By Manly Ugalde – JUNE 19, 2017073
LEGAZPI CITY—The much-vaunted road-widening project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) along Albay’s highways continues to pester motorists.
Now, the aggravation has extended to stranded cargo trucks, which hamper the delivery of goods between the Manila-Visayas-Mindanao route via the roll-on, roll-off (Roro) transport in Matnog, Sorsogon.
Rep. Fernando Gonzalez of the Third District of Albay said added to the massive road widening woes are the heavy cargo trucks stranded for days along the Albay Second and Third District routes bound for the Visayas and Mindanao regions. He said for unknown reason, they do not immediately get accommodated on the Roro vessels in Matnog, Sorsogon.
Gonzalez also lashed at the DPWH for calling the ongoing highway road concreting as road widening instead of mere road improvement. He said the ongoing concreting of the road’s fourth lane is within the existing unimproved 20-meter roadway.
Gonzalez said the present busy 4-lane roadway remains for the use of motorists while pedestrians use the fourth lane at their own risk. There is no lane for the exclusive use of pedestrians.
DPWH officials said the primary and secondary national roads in the region have each lane measuring 3.1 meters only, or barely a total of 12.4 meters of existing busy roadway against the highway’s 20-meter roadway.
For more than a month now, motorists plying the Bicol-Manila route have to bear the discomfort of severe traffic congestion, specifically the 3-kilometer Banag-Busay route that takes a motorist two hours to three hours to navigate.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/severe-traffic-congestion-haunts-maharlika-highway-in-albay/
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