To be known as ‘Janbatas Bridge”
TACLOBAN CITY– It appears that it’s all systems go for the construction of a new bridge that will serve as an alternative to the San Juanico Bridge.
And the cost of constructing the proposed bridge is a staggering P9.2 billion.
Engr. Edgar Tabacon, the regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said that the feasibility study of the project has already been approved.
In fact, he said, representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the main funder of the proposed project, are scheduled to conduct their ocular inspection of the site.
It was learned from Tabacon that the proposed bridge will start at Barangay Guintigui-an, Babatngon in Leyte, and will end at Brgy. San Pascual, Sta. Rita, Samar.
The DPWH official added that the proposed P9.2 billion bridge will be known as the ‘Janbatas Bridge’ as it will straddle the Janbatas channel.
The proposed length of the bridge is 1.2 kilometers, this includes 600 meters for the main bridge and 600 meters for the causeway.
The proposed Janbatas Bridge will serve as an alternative to the San Juanico Bridge which serves as the main highway connecting the Leyte and Samar islands and in the process help ease traffic congestion.
“The Janbatas Bridge will be an alternative road for the increasing number of motorists passing through the San Juanico Bridge,” Tabacon said during the weekly ‘Kapihan ha PIA” last Friday.
Tabacon, however, did not say when the timetable for the construction of the bridge.
San Juanico Bridge is almost 50 years old and was fully operational in 1973 during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. as his ‘gift’ to his wife, Imelda, who is from Leyte.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
