shoulder of the original two-lane Malvar Street is now being widened from two meters to 3.35 meters to also ease the volume of traffic.
It is also being expanded to a four-lane highway.
“‘Yong Malvar kasi two lanes lang ‘yan meron lang shoulder (tricycle parking), ang lapad ng kalsada is 3.35m, ‘yong shoulder naman ay two meters lang. Ngayon ‘yong gagawin namin ay i-expand ‘yong shoulder from two meters to 3.35 meters para ma-accommodate ‘yong malalaking vehicles natin at ma-lessen ang volume ng traffic,” Torillo said.
He apologized for the cause of delay in the rehabilitation of the paved road because the contractor can only work at night when it is no longer busy.
Torillo added road projects within the city is really hard to implement.
“Pasensya na kasi masikip lang ngayon dito sa bandang Buncag kasi ito ang binubuhusan pero sa Sabado kapag naayos na bubuksan na ito. Ma-traffic talaga sa part na ito (Malvar Street) kaya naging stand ng DPWH na gawing four-lane kasi hindi na kaya ng two lanes ang high volume ng traffic. Ang problema kapag dito ka gumagawa within the city ng project napakahirap, at ‘yong mga contractor hindi makapag-trabaho ng maayos at na-de-delay kasi po ang trabaho nila is gabi lang hindi naman sila pwedeng magkalkal ng kalsada sa araw kasi kung maglalagay sila ng backhoe dyan lalong sisikip. Sa gabi naman mga 9 p.m. onwards pa nag-e-ease ang traffic so doon lang sila magsisimula,” Torillo added.
Meanwhile he mentioned that the original plan of the DPWH is to finish all its four-lane projects first but because of the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASIAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), they were upgraded to six-lane.
“Ang aim ng DPWH is the construction of four-lanes lang hindi six-lane corridor, pero naging six-lane ‘yan noong pumasok tayo sa BIMP-EAGA ang purpose noon ay magkaroon ng roll on, roll off or import-export ng products. Isa sa requirements noon is dapat six-lane ang kalsada,” Torillo explained.
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