The Metro Manila Development Authority announced on Friday the Tomas Claudio Bridge in Pandacan, Manila City will be closed to vehicular traffic beginning tonight (Saturday) to give way for the ongoing construction of Skyway Stage 3 project.
“Starting Saturday, August 3, at 10 p.m., Tomas Claudio Bridge will be closed for six months,” said MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr.
To lessen the expected heavy traffic that the closure might cause, Garcia ordered traffic enforcers assigned in the area to conduct clearing operations on identified alternate routes with the help of barangay officials.
The bridge serves around 12,000 vehicles daily.
“No parking will be allowed in the vicinity of the bridge 24/7. Traffic enforcers shall tow vehicles that are parked there,” said Garcia.
Manila 6th District Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. said he expects the private contractors of the project to complete the project on time.
“I am also calling on the Manila Police District to coordinate with MMDA and the affected barangays to follow the regulations of the MMDA. We must rid the alternate routes of illegally-parked vehicles,” said Abante.
Meanwhile, the delayed construction of the Metro Rail Transit System 7 project has drawn the ire of a congresswoman who said the contractor should explain the delay that has caused untold suffering to commuters that use Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
Commonwealth Avenue leads to the capitol city’s “dormitory district” due to the big number of residential subdivisions in the areas that it traverse.
Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo of Quezon City the project’s delay was continuously causing various problems to commuters, both private motorists and public utility vehicle riders, due to the remedial traffic schemes, including the very far apart U-turn slots that were instituted to give way to the unhampered work on the rail project.
Castelo, the representative of the Second District of Quezon City, where MRT 7 is located, urged the EEI Corporation, to expedite construction of the project and explain what has caused the delay.
The Yunchengco-owned EEI is also one of the contractors of the long-delayed skyway project from Makati to Balitawak in Quezon City.
“EEI should have pity on the hapless commuters and motorists who have to drive long distances just to make U-turns. EEI should speed up the work to alleviate the inconvenience suffered by the public soonest,” Castelo said.
Castelo said that the EEI, the contractor of MRT 7, committed to finish the MRT 7 project by July 2019 in several meetings in the past. However, the company failed to comply with its commitment, and as a result it is the commuters who are suffering.
Castelo also asked the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to deploy more traffic constables in areas affected by the MRT 7 construction to help speed up the flow of vehicular traffic.
