TACLOBAN CITY – Residents near Cancabato Bay here opposed the causeway project by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) that will be implemented before the year ends.
Jedee Magoncia, a resident of Barangay Paraiso, San Jose District here, said the causeway will greatly affect the people who rely on Cancabato Bay for their livelihood.
Magoncia added that the project would adversely affect the marine environment because its opening is only 180 meters which could block the water flow in Cancabato Bay.
He also claimed that they were not consulted by the DPWH in the P3.4692-billion project connecting the Tacloban City Hall to the Kataisan point of the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in San Jose.
He said that building a bridge is better than a causeway because it would ensure better water flow on the bay.
The project aims to be an alternate route for motorists from the city proper going to the airport, offering reduced travel distance, travel time, vehicle operation costs, and road accidents.
“Our Planning and Design Division (PDD) figures that the travel time using the original route usually takes up to 45 minutes, but traversing through this causeway, travel time will approximately take up to 10 minutes only,” DPWH-8 Director Allan Borromeo said.
The causeway, which is a four-lane road embankment, is approximately 2.557-kilometers in length and has a 180-meter long bridge.
It also has bike lanes, concrete canals, sidewalks, as well as wave deflectors on both sides.
Borromeo said that based on the project design, the alignment starts at Magsaysay Boulevard with elevation gradually increasing towards the bridge at the middle part of the causeway, as required for navigational clearance, and eventually slopes down towards the end of the alignment.
“This project is expected to offer an improved path user experience that attracts the local community and tourists, and will soon cater as an infrastructure that can be used by motorists seeking a scenic drive, and by locals who prefer walking, running, and biking,” Borromeo said.
The DPWH official added that the causeway is designed to be sturdy to endure harsh site location and high humidity, as well as somehow serve as protection for nearby communities against the wrath of nature such as erosive tidal movements brought by weather disturbances.
The main core of the structure is common borrow reinforced with high strength geotextile laid at every two-meter fill.
Hydraulic geotextile tubes will be placed on both sides to contain the embankment and add stability to the structure.