Area near Cebu City Hall to be rid of “traffic obstructions”

March 5th, 2008

The Cebu City government will do something that it should have done a long time ago – clear the area around City hall of traffic obstructions.

This is in response to numerous complaints from motorists and people transacting business with the city on the traffic situation that has become unbearable.

Cebu City's session hall to be modernized
Cebu City Hall | photo by mrfpoonin28 (Flickr)

The situation started when two lanes of D. Jakosalem St., from corner Magallanes to corner M.C. Briones Streets were closed to traffic to accommodate the equipment and laborers for the construction of a drainage project.

As a result, only two lanes of the road remain open for vehicles going in opposite directions.

Last month, the city also closed a portion of Magallanes Street, from corner D. Jakosalem to P. Burgos Streets for the landscaping of the City Hall’s legislative building and the Magellan’s Cross.

Since such road closures have resulted to severe traffic woes, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday that they will eliminate all the illegal parking and obstructions around the City Hall complex.

At M.C. Briones St. for example, he said that they would ask the owners of the warehouses there like the San Miguel Corp. not to park their delivery trucks on the road.

Aside from clearing the roads of illegally parked vehicles, Rama said they will also remove all obstructions on the sidewalk, particularly stalls and houses that have already encroached on the road.

Rama said he already talked with the vendors and owners of establishments along M.C. Briones St., D. Jakosalem St. and M.L. Quezon St. the other day and appealed for their cooperation.

He said that the P5 million drainage project will not only benefit City Hall, but it will also solve the perennial flooding problem in the downtown area of the city.

Rama said that the drainage project will be finished in a couple of months since the completion of the landscaping of the Legislative Building grounds would be dependent on the drainage system.
Article source: The Freeman