Mindanaotoday.com | Road project workers tasked to ease traffic
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
Contractors undertaking road and drainage construction and repair projects must make sure their activities do not add up to the chaotic flow of traffic in Cagayan de Oro, particularly in urban areas.
On Tuesday, October 17, the city government’s Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) posted the a two-page Executive Order No. 294-2023 that Mayor Rolando Uy issued on September 25, this year.
Uy’s directive details the obligations of contractors of flood mitigation and drainage project at Capt. Vicente Roa Street and on its junction with Gen. Juan Luna Street, and the traffic schemes the RTA has to enforce while roadworks in the area is in progress.
Capt. Vicente Roa and Gen. Juan Luna Streets are vital links to main thoroughfares Claro M. Recto Avenue, Don Apolinar Velez, Corrales, and Sergio Osmeña where the city’s biggest malls and hotels are situated.
The project would be in four-phases and is calendared for 300 days and no-entry and one-way traffic schemes are expected during the implementation. No parking within 20 meters from the project site would also be in effect.
But E.O. No. 294-2023 clearly states that the contractor cannot proceed with project implementation, unless it can provide trained manpower to assist traffic aides in manning the flow of vehicular traffic within project site and its vicinity.
Personnel tasked to assist RTA traffic aides must have reflectorized stop-and-go signals, traffic vests, and hand-held radio units.
Contractors are also required to coordinate with the RTA, barangay government where the road project is situated, power and water utilities, as well as telecommunication companies, before they can commence the groundworks.
Power and water services are often interrupted without notice if there were no coordination between the construction group with the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company and the Cagayan de Oro Water District.
Television and digital telecommunications signals are affected once fiber-optic cables are cut off due the construction works that require relocation of electric poles.
Electric energy equipment must be installed for blinking lights at night at the construction project area, aside from adequate warning signs and barricades to ensure safety of the riding public. No trench must be left open overnight.
The city mayor’s Order also instructed contractors that all breaking, excavation works, and concrete pouring using heavy equipment must be done from 10 pm to 5 am. Contractors must also restore all pavement and street markings that were either lost or defaced due the construction works.
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