THE DEPARTMENT of Public Works and Highways in Eastern Visayas will start, before the year ends, the construction of the Php 3.47 billion Tacloban City Causeway that has been on the drawing board for over five years now.
DPWH Regional Director Allan Borromeo said the 2.557-kilometer project will connect Tacloban City Hall area to Kataisan point of the DZR Airport area in Barangay San Jose of the city over Cancabato Bay and will be implemented on a multi-year with Php 990 million allocated for the fiscal year 2022.
The Tacloban City Causeway is seen to serve as 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,” Borromeo said.
This causeway, which is a four-lane road embankment with a 180-meter bridge, will have separate bike lanes, concrete canals, sidewalks, as well as wave deflectors on both sides.
Borromeo said that per project design, the alignment starts at Magsaysay Boulevard at the city hall area 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 for a scenic drive, and by locals who prefer walking, running, and biking,” he said.
Borromeo said the causeway project is designed 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.
Based on the project description, the main core of the structure is common borrow reinforced with high strength geotextile laid at every two-meter fill. The Hydraulic Geotexile Tubes are to be placed on both sides to contain the embankment and to add stability on the structure. Also, the toe and side slopes of the embankment are protected by layers of armored rocks, Class II and III for outer and inner layers, respectively. When completed, the project is seen to contribute to the growth of the region’s tourism industry and related business activities, which helps in attaining sustainable development in the region. By Elmer Recuerdo (EV Mail August 29-September 4, 2022 issue)
