DPWH targets Sunset Blvd completion by Q3 2026

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The Department of Public Works and Highways is targeting the completion of civil works for the five-kilometer Iloilo Sunset Boulevard, also known as the Iloilo River North Bank Road, by the third quarter of 2026.

DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon and outgoing DPWH Region 6 officer in charge Regional Director Jose Al Fruto said only a few sections of the four-lane road remain unfinished.

“This is one of the projects that will be completed this year,” Dizon said. “There’s just a little left. Maybe we can finish this in the third quarter of 2026. We will complete this.”

Fruto said the projected timeline would allow the DPWH to complete the entire stretch of the project up to the Iloilo Radial Road 1 Bypass Road.

The Iloilo Sunset Boulevard runs from Barangay Tabucan in Mandurriao, Iloilo City, to Barangay Cagbang in the municipality of Oton.

Sections of the road were partially opened to traffic in January 2025 to help ease congestion in the Molo–Arevalo area.

The boulevard currently ends at Calajunan Road in Barangay Cagbang, which serves as a major access route to southern Iloilo municipalities.

The Iloilo R-1 Bypass Road, also known as Radial Road 1, extends from Barangay Pakiad in Oton toward Tigbauan and connects to the Iloilo Circumferential Road.

Once fully completed, the road network is expected to allow motorists from Iloilo City to bypass heavily congested urban areas by traveling through Sunset Boulevard and onto the R-1 Bypass Road.

The improved route is expected to significantly cut travel time to Tigbauan, Antique, and other towns in southern Iloilo.

Dizon said the settlement of remaining right-of-way issues remains a major challenge to the project’s completion.

He noted that funds previously allocated by Congress for right-of-way payments were consistently insufficient.

“The only problem is we still have unpaid ROW, so I’ve committed to the current and incoming regional directors that we will settle this,” Dizon said. “It’s only right; we should pay our fellow citizens for their land.”

“Now we have a larger budget for 2026, so projects that are nearing completion and have ROW issues, we will pay for them,” he added.

Under the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget, PHP 5 billion has been allocated for right-of-way payments under the agency’s Support to Operations program.

The DPWH is the national government agency responsible for the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of major infrastructure projects, including national roads, bridges, and flood control systems.