The Department of Public Works and Highways said Jan. 3 that safer transportation access to the cities of Cadiz and Sagay, and neighboring towns in northern Negros Occidental, is now ensured with the improved road condition undertaken by its 1st District Engineering Office.
DPWH6 regional director Nerie Bueno said that, as per the report of OIC-District Engineer Dene Baldonado Jr., a roughly two-kilometer portion of the concrete-paved Bacolod North Road in Cadiz City section was overlaid with 40-millimeter thick asphalt, including reflectorized thermoplastic pavement markings, for the safety of motorists and pedestrian.
The project cost about P16.4 million, Bueno said.
She added that a 736-meter concrete-paved portion of the Bacolod North Road in Sagay City, junction Sagay–Bato–Dian-ay–Marcelo-Balea road, amounting to P4.3 million, was also reconstructed and overlaid with asphalt, with reflectorized thermoplastic pavement markings.
“This preventive maintenance undertaken by DPWH is significant as well-maintained roads offer longer road pavement serviceability, high-skid resistance, and high contrast in color between asphalt and road markers,” Bueno said in a statement, adding that this provides road users with better road visibility, especially at night and during rainy days.
Asphalt pavement is also more durable and resilient, lesser in terms of construction and maintenance costs, smoother compared to concrete road, generate less noise, and provide more convenient travel experience among our motorists and the traveling public, she stressed.
Communities in E.B. Magalona, meanwhile, are now reconnected with the construction of the Nanca-Cudangdang Bridge, ravaged and separated by super-typhoon Yolanda in 2013, the DPWH said recently.
Undertaken by the Negros Occidental 1st DEO, the project, worth P50 million, connects the barangays of Nanca and Cudangdang and the neighboring barangays of Tanza and Tabigue.
Funded under the District’s FY 2020 General Appropriations Act, the project involved the construction of new 75-lineal meter Pre-Stressed Concrete Girder (PSCG) bridge with an area of 572 square meters with grouted riprap as slope protection, and the construction of a 960-meter concrete approaches on both sides.
Bueno said the reconstruction of the bridge is vital in the transport of products from communities to the market, and providing linkage among communities.
“The reconstruction of this bridge provides direct access among sugarcane-hauling trucks from the barangays of Nanca, Cudangdang, Tanza, and Tabigue to a sugar mill in the neighboring city of Victorias, hence, improving the economy and livelihood of the people,” she added.
The new bridge will also provide some 11,000 residents with safer and faster mode of crossing the Malogo River, instead of using small barge, which posed danger during typhoons and rainy days, Bueno said. ||
