The 7.17-kilometer Urdaneta Bypass Road in Pangasinan was opened Monday.
The bypass road crosses two major road intersections of Urdaneta-Dagupan Road and Urdaneta-Manaoag Provincial Road.
Public Work and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, who led the ceremonial inauguration, said the project is seen to address traffic bottlenecks during peak hours along Manila North Road in Urdaneta City and establish an improved national road system in the province of Pangasinan.
It is expected to reduce travel time between Villasis town proper to Binalonan to just 30 minutes and will benefit about 38,000 daily motorists.
A total of P1.885 billion was spent to implement the project.
According to DPWH Region 1 Director Ronnel Tan, the Urdaneta Bypass Road Project involves construction of six lanes portland concrete cement pavement including sidewalk, drainage and slope protection, and installation of solar street lights.
It also covered the construction of four permanent bridges along the bypass road.
These bridges are the 90.90 meters Macalong Bridge, 70.90 meters Mitura Bridge 1, 36.76 meters Mitura Bridge 2, and 60.90 meters Camantiles Bridge.
Villar, on the other hand, said that the construction of a bike lane as an off-carriageway improvement will be done as part of future developments of the bypass road in line with the department’s social responsibility and environmental preservation program of promoting zero carbon footprint by encouraging more cyclists.